The Walt Disney Company

Rebellious Disney Teens

For decades, the Disney Channels and Disney movies have been deemed wholesome and free of vulgar material. This thought extends to the teenage actresses and actors who participate in making Disney a family-oriented channel; but then you see these same teenagers in the tabloids for acting like typical kids and people freak out. Just because Disney is hosted by an all-encompassing image of goodness, doesn't mean the kids who act on their contracts aren't subject to average teenage rebellion.

Disney kids, such as Miley Cyrus, Christina Aguilera, Hilary Duff, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake, have all been subjected to tabloid humiliation because they didn't keep the Disney persona. You can't turn a human being, especially a pubescent human being, into a forever-happy, never-in-trouble character like the ones that are animated. Teenagers have too many emotions and it's in their blood to rebel at a certain age, Disney star or not.

I find it annoying when a familiar Disney face is splashed over magazine covers in the latest scandal or act of normal teenage rebellion. People who associate Disney with these kids forget that Disney is a family oriented channel with family friendly moral messages on screen, but it's a corporation in reality that probably cares very little for the morality of it's teen characters. When a Disney kid gets in trouble, the only reason Disney intervenes is to save their own reputation and that actor/actress is usually suspended or dropped entirely.

Unless there's a statement in their contract to avoid all typical teenage rebellion, I don't see what the big deal would be. Disney isn't the industry it once was when Walt was still alive and it never will be again so these kids do deserve the benefit of the doubt and compromise for actions that are entirely normal.