As Luke says in the Bible, from whom much is given, much is expected. As J. Dwight Pentecost says, this parable, “emphasizes that privilege brings responsibility and that responsibility entails accountability.” But what happens when the person to whom much is given is a young child, a young child that grows up with the constant need to live up to the expectations that come with privilege? Most of these child stars go crazy; Drew Barrymore went to rehab at thirteen, Britney Spears shaved off her hair and attacked a car with an umbrella, Amanda Bynes started wearing wigs and calling everyone who tried to help her “ugly,” leading to a downward spiral that landed her in rehab; and the list simply goes on. Other child stars handle the switch from child star to young adult seamlessly, and the question of what makes some go crazy and others stay sane is a widely talked about phenomenon. Then, along comes Miley Cyrus, formerly known as Hannah Montana, the dual-identity superstar created by Disney, who acts a normal girl during the day and becomes a pop sensation at night. At first glance she seems to be the next Lindsay Lohan. Upon closer investigation though, she seems to be faking and utilizing this “child star syndrome” to her advantage as a way to generate press and attention for herself. Her recent activities seem reminiscent of another confused young adult who couldn't seem to handle growing up and feigned craziness as a way to further his ends – the confused and infamous Hamlet. It may seem that the scholarly Hamlet could not have anything in common with the twerking Miley Cyrus, but when looking at the countless similarities between the two, we are able to use one as a case study for the other, interchangeably, in order to better understand what is/was going on in the minds of these two famed figures.
While Miley Cyrus is a far cry from the aristocratic Hamlet portrayed by Shakespeare in the play of his same name, the similarities in circumstances between the two young adults furthers the idea that there are similarities in their actions. In America, we do not and have never had a royal family like most European countries have had, but we do have Hollywood. Hollywood is America's “royal family” of sorts, exemplified by the fact that the birth of the daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West generated as much buzz as the birth of the future King of England. While Hamlet was an actual Prince of Denmark, Miley Cyrus could be argued to be a descendant of America's form of royalty – her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, was a famous country singer in the nineties and her godmother is Dolly Parton. Both Hamlet and Miley Cyrus were born into families that would place an immense amount of pressure for success upon them. Hamlet grew up a pampered prince, and Miley Cyrus grew up wealthy until ultimately entering the show business for herself. She says that she always loved singing and acting, in the same way that Hamlet from a young age loved the theatre. The similarities in their circumstances continue as they both grow up; Hamlet is in love with Ophelia but ends up ruining the relationship as collateral damage of his craziness, an effect felt by Cyrus too as her engagement ended right around the same time that her outlandish activities began. Their parents both had issues as well, with Hamlet's mother marrying his father's killer and brother, and Cyrus' parents getting divorced. And ultimately, the greatest similarity of all, they both devise plots of craziness.
In the same way we can call Cyrus a “Prince” because of her similarities to Hamlet, we can call Hamlet a “child star” because of his similarities to Cyrus. Mara Wilson, a former child star herself, lists out seven reasons why some child stars seem to go crazy. The first reason that Wilson gives is that the parents of a child star won't help them. She says that parents push them into acting, and then treat them like adults from a very young age. Because of this, they never get to have a real childhood, and when they actually become adults, they don't know how to deal with it. This is shown in Hamlet through Gertrude; she doesn't seem to give much thought to her son until he confronts her in her bedroom, and after that she seems more scared than concerned. As Cyrus' stated in her interview in Harper's Bazaar, “I was an adult when I was supposed to be a kid. So now I'm an adult and I'm acting like a kid.”
The second reason given by Wilson is that their parents actually can't help them. We see in Hamlet that Claudius and Gertrude seem to have no control over Hamlet anymore, and that the only person who seems to be controlling him and his actions is not a person at all, but rather the ghost of his father. Wilson says that the parents lose control over their children from a very young age because they have their own money and they have handlers and directors taking over the position of decision maker. This hurts the child because instead of real parental guidance, they are guided and controlled by people who just see them as money making opportunities. Billy Ray Cyrus was quoted in 2010 saying that he had little control over his daughter anymore because Disney had taken over control.
A fourth reason given by Wilson that applies to both Hamlet and Cyrus is that every teenager needs to rebel, but those in the public eye can not. Every teenager rebels, but child stars have millions of people watching them. A child star must live up their fan base who don't ever want to see them grow up. The pressure to keep fans happy can be crippling, so crippling that the moment a child star is free from their duties, usually in their early twenties
and late teens, they overcompensate and act out. The combination of the large amounts of money they have, as well as their minimal amount of decision making skills, leads to gigantic bad decisions that are seen and judged by the world. Hamlet was born with the huge task of one day becoming King, and Cyrus was born into a family full of musicians and money. They both grew up publicly and were never given the chance to make mistakes and go wild as a teenager, so that when they finally became adults, they acted out as teens do. The teenage years are meant to be the time in one's life where he or she is allowed to act stupidly and won't be held fully responsible for his or her actions, but when one is not given the luxury of being a teenager, he or she becomes a teenage-adult. This leads to a lot of immature and overprivileged young adults. Cyrus is twenty-one, and Hamlet is widely agreed upon to be around thirty; ages which neither of them seem to act.
Based off of Wilson's article, it seems as if Hamlet and Cyrus may be fellow-sufferers of “child star syndrome.” But, as we know, Hamlet's craziness was premeditated by himself as a way to find and take revenge on his father's killer. Acting crazy allows Hamlet to distract the court from his true plans, plans which he seems to make as he goes along. As Alexander W. Crawford says in his article, “Hamlet's Antic Disposition,” “There is much evidence in the play that Hamlet deliberately feigned fits of madness in order to confuse and disconcert the king and his attendants.” And many others believe that Cyrus is doing the same thing; as Abby Koenig says in her article, “Miley Cyrus Wants You to Think She is Crazy, Which Means She is Not,” “It's like Cyrus wants us to think she's crazy, which surely means that she actually isn’t but is just really good at self-promotion.” As shown by both Crawford and Koenig, Cyrus and Hamlet seem to be acting crazy on purpose in order to further their plans. Their actions are classified as a dissociative disorder called Ganser Syndrome, and is defined as the, “voluntary production of psychiatric symptoms.” According to Robert M. Youngson, Ganser Syndrome is most common in people who are completely sane but see it is as beneficial to themselves to act crazy. (Youngson, 1) Examples of Hamlet's feigned madness are littered throughout the play, by both Hamlet himself as well as the other characters. Hamlet himself first speaks of pretending to be mad when he says, “As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on,” (Act 1, Scene 5, v. 191-192) and later on in the play when he says, “That I essentially am not in madness, but mad in craft.” (Act 3, Scene 4, v. 209-210) Guildenstern, Polonius and Claudius all see through his act as well. As Polonius said, “Though this be madness, yet there is method in it,” (Act 2, Scene 2, v. 223-224) from Guildenstern later on, “But with a crafty madness keeps aloof,” (Act 3, Scene 1, v. 8) and finally from Claudius himself, “What he spake, though it lacked form a little, was not like madness.” (Act 3, Scene 1, v. 177-178) Even though people are able to see through Hamlet's act, it still does the job of confusing those he wishes to confuse and manages to hide Hamlet's true intentions and plans. The same goes for Cyrus; as Brian Mansfield says in his article, “Why Miley Cyrus Isn't as Crazy as You Think She is,” “The weird thing about Wrecking Ball is that all the nuttiness of Cyrus' public persona doesn't diminish the song. If anything, the controversy, the bizarre faces, the fear for her mental stability, whatever you want to call it, actually enhances the emotional impact of her performance.” Upon a closer look at Cyrus' interviews and intentions, it seems that the young starlet is actually taking a page from Hamlet's book and fabricating being mentally unhinged. Mansfield goes on to say that, “It's entirely possible that Cyrus' recent bizarre antics are all a setup. Yes, it's a way to create attention, but not solely for attention's sake. Cyrus may have a longer game in mind.” Mansfield believes that Cyrus is setting herself up to be hated and condemned for being crazy, just so that she can later turn around and become “sane” again, because the only thing the tabloids love more than a downward spiral is a comeback. Mansfield concludes that it
has to all be an act because she has the complete and total support of her parents and family backing her. It would not be surprising either, as Cyrus herself has said that every move she has made is part of the “Movement,” which she says is her greater plan to reinvent pop music on her own terms. (Miley:The Movement) It can be relieving at first when we hear, straight from the horse's mouth, that all of her antics are part of an act. But, because everything up to this point has proven Cyrus to be exactly like Hamlet, we are inclined to wonder, how long does it take for a person who is only acting crazy to actually become crazy? Cyrus is still in the midst of her machinations, but Hamlet's plans did not end in success. In her article, “Hamlet's Insanity,” Paige Tyrell states, “What began as Hamlet's folly of feigned madness becomes his reality. In the end, the insane Hamlet is unaware of the complete and utter chaos that he inflicts on himself and everyone he loves.” The play ends with almost every important character dying. Hamlet's plan for revenge never came to fruition because it ended up costing his own life as well. They say that life often imitates art, but hopefully Miley Cyrus' “Movement” does not have the tragic ending of Hamlet.
While Hamlet ends tragically, the one good thing about Hollywood is that it is always forthcoming with unlimited opportunities for redemption. Even if Cyrus' false acts become her reality, the similarities between her and Hamlet probably stop at their plots of madness in order to further their goals. It seems highly unlikely that Miley Cyrus' fake craziness will lead to her dying from a poisoned sword in a duel. It can serve as a warning metaphor for her though to be aware not to let her fake craziness become real craziness. As Leonardo DiCaprio has his totem to remind him of the real world when he is inside of a dream in Inception, hopefully Cyrus has a totem of her own to keep her reality in check. Also, unlike Hamlet, it seems that she has been able to mend and rebuild the relationships she shares with her parents, a luxury that Hamlet did not get to have before his death. Because Cyrus has
been able to let her parents back in, it seems as if she is simply using the “child star syndrome” model as a way to further her ultimate goals, goals which we may not come to realize for a long time, as we are just the Poloniuses to her Hamlet; observers of her ploys of madness who can understand what is happening but can never fully see what is to come.
Works Cited
Hamlet. The New Folger Library Shakespeare. New York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks. 2012.
Youngson, Robert M. The Madness of Prince Hamlet & Other Extraordinary States of Mind. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers Inc. 1999. Print.
Blasberg, Derek. “Miley Goes Bang” harpersbazaar.com. http://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/news/miley-cyrus-interview-1013. 16 September 2013
Crawford, Alexander W. “Hamlet's Antic Disposition” shakespeare-online.com. http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet/antichamlet.html . 20 August 2009
Koenig, Abby. “Miley Cyrus Wants You to Think She Is Crazy, Which Means She Is Not” http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2013/03/miley_cyrus_wants_you_to_think.php . 26 March 2013
Mansfield, Brian. “Why Miley Cyrus Isn't as Crazy as You Think She Is” usatoday.com. http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/09/22/why-miley-cyrus-isnt-as-crazy- as-you-think-she-is/2848917/. 22 September 2013
Meyers, Laura Marie. “The 22 Best Quotes From Miley Cyrus' Rolling Stone Interview” popsugar.com. http://www.popsugar.com/Miley-Cyrus-Rolling-Stone-Interview-2013- 31923380 . 24 September 2013
Tyrell, Paige. “Hamlet's Insanity” http://paigetyrrell.hubpages.com/hub/Hamlets-Insanity . 27 January 2011
Williams, Mara. “7 Reasons Child Stars Go Crazy (An Insider's Perspective)” cracked.com. http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insidersperspective/ . 28 May 2013
Miley:The Movement. Dir. Paul Bozymowski. MTV. 2013
While Miley Cyrus is a far cry from the aristocratic Hamlet portrayed by Shakespeare in the play of his same name, the similarities in circumstances between the two young adults furthers the idea that there are similarities in their actions. In America, we do not and have never had a royal family like most European countries have had, but we do have Hollywood. Hollywood is America's “royal family” of sorts, exemplified by the fact that the birth of the daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West generated as much buzz as the birth of the future King of England. While Hamlet was an actual Prince of Denmark, Miley Cyrus could be argued to be a descendant of America's form of royalty – her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, was a famous country singer in the nineties and her godmother is Dolly Parton. Both Hamlet and Miley Cyrus were born into families that would place an immense amount of pressure for success upon them. Hamlet grew up a pampered prince, and Miley Cyrus grew up wealthy until ultimately entering the show business for herself. She says that she always loved singing and acting, in the same way that Hamlet from a young age loved the theatre. The similarities in their circumstances continue as they both grow up; Hamlet is in love with Ophelia but ends up ruining the relationship as collateral damage of his craziness, an effect felt by Cyrus too as her engagement ended right around the same time that her outlandish activities began. Their parents both had issues as well, with Hamlet's mother marrying his father's killer and brother, and Cyrus' parents getting divorced. And ultimately, the greatest similarity of all, they both devise plots of craziness.
In the same way we can call Cyrus a “Prince” because of her similarities to Hamlet, we can call Hamlet a “child star” because of his similarities to Cyrus. Mara Wilson, a former child star herself, lists out seven reasons why some child stars seem to go crazy. The first reason that Wilson gives is that the parents of a child star won't help them. She says that parents push them into acting, and then treat them like adults from a very young age. Because of this, they never get to have a real childhood, and when they actually become adults, they don't know how to deal with it. This is shown in Hamlet through Gertrude; she doesn't seem to give much thought to her son until he confronts her in her bedroom, and after that she seems more scared than concerned. As Cyrus' stated in her interview in Harper's Bazaar, “I was an adult when I was supposed to be a kid. So now I'm an adult and I'm acting like a kid.”
The second reason given by Wilson is that their parents actually can't help them. We see in Hamlet that Claudius and Gertrude seem to have no control over Hamlet anymore, and that the only person who seems to be controlling him and his actions is not a person at all, but rather the ghost of his father. Wilson says that the parents lose control over their children from a very young age because they have their own money and they have handlers and directors taking over the position of decision maker. This hurts the child because instead of real parental guidance, they are guided and controlled by people who just see them as money making opportunities. Billy Ray Cyrus was quoted in 2010 saying that he had little control over his daughter anymore because Disney had taken over control.
A fourth reason given by Wilson that applies to both Hamlet and Cyrus is that every teenager needs to rebel, but those in the public eye can not. Every teenager rebels, but child stars have millions of people watching them. A child star must live up their fan base who don't ever want to see them grow up. The pressure to keep fans happy can be crippling, so crippling that the moment a child star is free from their duties, usually in their early twenties
and late teens, they overcompensate and act out. The combination of the large amounts of money they have, as well as their minimal amount of decision making skills, leads to gigantic bad decisions that are seen and judged by the world. Hamlet was born with the huge task of one day becoming King, and Cyrus was born into a family full of musicians and money. They both grew up publicly and were never given the chance to make mistakes and go wild as a teenager, so that when they finally became adults, they acted out as teens do. The teenage years are meant to be the time in one's life where he or she is allowed to act stupidly and won't be held fully responsible for his or her actions, but when one is not given the luxury of being a teenager, he or she becomes a teenage-adult. This leads to a lot of immature and overprivileged young adults. Cyrus is twenty-one, and Hamlet is widely agreed upon to be around thirty; ages which neither of them seem to act.
Based off of Wilson's article, it seems as if Hamlet and Cyrus may be fellow-sufferers of “child star syndrome.” But, as we know, Hamlet's craziness was premeditated by himself as a way to find and take revenge on his father's killer. Acting crazy allows Hamlet to distract the court from his true plans, plans which he seems to make as he goes along. As Alexander W. Crawford says in his article, “Hamlet's Antic Disposition,” “There is much evidence in the play that Hamlet deliberately feigned fits of madness in order to confuse and disconcert the king and his attendants.” And many others believe that Cyrus is doing the same thing; as Abby Koenig says in her article, “Miley Cyrus Wants You to Think She is Crazy, Which Means She is Not,” “It's like Cyrus wants us to think she's crazy, which surely means that she actually isn’t but is just really good at self-promotion.” As shown by both Crawford and Koenig, Cyrus and Hamlet seem to be acting crazy on purpose in order to further their plans. Their actions are classified as a dissociative disorder called Ganser Syndrome, and is defined as the, “voluntary production of psychiatric symptoms.” According to Robert M. Youngson, Ganser Syndrome is most common in people who are completely sane but see it is as beneficial to themselves to act crazy. (Youngson, 1) Examples of Hamlet's feigned madness are littered throughout the play, by both Hamlet himself as well as the other characters. Hamlet himself first speaks of pretending to be mad when he says, “As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on,” (Act 1, Scene 5, v. 191-192) and later on in the play when he says, “That I essentially am not in madness, but mad in craft.” (Act 3, Scene 4, v. 209-210) Guildenstern, Polonius and Claudius all see through his act as well. As Polonius said, “Though this be madness, yet there is method in it,” (Act 2, Scene 2, v. 223-224) from Guildenstern later on, “But with a crafty madness keeps aloof,” (Act 3, Scene 1, v. 8) and finally from Claudius himself, “What he spake, though it lacked form a little, was not like madness.” (Act 3, Scene 1, v. 177-178) Even though people are able to see through Hamlet's act, it still does the job of confusing those he wishes to confuse and manages to hide Hamlet's true intentions and plans. The same goes for Cyrus; as Brian Mansfield says in his article, “Why Miley Cyrus Isn't as Crazy as You Think She is,” “The weird thing about Wrecking Ball is that all the nuttiness of Cyrus' public persona doesn't diminish the song. If anything, the controversy, the bizarre faces, the fear for her mental stability, whatever you want to call it, actually enhances the emotional impact of her performance.” Upon a closer look at Cyrus' interviews and intentions, it seems that the young starlet is actually taking a page from Hamlet's book and fabricating being mentally unhinged. Mansfield goes on to say that, “It's entirely possible that Cyrus' recent bizarre antics are all a setup. Yes, it's a way to create attention, but not solely for attention's sake. Cyrus may have a longer game in mind.” Mansfield believes that Cyrus is setting herself up to be hated and condemned for being crazy, just so that she can later turn around and become “sane” again, because the only thing the tabloids love more than a downward spiral is a comeback. Mansfield concludes that it
has to all be an act because she has the complete and total support of her parents and family backing her. It would not be surprising either, as Cyrus herself has said that every move she has made is part of the “Movement,” which she says is her greater plan to reinvent pop music on her own terms. (Miley:The Movement) It can be relieving at first when we hear, straight from the horse's mouth, that all of her antics are part of an act. But, because everything up to this point has proven Cyrus to be exactly like Hamlet, we are inclined to wonder, how long does it take for a person who is only acting crazy to actually become crazy? Cyrus is still in the midst of her machinations, but Hamlet's plans did not end in success. In her article, “Hamlet's Insanity,” Paige Tyrell states, “What began as Hamlet's folly of feigned madness becomes his reality. In the end, the insane Hamlet is unaware of the complete and utter chaos that he inflicts on himself and everyone he loves.” The play ends with almost every important character dying. Hamlet's plan for revenge never came to fruition because it ended up costing his own life as well. They say that life often imitates art, but hopefully Miley Cyrus' “Movement” does not have the tragic ending of Hamlet.
While Hamlet ends tragically, the one good thing about Hollywood is that it is always forthcoming with unlimited opportunities for redemption. Even if Cyrus' false acts become her reality, the similarities between her and Hamlet probably stop at their plots of madness in order to further their goals. It seems highly unlikely that Miley Cyrus' fake craziness will lead to her dying from a poisoned sword in a duel. It can serve as a warning metaphor for her though to be aware not to let her fake craziness become real craziness. As Leonardo DiCaprio has his totem to remind him of the real world when he is inside of a dream in Inception, hopefully Cyrus has a totem of her own to keep her reality in check. Also, unlike Hamlet, it seems that she has been able to mend and rebuild the relationships she shares with her parents, a luxury that Hamlet did not get to have before his death. Because Cyrus has
been able to let her parents back in, it seems as if she is simply using the “child star syndrome” model as a way to further her ultimate goals, goals which we may not come to realize for a long time, as we are just the Poloniuses to her Hamlet; observers of her ploys of madness who can understand what is happening but can never fully see what is to come.
Works Cited
Hamlet. The New Folger Library Shakespeare. New York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks. 2012.
Youngson, Robert M. The Madness of Prince Hamlet & Other Extraordinary States of Mind. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers Inc. 1999. Print.
Blasberg, Derek. “Miley Goes Bang” harpersbazaar.com. http://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/news/miley-cyrus-interview-1013. 16 September 2013
Crawford, Alexander W. “Hamlet's Antic Disposition” shakespeare-online.com. http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet/antichamlet.html . 20 August 2009
Koenig, Abby. “Miley Cyrus Wants You to Think She Is Crazy, Which Means She Is Not” http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2013/03/miley_cyrus_wants_you_to_think.php . 26 March 2013
Mansfield, Brian. “Why Miley Cyrus Isn't as Crazy as You Think She Is” usatoday.com. http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/09/22/why-miley-cyrus-isnt-as-crazy- as-you-think-she-is/2848917/. 22 September 2013
Meyers, Laura Marie. “The 22 Best Quotes From Miley Cyrus' Rolling Stone Interview” popsugar.com. http://www.popsugar.com/Miley-Cyrus-Rolling-Stone-Interview-2013- 31923380 . 24 September 2013
Tyrell, Paige. “Hamlet's Insanity” http://paigetyrrell.hubpages.com/hub/Hamlets-Insanity . 27 January 2011
Williams, Mara. “7 Reasons Child Stars Go Crazy (An Insider's Perspective)” cracked.com. http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insidersperspective/ . 28 May 2013
Miley:The Movement. Dir. Paul Bozymowski. MTV. 2013
