Gimme Shelter

Vanessa Hudgens has been on a campaign to prove she's an adult... this is a trend among Disney stars like Hudgens, Miley Cyrus, and Selena Gomez. After her High School Musical career, Hudgens developed her acting career choosing increasingly mature projects like Beastly, Sucker Punch, Spring Breaker (for which she released a song to go along with called $$$ex), The Frozen Ground, and now Gimme Shelter... The last two projects, she started showing something about herself that had been missing before and is still missing from her Disney channel counterparts: Maturity.

Apple Bailey tells herself she is not afraid again and again. She has suffered from foster home to foster home, being subjected to abuse, humiliation, and selfishness. She ran away from it all but thanks to the system was returned to her drug addicted, abusive mother. Now 16 and still sick of it, she runs away again, seeking a father she never met...looking for love and help during on of the hardest things a 16 year old can go through: a pregnancy. She doesn't even want to consider terminating the pregnancy...despite all the hardships ahead, Apple has had enough of people not accepting responsibility and turning their back on their children. Maybe if she keeps telling herself that she isn't afraid she'll eventually convince herself.

Vanessa Hudgens isn't the greatest of role models. Hollywood isn't known for releasing the most family friendly movies while dealing with serious issues (see Precious or 12 Years A Slave) Abortion, addiction, teenage pregnancy, and abuse are a part of our world. Growing up in a world surrounded by tough issues can be hard. Picking good entertainment in this world can also be tough. Gimme Shelter is a movie that addresses hard issues head on, in a mature, tasteful, and compelling way. It's a movie that every teen in America should see.