Before anyone gets all bent out of shape, keep in mind that Kim Kardashian, the woman with the most Instagram followers in the world, got famous off a sex tape.  Growing up I have witnessed first hand Disney stars that I looked up to when I was 10 twerking on a 40 year old man at the VMA’s. It’s not that they’re required to be role models, but maybe as a society, we are idolizing the wrong people.

Now obviously the entertainment industry will never change. it’s always going to be the same image, a “sexy”, young person with a BIG personality and decent talent.  But today it seems that the “bad boys and girls” do drugs and party and happen to sing.  Opposed to someone like Janis Joplin who was singer and happened to do drugs. Obviously there are plenty of exceptions to this label such as Justin Timberlake, Zendaya or Emma Watson, who exemplifies the ideal celebrity. First of all she was in one of the greatest movie franchises of all time (for those who don’t know she was Hermoine in the Harry Potter series) and she was appointed the UN women goodwill ambassador in July of 2014.   So why are we looking up to these celebrities who make their money off of dancing half naked at awards shows?  The answer is quite obvious actually, it’s because it’s entertaining to watch. Why else would they be called entertainers?  Today as a society we have been brainwashed by bright colors and excessive autotune to see obnoxious noise and grimy performances as “entertaining” and “real talent”.

People will always have an image of what perfect is in their mind, and many celebrities portray what a “perfect specimen” is. Kelsey Howell, a sophmore at Lake Mary says that “the reason we idolize the people we do is because they have enough money to make them seem perfect.  For instance I look up to Jlo because I’ve always seen her as perfect, that’s just the image I have in my head.”    But looking away from all the slimy celebs, there are so many people that are overlooked that are doing amazing things for the world.  Ed Sheeran for example has taken a temporary break from music to help out in his hometown, Angelina Jolie has worked with 55 different charities and causes, and even though he may seem like a complete tool, Justin Bieber has worked with 45 charities and causes.  Even though I did critique Kim k and Miley Cyrus earlier, they aren’t all that bad. Miley has started her own charity for LGBT people who are being bullied for who they are and having trouble identifying themselves and has worked with almost 70 charities and causes, and Kim Kardashian has worked with over 17 charities and foundations and constantly encourages her fellow A-list celebs to get involved with charity work.  It’s not that these celebrities are bad people, it’s their image that displays them as dirty, indecent, sex and drugs obsessed young adults.  So maybe these celebrities are people to look up to, not quite who they are on stage, but who they are “off camera”.