Enough Already! (teeny boppers)

[Nikki_luv]

Turn on your TV, open US Weekly or log on to the Internet, and brace yourself for a barrage of tween stars.
They’re taking over the world with cute dimples, white teeth and trendy bangs.

Someone please kill me.

These “tween queens” - Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen - aren’t even tweens anymore.

A “tween” denotes a person between the ages of 9 and 13 - like in between the stages of playing with Barbies and attending high school. Tweens are not quite teens, but they’re starting to get into boys (and boy bands), the mall and frosted lip gloss.

To lure these consumers, we have tween stars. And since the stars themselves are no longer tweens, they have to maintain a squeaky-clean image that appeals to youngsters and keeps them from losing their Disney contracts.

It’s about time the tween queens grew up and stopped being Disney puppets. After all, aren’t teen years the magical time when you don’t let “the man” get you down?

The Olsen twins and Lohan are now 18, and Duff will join the newly legal gals in September. Now that they’re 18, these ladies should do an indie flick or something to shake their prepackaged-for-Disney reputations.

It used to be the bubble-gum pop singers - Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson - who ruled the tween market.

But the new tween stars are one-upping the pop princesses’ singing and feuding that were their specialties.

These divas have TV shows and movies and clothing and makeup lines. They’re modeling, doing commercials and making records - and feuding in their spare time.

Sadly enough, some of them have true talent that's wasted on teenybopper fluff.

Lohan has starred in several teen blockbusters, including "Freaky Friday," "The Parent Trap," "Mean Girls" and "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen." She's funny, clever and seems to be the most intellectual of the tween stars. Time will tell if she can sing, too - in true tween fashion, she's coming out with an album in the near future.

Amanda Bynes, a well-known comedian on the Nickelodeon circuit, has true comedic talent. She salvaged the unoriginal "What a Girl Wants" by creating several laugh-out-loud moments from a tired script.

Raven-Symone of the Disney Channel's "That's So Raven" can sing and is capable of decent physical comedy; she consistently plays accident-prone characters onscreen.

Mandy Moore is the tween grandmother at the ripe old age of 20. She has quite a bit of talent as a singer and actress.

Even those who might lack talent have some sort of star appeal.

For instance, the Olsens don't need talent. They're in the media more (and probably have more money) than the president.

But instead of breaking new ground, many of these tween stars stifle themselves with cheesy projects.

They may be popular, and even talented, but they lack credibility as actresses.

DIANA BENANTI
VOICE CORRESPONDENT

[Dean Winchester]

what you posted hit the nail on the head perfectly. Today's teen crap SUCKS. I feel sorry that todays youth will never have a movie for their generation like my generation had Scream, Clueless and Dazed And Confused. Because all of todays teen flicks are way too watered-down and Disney-fied (I like Disney, but only when they make animated and CGI films) to really have a long-lasted appeal to it.

I'm not against it because it's "family friendly", but because the stuff is as sugary as Full House

[Nikki_luv]

Yea, but there's a difference between being teeny-bopperish and family friendly. I myself am only 18 but I'm tired of seeing the same movies, and I also agree that the talented ones are being brought down by this sugary sweet Disney image.

Overdone, unpopular girl likes popular boy crap is getting aggravating, and the blonde haired preppy popular girl who picks on everybody is another pet-peeve! I can't wait to see Raven in All American Girl.

[*Pleasant Tomorrow*]

Originally posted by BuffySlayer79


what you posted hit the nail on the head perfectly. Today's teen crap SUCKS. I feel sorry that todays youth will never have a movie for their generation like my generation had Scream, Clueless and Dazed And Confused. Because all of todays teen flicks are way too watered-down and Disney-fied (I like Disney, but only when they make animated and CGI films) to really have a long-lasted appeal to it.

I'm not against it because it's "family friendly", but because the stuff is as sugary as Full House

Oh, oh...DITTO DITTO DITTO

[Superstar]

Originally posted by Nikki_luv
Yea, but there's a difference between being teeny-bopperish and family friendly. I myself am only 18 but I'm tired of seeing the same movies, and I also agree that the talented ones are being brought down by this sugary sweet Disney image.

Overdone, unpopular girl likes popular boy crap is getting aggravating, and the blonde haired preppy popular girl who picks on everybody is another pet-peeve! I can't wait to see Raven in All American Girl.

ditto

[Dean Winchester]

the thing that really irked me was a few months ago, an R-rated teen movie called THE GIRL NEXT DOOR came out... it got good reviews and people were expecting it to be for this era what Risky Business was in the 1980's and American Pie was in the 1990's. However, the movie resounded with a thud at the box office. Why? Because it wasn't a safe Hilary Duff PG-rated family film produced by Disney.

That sucks, are todays youth that brainwashed? When I was a teen, we could tell the difference between American Pie and Freddie Prinze Jr. fluffy family teen flicks, and yet opted for AP instead (ok, I was 19 when AP came out... but I was still a teen technically, lol)

[Sitcomwriter]

Originally posted by BuffySlayer79
I'm not against it because it's "family friendly", but because the stuff is as sugary as Full House

Today's teen movies are so sugary, they make "Full House" look like "South Park".

Actually, "Mean Girls" was kinda good but only kinda....

[TheGreatPretender]

I agree, like that new girl Jojo has alot of talent and she is wasting it on crap like "Get Out Leave" I mean I know she is 13 but can;t she wait until she is at least 16?

[Nikki_luv]

Originally posted by skyhigh25789
I agree, like that new girl Jojo has alot of talent and she is wasting it on crap like "Get Out Leave" I mean I know she is 13 but can;t she wait until she is at least 16?

You think that's crap?! Why does she have to wait until she's 16, omg1 Crap is songs like "Come Clean" and "Pieces of Me", JoJo's out singing 16 year olds. Life is short and to wait until she's 16 and all sexed up, would be a waste. That is a great song, and she actually productive at what she's been signed for, unlike some people, even Raven can out sing today's singing "teen queens".

[BowWowsBreezy]

Originally posted by skyhigh25789
I agree, like that new girl Jojo has alot of talent and she is wasting it on crap like "Get Out Leave" I mean I know she is 13 but can;t she wait until she is at least 16?

JoJo is great as well as her music, she reps for the under eighteen crowd like myself

[LucyCompanyPhan]

that article said Hilary was turning 18...she just turned 16 so I don't call it accuate.

The times of different back from the 70s, 80s & 90s. Back in the 70s you had the brady bunch and danny osmond. In the 80s you had the Brat Pack. In the 90s you had Clueless,and other teen comedies along with the spice girls & Saved By the Bell era.
Its all different. I personally think that teen comedies are getting sexier but at the same time also cleaner. I mean, in the 80s you had Madonna and now we have Britney Spears but we also have people like Mandy Moore.

I think you can blame Disney for these tween people. They're the ones producting all this because lets face it, all those 10 year olds are looking up more to older people than ever. I personally don't understand the attack on Hilary Duff. She's just doing her job. I think people should respect her for being a decent role model. I don't see you doing what shes doing. Okay, but people to slam her as an singer, fine, shes not original and shes all marketed but when Britney was 17 she was singing in her school girl outfit. Give Hilary credit, shes not selling herself with sex appeal. As for slamming her as an actress, I wouldn't call it fair considering look at the roles shes been in. Not something I would call an oscar winning role. She hasn't proven herself as a bad actress or a good actress. Give her some time.

Lindsay Lohan is way over marketed. Shes more of the bad girl verison of Hilary Duff. I do think Lindsay is a good actress, she has proven herself but shes got 2 years on Duff.

Everything could be alot worse so I think people should stop complaining. You like what you like. I'm old enough not to worship the teen era but respect it. Everybody thinks their a critic. You know whats bested for the teens out there. Okay, you market something then.

Also I personally think The Girl Next Door is the most underrated movie of the year

[Superstar]

Originally posted by LucyCompanyPhan


I think you can blame Disney for these tween people. They're the ones producting all this because lets face it, all those 10 year olds are looking up more to older people than ever. I personally don't understand the attack on Hilary Duff. She's just doing her job. I think people should respect her for being a decent role model. I don't see you doing what shes doing. Okay, but people to slam her as an singer, fine, shes not original and shes all marketed but when Britney was 17 she was singing in her school girl outfit. Give Hilary credit, shes not selling herself with sex appeal. As for slamming her as an actress, I wouldn't call it fair considering look at the roles shes been in. Not something I would call an oscar winning role. She hasn't proven herself as a bad actress or a good actress. Give her some time.

Lindsay Lohan is way over marketed. Shes more of the bad girl verison of Hilary Duff. I do think Lindsay is a good actress, she has proven herself but shes got 2 years on Duff.

I agree, even though I'm not a Hilary fan, she is just doing her job, she must be doing something right since she's not on stage almost nude.

Lindsay is a bad role model in my opinion. Even though I think she's a great actress and I have all her movies, she smokes, drinks and is always partying. At least Hilary Duff isn't doing that or at least she's hiding it

[webuster]

I think Lindsay Lohan should take a break, or act in a drama or something- she has been in far too many films this year!

I think Jena Malone's a better actress out of all of them- she has a less mainstream look and style I think- more realistic than Hilary Duff's fake smiles and little catchphrases.

I thought The Girl Next Door was good as well- not quite in league with teen comedies from the 80's, but as close that Hollywood has got in a long time.

Tween queens do seem to have a bit too much influence- it's as though Disney manufactured them entirely along with the animatronic Abe Lincoln. Also, about doing indy flicks- I thought that's what the Olsen's would be doing by now- you sort of think when they hit 18 they would want to stop playing the same characters over and over again. They should both do films separately- playing 2 very different characters to distance themselves- maybe take smaller roles in films as well.

[Superstar]

Originally posted by webuster
I think Lindsay Lohan should take a break, or act in a drama or something- she has been in far too many films this year!

I think Jena Malone's a better actress out of all of them- she has a less mainstream look and style I think- more realistic than Hilary Duff's fake smiles and little catchphrases.

I thought The Girl Next Door was good as well- not quite in league with teen comedies from the 80's, but as close that Hollywood has got in a long time.

Tween queens do seem to have a bit too much influence- it's as though Disney manufactured them entirely along with the animatronic Abe Lincoln. Also, about doing indy flicks- I thought that's what the Olsen's would be doing by now- you sort of think when they hit 18 they would want to stop playing the same characters over and over again. They should both do films separately- playing 2 very different characters to distance themselves- maybe take smaller roles in films as well.

Lindsay says she wants to establish herself as an actress before she goes to college ....but she's signing on for at least 6 new movies.

Your right about the Olsens, they have played the same kind of character since they were 12. Who wants to watch 30 year old twins going to some foreign country and getting a boyfriend?

[Dean Winchester]

Originally posted by Superstar
I agree, even though I'm not a Hilary fan, she is just doing her job, she must be doing something right since she's not on stage almost nude.

lol, doing something right? actually, that is probably why she doesn't have adult male fans the way Britney did when she first came out or Lindsey has right now.