If I listed all the concerns I have about hollywood this would be a very very long post, but I'm just going to talk about one. Why is it that when child actors reach a certain age where they can start appearing in more than just after school specials and as the sassy little sister/brother, they have to "break out" by taking on roles where they are either serial killers, sleeping around (and revealing ALL), smoking, swearing, and being...what's the term they use nowadays? Edgy. It seems like that's what happens to all the great child actors I used to know and love. They grow up being heroes to impressionable kids a few years younger than them, and then they go and do something totally contrary to what people originally started watching them for, with those same impressionable young minds still watching and being impressed, all in the name of "maturity." Tell me if I'm totally off base here, but when was taking your clothes off in front of the entire world a sign of maturity? Last I checked it was a surefire sign of the "terrible twos" and the reason my husband has to shout "naked baby alert!" every time we're at the beach (because inevitably there will be a naked two-year-old running around screaming sweet freedom while his Mom chases after him/her with the diaper and the pair of pants they buried in the sand a mile back). I know this is starting to sound like one of those "what's wrong with youth today" rants, but what it's mean to be is a question: What is wrong with role models today? And more importantly: Who is telling them this is right? Who is influencing these kids to go down this road? Take, for example, Kiera Knightly. I used to absolutely love her movies. I thought she was so fun, and beautiful, and I was never ever embarrassed to watch her movies with my mom. I loved how in every "making of" feature they always talked about her mom constantly being on set and watching out for her and keeping her grounded. Everyone seemed to have a great deal of respect for her mother, and so did I. I remember telling my husband once that Kiera Knightly was someone who, if I had just happened to meet her, I would have liked to be friends with. Nowadays I don't even go to her movies by myself, let alone with my mother. In fact I have a deep mistrust of her movies now and always check "kids-in-mind" before checking them out for myself. What happened? It seems like now that she's an adult all her movies have some sort of really graphic sex scene (at least one, sometimes more) or really suggestive situations, and one magazine cover was gushing about how awesome it was that she cursed like a sailor. Where did the change happen? Who is it behind the scenes that is egging these kids, some now adults, to become "edgy" so people will "take them seriously as actors"? I've heard that phrase so many times now in interviews with previously squeeky clean stars gone wild. Their excuse is that they do it so people will "take them seriously"...seriously? Maybe I just don't get it. What do you think? Am I just ranting or is this a serious problem? And if so, what can we do about it?
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