Sooner or later someone has to ask this

[fpb]

Why is it that every teen-age starlet turned out by Walt Disney turns out, as soon as she turns 16 (or even sooner) to be a committed public tart?

Comments

[sartorias]

That surprises you? Look at Annette. (Though the dynmaics were different then.)

Basically, anything for money, and sex sells.

[fpb]

I know nothing about Annette Funicello except the name. But this was largely a rhetorical question. This is a big children's entertainment company whose employees are taken to project an image of wholesome youthful charm until they are of age, after which they promptly show they are sluts. Apparently, the whole paedophile theme of Britney's infamous debut video was her own decision, which she pushed on her producer. And that gives you a very strong idea of what goes on behind the scenes at Mars'Walt's plantation. Only nobody seems to be asking the obvious question. Perhaps the company itself is too big to touch (unlike, say, the Catholic Church). But why is it not common talk that our children's entertainment appears to be managed by paedophiles?

[sartorias]

Brittney's mother packaged her offspring to sell, and went about it quite systematically. Brittney seems to have been raised with two ideas in her head: she was perfect (forever young) and she was a "star." I remember my daughter (same age) watching an interview with her, when the person asked, "What do you read, or watch on TV?" "Ohhh," the 16 year old Brittney squeaked. "I watch my videos over and over, because I learn so much!"

Disney had the hots for Annette, who was a nice girl, not too bright, who was also modest and religious. Disney wanted to make her a Star, and being a star meant teenage heart throb, and teenage heart throb girl-style meant showing off one's figure. On the other hand he wanted her to be a Lady, and on the third hand, she herself was modest. So if you ever watch any of the beach movies she made with Frankie Avalon, you will see that the only one not in a bikini is Annette.

[fpb]

Yes, but Britney, as I pointed out, is hardly the only tart turned out by WDP. At the very least, one has to imagine collusion between her admittedly dreadful mother and the Disney people. And the way you tell it, at least old Walt was not cynical about Annette. I have no doubt that his successors select their starlets quite cynically for their future and present potential.

[sartorias]

Oh, no argument there. I see what you mean by pedophile--not that they are molesting the minor in question, but setting them into a position so they can be lusted after while they are raking in the cash.

[fpb]

No, I mean exactly what the word says. In Italy a few years ago, the legendary entertainer and radio and tv producer Gianni Boncompagni, who had dominated the listings since I was a child, was convicted and jailed for dozens of counts of indecency with minors. His defence was, quoting from memory: "If you run a popular TV variety shows featuring teen-aged dancers, you will be besieged by literally thousands of mothers and their girls, most of them very attractive, and literally every one of them more than ready to prostitute both her daughter and herself for the chance of appearing in prime-time TV. You would have to be a saint to resist the temptation."

[sartorias]

Yes, one of the reasons why I stopped working in Hollywood was when I got pregnant, and I realized I didn't want to raise my kid in that environment. I used to pass by the casting office on cattle call days, and the room would be filled with hard-eyed women and their five year old daughters squeezed into tight jeans, with spangly tight tops, their eyebrows plucked, lips smeared with glitzy goo, finger and toenails scarlet (or green or black), hair frizzled out into Marie Antoinette elaboration. Variations on "sit still!" would hiss venomously as the poor children tried to move about a little in their boredom.