Background/summary: This single from teen pop star Miley Cyrus was released on her album Breakout. This catchy song’s video is one of the Web’s most accessed thanks to Cyrus’ Hannah Montana­-fueled star power. Cyrus is especially popular among pre-school and elementary-aged kids, resulting in tremendous influence thanks to their developmental vulnerability.

Discover: What is the message/worldview?

• The video begins with Cyrus and a boyfriend emerging from a movie theater after viewing a “fright night” feature. As they walk and discuss the film, the boy stops and starts to quiver. A confused Cyrus looks on as he morphs horror-film style into a “monster.” In this case, the monster takes on the form of a celebrity-chasing member of the paparazzi, so Cyrus hides in a parking garage while singing to the camera.

• The song then moves on two levels: one visual and one lyrical. On the lyrical side, Cyrus is singing to a curious male friend who seems to want to know everything about her. She sings, “Don’t you wish that you could be a fly on the wall/A creepy little, sneaky little fly on the wall/All my precious secrets, yeah/You’d know them all/Don’t you wish that you could be a fly on the wall.” She proceeds to tell him that, “If you were my boyfriend, I’d be true to you,” making a pledge that “If I make a promise, I’m coming through.”

• On the visual side, Cyrus is sending a message to the paparazzi and the celebrity-obsessed fans who depend on them and the gossip pages to keep them informed as to every little detail of the star’s life. She says they are misinformed: “You don’t understand what it is that makes me tick/But you wish you did,” and “If you only knew what I talked about/When I’m with my friends just hangin’ out/Then you’d have the inside scoop.” However, she says “You’re getting misinformation/Too much hearsay, hearsay.”

• As the video ends, Cyrus retreats from a group of black-clad male dancers who have found her in the garage. Soon after starting to dance, their cameras appear and start snapping. The paparazzi have found her again. She is rescued by her boyfriend as he pulls into the garage in his original character. She hops in his car and they drive off with the paparazzi snapping away wildly. She speaks quickly in typical 16-year-old fashion explaining to him what just happened, telling him she had this weird dream where all these dancers turned into paparazzi. Little does she know that the secrets she’s telling him are being filmed and simulcast on an Internet celebrity gossip site by a small Webcam he’s placed on the dashboard. It seems she can’t trust anybody.

Discern: How does it stand in light of the biblical message/worldview?

• Celebrity is a double-edged sword. For the celebrity, the price of fame and fortune is too often a complete loss of privacy that’s accompanied by an endless stream of speculation and rumor. For the fan, celebrity obsession too often becomes idolatrous worship that’s fueled by a media machine equally obsessed with feeding our worshipful frenzy. While God is no respecter of celebrity, we have established a pecking order that our kids embrace at a very young age. We fuel an unhealthy and diversionary love for celebrity and celebrities that not only leads them to pursue fame and fortune themselves (How many people audition for American Idol every year?), but has them spending their time, money and attention on following the famous rather than following the only One worthy of their worship.

• The Scriptures are clear that we are to tell the truth and avoid lies. Cyrus raises an important issue when she warns listeners to not believe everything they’ve heard. The rumor mill produces harmful and toxic stuff that destroys people and relationships. We are not to bear false witness, and neither are we to engage in double-talk or slander.

• In today’s culture, people are often used by others as a means to an end. In these cases, deception rules. On the one hand, Cyrus reminds us to avoid dispensing easy trust. We must be cautious in our relationships. On the other hand, the song reminds us that our world needs us to be people who model Christ-like honesty, thereby making us trustworthy. Our “yes” should be “yes,” and our “no” should be “no.” Christ’s followers must reflect His glory by building a culture of trust.

Decide: What do I do with it?

• Like much of Cyrus’ music, this is a relatively safe dance-pop song and video that’s void of the type of negative content that typically concerns parents and youth workers. Consequently, this is a great video to use with younger children as a springboard for discussion of issues surrounding celebrity, celebrity obsession, truthfulness, gossip, who or what to worship, and how to treat others. It’s safe for showing and discussing with kids in the home or in a youth group setting.

• Because of its safe content, “Fly On The Wall” is a wonderful video to use for entry-level media literacy efforts with children and younger tweens. Because it raises numerous timely ethical issues, it lends itself well to CPYU’s media evaluation process in How To Use Your Head to Guard Your Heart.

• Idolatry (worshipping created things rather than the Creator) is a very real problem in today’s culture that’s been left largely ignored by a contemporary church that is both materialistic and celebrity obsessed. For that reason, this video might serve as a great spark for discussion among adults of these issues. While the irony is that Cyrus seems to be doing nothing in her own career to avoid feeding her celebrity, there is a sense in which this song provides adults with an “out of the mouths of babes” nugget of wisdom that should make us think twice about our own priorities

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©2008, The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding