My Kids Can't Act

As a young mom, I sometimes asked myself if I should let my kids try their hand at acting.  They were cute with bright personalities.  It didn’t take much to imagine them hamming it up on some agonizing sitcom, ala Full House.  They could have done it, and we could have used the cash.  But something stopped me from sending them to auditions, besides my complete lack of awareness regarding how to do that, and I think it can be summed up in one sentence—Hollywood isn’t wholesome.

Disney tries to appear somewhat wholesome, Nickelodeon less so, but it’s all smoke and mirrors.  These kids, who are idolized by our kids, seem to suddenly get older and feel the need to cast off their squeaky-clean image like it’s dirty underwear, and embrace adult things like nudity.  I don’t know about you, but I regularly show up to a photo shoot with just my panties on.  It’s what we adults do.

So, the transition to adulthood gets warped as they seek to be taken seriously by Hollywood.  Some examples of this include:  Jessica Biel appearing topless on a magazine at age 16, Britney Spears going nuts, Selena Gomez semi topless, Demi Lovato addiction and eating disorders, Miley doing whatever Miley does.  The transition to adulthood is derailed by the desire to be relevant, no matter what.  When you’re no longer cute and cuddly, you do whatever you can to keep those cameras rolling. 

Leading the way through this debauchery are the likes of Weinstein and Ratner, emperors of Hollywood, demanding that their subjects wear no clothes, and that’s just on the set.   Victims abound and it has always been so.  Producers have power and some of those wanting to be in the movies do whatever they can to get the job done. 

Now there are some who might say, Hey, these are just teen issues.  They would have gone through these things whether they were celebrities or not.  After all, look at Shirley Temple.  She turned out great!   Yep, once in a while, a child survives Hollywood, but that’s what it truly is, survival.

Does it look like the Stranger Things kids are having fun?  Absolutely.   And hopefully they will turn into well-adjusted adults.  It just isn’t likely.

The sad reality is that in Hollywood, women, men, and all too often children, end up getting screwed.   

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