Twerk a national pastime called Wining
Miley Cyrus — poster good girl Hannah Montana — gone bad! Even the Smiths — all of Will, Jaden, and Willow — appeared aghast at the MTV ceremonies, as Ms. Cyrus exposed her notoriety and celebrity status to the media’s delight.
As you can see — nothing new under the sun. Just Miley Cyrus with media clout.
Being a good and upstanding grandmother of three beautiful, decent, modesty-sanctioned grandgirls — ages 16, 10, and 5 — I would have lassoed the likes of Ms. Miley right off that VMA stage. Money, fame, celebrity? Shucked and thrown to the wind. That would be the typical response from a morally upright, proper lady of Caribbean heritage. But wait!!! Miley Cyrus is acting out more Caribbean moves than many of my own Trinidad and Tobago Carnival babies.
In the flailing of media activists — posting more snippets, more pictures, more highlights of the Miley Cyrus VMA show — I offer another twisted twerk from the vantage point of social observation. Let me set the stage. The last thing I was doing was watching the VMAs. I was enjoying pre-kindergarten, first-day-of-school hours with my five-year-old. And I know that someday, in her late twenties, these moments will be among my most cherished treasures.
With posts from every corner of the internet hailing the flagrant distraction of Miley’s performance, I became a viewer after the fact — perhaps more contained in my shock-factor awareness. Miley Cyrus, the adult-to-be, is clearly leveraging attention-grabbing antics as currency. First, she wears pum pum shorts to a late-night interview with Jimmy Kimmel. Then she is seen twerking across the internet. And finally — much to collective dismay — she uses a large phallic-like foam finger to demonstrate her “coming of age” onstage. By the way, pum pum shorts — or batty riders — is a Caribbean term for shorts that are inches away from falling into the lost zone of reasonable comfort.
I dare suggest that had Rihanna or Nicki Minaj pulled the same antics, there would not only have been censored screenings, but full-throated public outcry. Church leagues of righteous indignation would have called for metaphorical burning at the stakes. Mothers of right-wing Christian decency crusades would have formed coalitions to ban products. And, inevitably, the curse of “those island people of debauchery” would trend as shorthand for what is deemed good, bad, indecent, or skank behavior.
So Miley Cyrus is exhibiting skank? Really? Do we expect a rich, young, beautiful white girl to behave with such crudity and crassness? Hell to the no. Or is this just another influence of world crossover?
When Rihanna is on Bajan soil for Crop Over — music fused with spirits, alcohol included, momentum building, thousands of bodies bending, wining, rolling on something (usually another human being) — it is natural. During Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago, or at almost any event where performers and audiences cavort, twerk, twist, and twirl like their lower extremities have rotators built in — it is the norm. Even good old Caribbean grandmothers are prone to a sweet wine or roll on something when the music and rhythm take control. (So when, in the video, Robin Thicke is singing and Miley Cyrus arches and rolls her body against him — that is called “rolling on something.”)
Alas — nothing new under the sun. Whether the Smiths are wide-eyed in shock or Miley Cyrus is debuting her signature twerking moves, guess what? She got the desired results. Miley Cyrus, what you did at the VMAs was simple: you built your fame value — measured in millions of views, clicks, and global social-media hits.
As you can see — nothing new under the sun. Just Miley Cyrus with media clout.
Being a good and upstanding grandmother of three beautiful, decent, modesty-sanctioned grandgirls — ages 16, 10, and 5 — I would have lassoed the likes of Ms. Miley right off that VMA stage. Money, fame, celebrity? Shucked and thrown to the wind. That would be the typical response from a morally upright, proper lady of Caribbean heritage. But wait!!! Miley Cyrus is acting out more Caribbean moves than many of my own Trinidad and Tobago Carnival babies.
In the flailing of media activists — posting more snippets, more pictures, more highlights of the Miley Cyrus VMA show — I offer another twisted twerk from the vantage point of social observation. Let me set the stage. The last thing I was doing was watching the VMAs. I was enjoying pre-kindergarten, first-day-of-school hours with my five-year-old. And I know that someday, in her late twenties, these moments will be among my most cherished treasures.
With posts from every corner of the internet hailing the flagrant distraction of Miley’s performance, I became a viewer after the fact — perhaps more contained in my shock-factor awareness. Miley Cyrus, the adult-to-be, is clearly leveraging attention-grabbing antics as currency. First, she wears pum pum shorts to a late-night interview with Jimmy Kimmel. Then she is seen twerking across the internet. And finally — much to collective dismay — she uses a large phallic-like foam finger to demonstrate her “coming of age” onstage. By the way, pum pum shorts — or batty riders — is a Caribbean term for shorts that are inches away from falling into the lost zone of reasonable comfort.
I dare suggest that had Rihanna or Nicki Minaj pulled the same antics, there would not only have been censored screenings, but full-throated public outcry. Church leagues of righteous indignation would have called for metaphorical burning at the stakes. Mothers of right-wing Christian decency crusades would have formed coalitions to ban products. And, inevitably, the curse of “those island people of debauchery” would trend as shorthand for what is deemed good, bad, indecent, or skank behavior.
So Miley Cyrus is exhibiting skank? Really? Do we expect a rich, young, beautiful white girl to behave with such crudity and crassness? Hell to the no. Or is this just another influence of world crossover?
When Rihanna is on Bajan soil for Crop Over — music fused with spirits, alcohol included, momentum building, thousands of bodies bending, wining, rolling on something (usually another human being) — it is natural. During Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago, or at almost any event where performers and audiences cavort, twerk, twist, and twirl like their lower extremities have rotators built in — it is the norm. Even good old Caribbean grandmothers are prone to a sweet wine or roll on something when the music and rhythm take control. (So when, in the video, Robin Thicke is singing and Miley Cyrus arches and rolls her body against him — that is called “rolling on something.”)
Alas — nothing new under the sun. Whether the Smiths are wide-eyed in shock or Miley Cyrus is debuting her signature twerking moves, guess what? She got the desired results. Miley Cyrus, what you did at the VMAs was simple: you built your fame value — measured in millions of views, clicks, and global social-media hits.
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