Though The Beautiful Life was canceled, it’s perhaps worth noting that a partially naked Bleu figured heavily in its advertising (see my post here for an image), so he garnered a little more prominence (though I can’t get a grip on how to critically position that poster — display of black body, yes, though not threatening, and arguably coded by his intertextual history. I’ll let someone else solve its semiotics …).

Somewhat tangentially, I’ve been reading Mia Mask’s recent book *Divas on Screen,* which retreads and reconsiders some of the ways in which Dorothy Dandridge (and other black film stars, including Halle Berry) were able to become such huge stars in part because of their role as idols of consumption, especially within the burgeoning black middle class (both in the 1950s and today). In other words, Disney knows that it needs stars to whom young Latinas can identity, because it knows that said girls will buy products, whether their own (DVDs, records, dolls) or those of their conglomerate subsidiaries and advertisers. Boys, on the other hand, can’t be relied upon to be consuming subjects — unless we’re talking video games.

Also interesting: wouldn’t girls and young women of color want or appreciate a male protagonist/object of affection whose background is similar to their own, or, to be less prescriptive, not ALWAYS WHITE?

You touch on it briefly, but your post brings to mind way in which Miley Cyrus’ whiteness is often constructed as something tied to rural, “down-home” America, particularly in relation to the Hannah Montana franchise. Of course, her father’s earlier success as a country music singer is at play here, but what’s also interesting is the way that the rural (often in the form of Miley’s “true” home of Tennessee) is positioned in contrast with the “big city;” her grandmother’s country house instills her with values, where the big city (aka Hollywood) taints her with materialism, greed, and selfishness. It’s hardly a new theme, but it’s certainly important in maintaining her “grounded,” safe status as a young star. I.e. when she gets swept up in Hollywood, her family in Tennessee reminds her of her roots and what it is to be a “normal girl.” That’s important for her star image, and also one that I think is important when thinking about just how the “All-AMerican” might be differentiated from “E.A.” If part of Hudgens or Lovato’s show or star narratives, might the urban v. rural theme have a completely different dynamic? How are concerns about stardom (and the excesses that Hollywood might bring) disarmed for Hudgens or Lovato? Do their “roots” play a part in that?