A Night in Heaven
Just recently, I came across a title on Netflix that jarred a long since dormant memory, A Night in Heaven. It came out in 1983, when I was a scant age eight or nine. We had just gotten HBO and Cinemax at some point and we had a subscription to a color printed periodical similar to that of the old TV Guide and I was thumbing through it for local listings. MTV had just arrived as well, I cannot recall my first time viewing anything on that channel, but for some reason I did (and still do) remember seeing the ad for the movie A Night in Heaven. It was a single photo of teen heart throb Christopher Atkins in sort of a John Travolta finger pointing up and down (you know that move, but I don't know what kind of dance move it's called) on a disco light dance floor. Years later, I would actually see this cinematic gem (whose term I use sarcastically, of course). It was about this guy who works nights as a male stripper who has an affair with his community college teacher, played by Christopher Atkins. Atkins would win The Golden Razzie for his performance in this movie, which was well earned by the trite dialogue and limp plot line of the movie (I will leave readers to explore it on their own time if curiosity provokes). I was a kid, I had no idea of just such things, but it does stick in my mind to this day. It wasn't until just recently that I realized why, but now everything is perfectly clear in just such a situation : This was my first sexual experience with a teen idol.
Many have looked at now called tween girls and wonder why they have just such obsessions with teen heartthrobs which causes them to bedeck their bodies with icons and their bedroom walls with images of whoever their idol is. Some argue that this is normal behavior, as we are, after all, just a focus group being marketed to and we are too young or uneducated at that point to recognize just such a fact. Today we worry more about self esteem issues, in that when a tween girl does just such behavior we are damaging them for their actual teen or adulthood self image. We are promoting the cult of celebrity at just such an age, but of course, we didn't know it at the time.
What is the teen idol to us at that age is to appeal to the burgeoning sexuality of our youth without being threatening. You do not know the man or woman in question, but their image is put before us to gaze at without being face to face with that person. Many teen idols past (ex. David Cassidy) were asked to shave their chest hair because chest hair was perceived as too threatening - as in a sign of maturity rather than something plastic. In the past, many were asked to keep their actual relationships with others a secret in order to keep their approachability in play for the viewing audience. John Lennon and Andy Gibb kept their marriages secret from the public for just such a purpose. It's hard to imagine today, as we are more accustomed to paparazzi chasing after celebrities of all kinds even when they are out grocery shopping or walking their dogs in the park, plus digging through their trash to have some kind of connection to them. They are now marketed with a greater aggression and sophistication to the public. Is this a good thing? Not really, but we'll see where we go with it as time progresses.
And just as curiously, as I am now pushing 40, I find myself regressing to just such behaviors. The last ten years has seen a resurgence of that same behavior as an adult. One thing I find in common with all the a-ha fans I have encountered is the that feeling of happiness, the joy that you get to live out the dream that you always wanted but you weren't even old enough to drive a car to get near them. And now, as I found myself crossing the ocean twice in a week, shelling out lots of cash I don't have, and buying stuff on EBay that I will look at once and then put in a folder somewhere, I don't question it. This is living a dream, this is accomplishing what you always thought you never could to actually chase it. It must be a deep seeded need we must have to achieve this, but only a few truly realize it.
And yes, it's a tad on the embarrassing side as well, but I realize now we should thank those like Atkins who chose to embrace it and make something work for them that made others happy. To this day, he says he gets fan letters from adult women who say that they remember him with happiness and he makes them remember a happy time in their lives. Because that's what life is all about, isn't it? Finding some kind of happiness, making it just a little bit better than it already is? And if you don't try, you'll never know. As I was around quite a few middle school girls in recent years with icons of Justin Beiber around their necks, I gave it a smile when they had a slightly embarrassed look on their faces. "No no! I love it!" I told them, and took out my wallet to show them my picture of me with Morten Harket. They asked "Who's that?", I said "An old man. No one you know." Perhaps they will be in just such a club with a grey haired Justin Beiber as I am today.
Many have looked at now called tween girls and wonder why they have just such obsessions with teen heartthrobs which causes them to bedeck their bodies with icons and their bedroom walls with images of whoever their idol is. Some argue that this is normal behavior, as we are, after all, just a focus group being marketed to and we are too young or uneducated at that point to recognize just such a fact. Today we worry more about self esteem issues, in that when a tween girl does just such behavior we are damaging them for their actual teen or adulthood self image. We are promoting the cult of celebrity at just such an age, but of course, we didn't know it at the time.
What is the teen idol to us at that age is to appeal to the burgeoning sexuality of our youth without being threatening. You do not know the man or woman in question, but their image is put before us to gaze at without being face to face with that person. Many teen idols past (ex. David Cassidy) were asked to shave their chest hair because chest hair was perceived as too threatening - as in a sign of maturity rather than something plastic. In the past, many were asked to keep their actual relationships with others a secret in order to keep their approachability in play for the viewing audience. John Lennon and Andy Gibb kept their marriages secret from the public for just such a purpose. It's hard to imagine today, as we are more accustomed to paparazzi chasing after celebrities of all kinds even when they are out grocery shopping or walking their dogs in the park, plus digging through their trash to have some kind of connection to them. They are now marketed with a greater aggression and sophistication to the public. Is this a good thing? Not really, but we'll see where we go with it as time progresses.
And just as curiously, as I am now pushing 40, I find myself regressing to just such behaviors. The last ten years has seen a resurgence of that same behavior as an adult. One thing I find in common with all the a-ha fans I have encountered is the that feeling of happiness, the joy that you get to live out the dream that you always wanted but you weren't even old enough to drive a car to get near them. And now, as I found myself crossing the ocean twice in a week, shelling out lots of cash I don't have, and buying stuff on EBay that I will look at once and then put in a folder somewhere, I don't question it. This is living a dream, this is accomplishing what you always thought you never could to actually chase it. It must be a deep seeded need we must have to achieve this, but only a few truly realize it.
And yes, it's a tad on the embarrassing side as well, but I realize now we should thank those like Atkins who chose to embrace it and make something work for them that made others happy. To this day, he says he gets fan letters from adult women who say that they remember him with happiness and he makes them remember a happy time in their lives. Because that's what life is all about, isn't it? Finding some kind of happiness, making it just a little bit better than it already is? And if you don't try, you'll never know. As I was around quite a few middle school girls in recent years with icons of Justin Beiber around their necks, I gave it a smile when they had a slightly embarrassed look on their faces. "No no! I love it!" I told them, and took out my wallet to show them my picture of me with Morten Harket. They asked "Who's that?", I said "An old man. No one you know." Perhaps they will be in just such a club with a grey haired Justin Beiber as I am today.
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