Looking through the Vanity Fair covers over the years was somewhat concerning. All of the covers were very airbrushed, photoshopped, and conventionally beautiful. They were also conventionally and predominantly white. This cover in particular sparked my interest. It featured the year's "freshest faces" in Hollywood.
The actresses and actors are all white. It's lacking cultural diversity severely. This was also the year Gabourey Sidibe had her breakthrough performance in the movie Precious.
She received much praise for her work, but she never got the chance to be in this shot. She was actually interviewed for a feature inside the magazine, but wasn't featured on the cover.
She received much praise for her work, but she never got the chance to be in this shot. She was actually interviewed for a feature inside the magazine, but wasn't featured on the cover.
This just perpetuates the "normalcy" of white culture as the assumed and invisible race. Most would not see anything controversial about this magazine cover, but it really glorifies young, thin white women and leaves out anyone that's different. I would love to see more diversity in magazines. This has yet to happen- for example, Rhianna (on the cover of Vogue) was featured, but she was obviously made to look lighter-skinned and dons blonde hair, reminiscent of a prototypical white woman.
I hope that in the future the fashion industry can look beyond what they think is beautiful and normal and utilize their power to perpetuate equality and fairness, which will bring true beauty to the media and world.
I agree that the covers that a lot more popular magazines use are completely photoshopped and only use skinny women.. predominantly white. it is an issue because they wouldn't be using these women for the covers if it wasn't what society as generic whole thinks is "beautiful". The issue is with our culture and society as a whole, obviously not everybody feels like they are what is considered pretty but a majority of people do find these women most appealing to attract their eyes to the cover of their magazines. It's what gets the magazines off the shelves. I think it is in the mindset of society of what is pretty and it needs to be shaped to be a wider spectrum of that definition of pretty. The fashion industry would turn away from these types of girls if society changed their view. I agree that hopefully in years to come this mindset can be altered because it is sad at the generic view people have of what is pretty in society.
ReplyDeleteThis is a topic that I'm pretty interested in and I think you've shed some light on a few important issues. I can't wait for the day when the definition of normalcy for women is no longer 'thin, young, and white'.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I hadn't seen that vogue cover and it's definitely sending shivers down my spine.
The girls on the Vanity Fair cover all pretty much look like clones of each other. I agree with what you said that it obviously lacks diversity. It's sad that I probably wouldn't have even noticed this lack of diversity because I'm so used to seeing the same thing in Hollywood and on magazine covers. That shows a problem in our culture related to race. I also thought the cover of Rihanna was kind of weird. I like her with her darker hair. It’s definitely difficult sometimes to see diversity in our society nowadays.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you all above and yes, I did not realize this until you bring this up. Also, this lack of diversity does not only happen on magazines, but also films. As I am doing this comment, I am also looking at what films are being screened at the mall of america and it seems like none of current films is starring black actors. The most recent one I can think of is....... Columbiana. I guess it's just rare to see diversity in this society these days.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many other talented 'fresh faces'! I think it's bad when I see it but when I'm just glance at it or whatever i don't notice it. But when you really look into this issue, you see it in many places, not only magazines. Another interesting thing that I saw was when they lightened Beyonce's skin color when she was on the cover of a magazine. Apparently it made the cover more looked at and desirable.
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