The MTV Video Music Awards, most commonly known as the VMAs, are a series of awards presented by the cable channel MTV in honor of the best music videos of the year. As stated on their website, the statue given to winners “is an astronaut on the moon, one of the earliest representations of MTV”, colloquially called a “moonman”.
Overtime, this award has become greatly coveted by musicians worldwide. The annual MTV VMA ceremony itself draws millions of young people, mostly ranging from teenagers to twenty-year-olds.
According to The Verge, the very first MTV VMAs were held at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall back in 1984 when Madonna performed her hit “Like a Virgin” wearing “a combination bustier/wedding gown, lacy stockings and a garter.” Her outfit may have been considered outrageous at the time but it was nothing compared to the ones seen in this year’s VMAS.
The 2015 MTV VMAs were held on August 30, 2015 at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California with Miley Cyrus as the host. Her outfits, all of which were very revealing and barely-there, included the “metallic silver suspenders, knee-high silver boots and silver Dangerously In Love-esque crystal beaded skirt” she wore on the red carpet according to Time.
An anonymous source stated that she “did not even watch this year’s VMAs but saw plenty of pictures and video recaps of it online and found that some aspects of it were offensive, disgraceful and indecent.”
While many people complained about the clothes some of the stars wore, or rather, did not wear, Sammie March (11) mentioned that “pop music in general right now is pretty wild and explicit” and because of this “it is not unusual to see pop stars wearing outrageous outfits and speaking/singing about topics some people may find inappropriate.” In a way, certain things that were considered to be inappropriate and unacceptable in the past are becoming almost normal and even expected today.
On the other hand, this year’s VMAs were also highly criticized for the messages they were sending to young viewers. Miley Cyrus in particular was responsible for multiple references to marijuana including several in her song “Dooo It!” The phrase “yeah I smoke pot, yeah I love peace” was repeated multiple times along with “loving what you sing, and loving smoking weed.”
As if that was not enough, Miley ate supposed pot brownies with Snoop Dogg in one skit, lit up with a group of friends in another and held up a selfie stick and encouraged the group of people behind her, “Everyone say marijuana!” Newsday even stated that Miley came backstage with a lit joint after the show and passed it around to photographers.
An anonymous source mentioned that in her eyes “the message the VMAs were sending this year was that using marijuana is not only cool but also safe and acceptable” and that this message “was wrong, especially at a time when the use of marijuana is on a rise.”
Yes, the 2015 MTV VMAs were filled with commercials warning young adults about the dangers of drugs but during the show itself, drug references were almost as predominant as the music. Glorifying marijuana, a drug that affects brain development and leads to many other health problems, is inappropriate whether or not you consider it a part of today’s modern culture.
Because the MTV VMAs’ target audience is teenagers and young adults, in order to not offend millions of people, the show needs to be extra careful about the message they are sending to their viewers.
It can easily be said that today’s MTV VMAs are different than the ones in 1984 or in 1998, but have they really changed for the good?
After all, when we discuss the most horrendous and the most beautiful outfits, the successful and not so successful performances and the fact that during this year’s VMAs Kanye West announced that he would be running for president in 2020, it is easy to forget that the actual focus of the MTV Video Music Awards is meant to be honoring the tremendous talent in the music industry.
Antonina (Tosia) L
