The Project & Me
Hello, my name is Ava! I’m a senior at the University of Michigan pursuing my Bachelor of Arts in History with a Minor in Writing from the Sweetland Center for Writing with interests in journalism and publishing. For the past two years, I have written for the Arts section at the Michigan Daily, and I currently hold an editing position.
I’m a pop culture junkie and I love reading and writing arts criticism. Within this project, I wanted to follow similar structural norms as what I do for the Daily and imitate other pop culture criticism websites while including my personal experiences.
To say that Miley Cyrus was a part of my childhood would be an understatement. I watched every single episode of “Hannah Montana.” One of the first concerts I ever attended was Miley Cyrus’ in 2009 when I was seven years old. My song of choice on our Wii game of “Disney Sing It: Pop Hits” was “Fly on the Wall.” To this day, “The Last Song” is a comfort movie. Depending on the day, “The Climb” makes me cry. I was 11 years old when “Bangerz” and the iconic “Wrecking Ball” music video was released. “I’ll Always Remember You” was my 8th grade song.
When I first started this project, Miley Cyrus had recently released a single titled “Used to Be Young.” The song really blew up and created a TikTok trend, where girls would use an aging filter and sing the lyrics to themselves. In the song, she says: “I know I used to be crazy / That’s ‘cause I used to be young.”
It’s really a heartbreaking song. (The music video even more as Cyrus looks at the camera, in tears, wearing a Mickey Mouse t-shirt.) But it’s also bittersweet because she’s looking back at her youth with such fondness.
It got me thinking about Miley and Britney, their treatment. Why aren’t young women afforded grace as they age? We’re labeled crazy, wild, reckless. I never hear men being referred to as those things. More broadly, why is it so hard to be a woman — in the entertainment industry and in real life?
My central topic surrounds Miley and her “Disney Treatment” — by society, by the media. I’m most interested in what it did to her and what it does to all of us. I compare her to her peers at the time while explaining why she was the “Chosen One” on Disney Channel. As she matured, the media buzz surrounding her intensified, and even after her time on Disney, she still had this weight of being a role model. I think there’s a lot of responsibility put on young girls to be role models to other young girls — which can be damaging sometimes.
Then, I wanted to transition into explaining how Miley’s treatment inadvertently created a dark mirror into girlhood and womanhood.
I’ve separated my project into three parts: Disney Girls, The Role Model Effect, and Girlhood to Womanhood. My intention was to get closer and closer to the personal by including my experiences as a woman — from pop culture criticism to connecting myself to the experiences of celebrity women.
I wanted to shape my analysis around two categories: gender expectations and generational expectations, specifically looking at the differences between men and women and Gen Z versus Millennials.
After coming off a summer of “Barbie,” which was a celebration of womanhood, I really started thinking about my experiences as a woman and realizing the similarities between my experiences and the experiences of other women.
Here’s hoping one day I can look my older self in the mirror and tell her she’s beautiful. And worthy. And validate her feelings.