Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have their own magazine. That’s right, America’s favorite identical twins have taken control of another form of media.
What a roller coaster ride it’s been for the Olsens. Television, movies, books, phone lines, video games, their own clothing line and now the glossy glow of a bimonthly periodical. If Howard Stern is the self-proclaimed “King of All Media,” then these two are the supreme intergalactic overlords. It’s not the fact that the teen dynamic duo have their own magazine that bothers me so much, it’s the content that really scares me.
First of all, I can only imagine what these two are really like. Gary Coleman was only on “Different Strokes” and a few made-for-TV movies, and look how he turned out. These two have spent their whole lives under a camera, and though I guess it’s a possibility that they’ve turned out to be well-adjusted members of society, I sincerely doubt it.
What kind of role models do the twins make for the young girls of America? In almost every photo (of which there are countless) of the girls, they look easily five years older than their actual age of 15. Take away their names and the positioning of the magazine between “Tiger Beat” and “Teen Beat,” and one might mistake it for the cover of “Cosmo.”
So you might ask, “What about the articles?” In defense of the Olsens, they do try to “write” articles that reinforce positive female role models. The only problem is that for every article warning young ladies to be aware of the stereotype of the “ultra-slender image of a girl” in media, there are numerous pictures of Mary-Kate and Ashley, each weighing in at a healthy 85 pounds a piece. At least they didn’t put Kate Moss on their list for possible first female presidents.
So what’s the point of picking on these poor girls? The point is this: There is a definite problem with the youth of America today. If you didn’t notice it when you were in high school, then you can take a step back and notice it now. Young girls in our country are growing up idolizing and emulating the likes of the Olsens, and nobody seems to mind.
Show a picture of a waif in a string bikini, and it raises some eyebrows among parents concerned about their daughters’ self-esteem. But the Olsens? They’re nice enough, right?
Actually, the twins have walked in on the ground floor of a very lucrative business — making young girls feel bad about themselves. Girls who already feel well-rounded and secure don’t buy the Olsens’ halter top with matching skirt and sandals. And where the Olsens stop, “Seventeen” and “YM” pick right up. This could be all just be a figment of my imagination, but probably not.
Mary-Kate and Ashley are the Joe Camel of insecurity for a generation of girls growing up in a booming economy. The towheaded twosome are leading the charge for a neo-narcissistic generation, refuting the strides made during that beautiful recession of the early 1990s.
But today, Mom and Dad are bringing home six-figure salaries, and the Olsens are letting the young ladies know how to spend their allowance. Girls aren’t growing up with eating disorders because of a lack of prayer in school or the absence of a flag salute every morning. They’re growing up feeling empty because of the day-by-day assault on their perception of what a woman is supposed to be. Mary-Kate and Ashley obviously aren’t the first to propagate this, but they are the newest.
I always thought that the continuation of Bob Saget’s career would be the worst thing to spawn from “Full House.” I guess not.