Find your next home with Luxist's "Estate of the Day"

AOL Money & Finance

Disney's (DIS) Vanessa Hudgens nude? What'd you expect?

More

'High School Musical' actress Vanessa HudgensOh reality, it's not for me
And it makes me laugh
Oh, fantasy world and Disney girls
I'm coming back

-- The Beach Boys, "Disney Girls"

Boy, Disney (NYSE: DIS) had a rough week. First the Marie Digby flap, and now this: In case it's not in your job description to pay mind to such things, the internet right now is all atwitter about a circulating photo of starlet Vanessa Hudgens baring her mouse ears, and then some. Miss Hudgens is one of the stars from Disney's very massive High School Musical franchise, and girlfriend of HSM co-star (and perhaps budding shutterbug?) Zac Efron.



But we're not here to judge -- well, I'm not here to judge. The boss is bothered though -- she had to explain to her seven-year-old what "nude" means (daughter's insightful reply: "Isn't she embarrassed?" From the mouths of babes...).


What's Amey's complaint? "Disney creates these supposed role models for little girls and then they get famous and go off the deep end and we have a lot of explaining to do..."

Whoa now, Amey -- don't we know to expect this by now? I don't doubt Walt had great intentions, but the House of Mouse has loooonng been a sexpot factory. This ain't PBS, where every kid is special and all that -- this is THE Walt Disney Company. The Mickey Mouse Club tends to be pretty choosy about who gets to don those felt-letter sweaters. It so happens that toothy, telegenic girls predictably grow up to be bombshells -- the classic virgin vixens of textbook male fantasy -- and Disney has just been churning 'em out since Goofy was in short pants.

Look past Britney Spears, the 800-pound gorilla of the species. You've got your Lindsay Lohan, your Hilary Duff, Christina Aguilera, Keri Russell, Lisa "Blair" Whelchel (did you know Facts of Life pioneers Whelchel, Molly Ringwald, and Julie Piekarski all had Mouseketeer pasts? Internet, you are awesome.), Kim Richards (Tia from Escape To Witch Mountain... *sigh*), all the way back to Hayley Mills and Annette Funicello. I'm sure there's some web page somewhere (I don't want to look) counting the seconds until Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana turns 18.

I don't have the collective worth of these women in front of me, but Uncle Scrooge McDuck didn't make all those fantasticatrillions by himself.

Not to detract from the talents and virtues of any of these women, nor paint them all as tabloid fodder. But ultimately they're human, and they're adults. Parents can't expect their children's idols to stay 15 forever, and the effects of a star-studded childhood on a kid are all too well documented by this point for this sort of news to surprise anyone.

Moms and dads, if you want to dodge uncomfortable conversations with your kids, I don't know what to suggest ... ween your loved ones on The Muppets, I guess. They still haven't gone gonzo on us.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-223.328,280.74
NASDAQ-49.201,796.52
S&P 500-26.91896.42

Last updated: July 06, 2009: 12:44 AM

BloggingStocks Exclusives

Hot Stocks

DailyFinance Headlines

Latest from BloggingBuyouts

TheFlyOnTheWall.com Headlines

    BioHealth Investor Headlines

    WalletPop Headlines

    My Portfolios

    Track your stocks here!

    Find out why more people track their portfolios on AOL Money & Finance then anywhere else.

    BloggingStocks Partners

    More from AOL Money & Finance

    WalletPop Headlines