America has come a long way. No one doubts that. But the truth is we still have a long way to go. As Levy often pointed out in her book Female Chauvinist Pigs, America’s new wave of “raunch culture” is simply showing us how much farther we have until we reach our ultimate goal as women. The article I chose is about the controversy surrounding the new Vanity Fair magazine cover. Although the cover was intended to show the “new faces” of Hollywood, it instead only showed the new white and thin faces of Hollywood. This concept of the “new Hollywood” is to portray actresses who have blossomed in 2009, however, the fine print included a mandatory skin color and waist size. Even America’s most celebrated and successful women still have to battle the issues of women’s rights. Although American women have come very far in their journey to equality, this article proves how much farther America has yet to go.
As previously noted, the intention of the Vanity Fair cover was to portray successful, new and upcoming actresses of 2009. The cover featured actresses like Twilight’s Kristen Stewart and Dear John’s Amanda Seyfried. There were 7 other white, thin actresses who got Vanity Fair’s approval as a face of “New Hollywood.” Immediately after Vanity Fair released their cover, controversy arose. Two obviously successful actresses of 2009 were left out, Gabourey Sidibe from Precious and Zoe Valdana from Avatar. Both had leading roles in incredibly successful movies, yet they both fell short of the cut. Both Sidibe and Valdana are black, and the star role in Precious is a little more on the heavier side. Is American pop culture more behind that we think? Access Hollywood got Valdana’s side of the story. Of course, Valdana responded very well and said that she thinks these types of magazines will eventually become more diverse. She was very positive about the whole situation, said that we should give America more credit, and noted that these comments are focusing on the wrong issue. Valdana believes that people need to be more grateful to America.
This lack of color on Vanity Fair’s new cover is quite obvious. Here is a small PICTURE of the cover. It was noted in this article, that Sidibe did appear in the magazine, she just was not good enough to make it on the cover. Again, the overall image the cover is trying to portray is obvious. It would be foolish to think that Vanity Fair wasn’t aware of the overwhelming white in the photo, but also difficult to belief that they would ignore this fact all together. It’s been decades since America’s dealt with African American discrimination, right? Clearly, Valdana is being much too optimistic. It is the year 2010, don’t you think this racism business is getting a bit old. And this whole notion of the perfect woman being a size 2: that concern seems to be getting worse as time goes on. This whole controversy feeds into what we have been talking about in class. Although we have come quite some way since women first starting fighting for equality, there is a long, long way to go.
In Taigi Smith’s article, “A Place Called Home”, Smith comments on her struggles as a black woman. African-American women, especially in the workplace, find themselves as Smith says, “judged on the basis of my color rather than the merits of my work” (Smith, 283). The same goes for Valdana and Sidibe. Both are incredible actresses, breaking the boundaries of Hollywood. Valdana starred in Avatar, the first movie to make more money that the Titanic! Yet both still aren’t getting the recognition they deserve. Although Smith chooses to return to her roots, many successful women who have conformed to society’s standards to remain successful refuse to acknowledge society’s flaws. Valdana, in her comments to Access Hollywood, says she feels grateful for what America has given her. It is the second that successful women choose to be content with what society approves, that women will no longer be able to achieve equality. It seems like Peggy McIntosh’s notion of white privilege applies to celebrities as well.
Maybe women like Sidibe and Valdana do not contest blatant discrimination because they are afraid of what the public may think. In the mid-twentieth century, when women were fighting for equal rights, African-American women faced an even tougher battle. A black woman couldn’t necessarily be a part of both the African-American movement and the women’s movement; she had to choose. It seems like these two successful black women are still dealing with the same problems that were presented over fifty years ago. Back then, African-American women’s fight for women’s rights were extremely different from that of an upper-middle class white woman. Still today, Sidibe and Valdana’s battle is quite different than that of a successful white actress. Note that the culture of Hollywood has constantly featured males as the lead roles since movies were invented. A successful white actress has to fight to be respected amongst all successful actors in Hollywood. An African-American actress has to not only fight to be recognized as a successful actress, but in fact, as a successful Black actress. It is unfortunate that we are facing the same battles that women began fighting decades ago.
And still America hasn’t gotten past the whole big boobs, big butt, tiny waist idea. It can be accurately assumed that successful actress Gabourey Sidibe was not included in the cover because of her size. Two words: Raunch Culture. This whole notion of having to put women on the cover who have society’s idea of a “perfect” body in order to sell magazines is ridiculous. The actresses on the cover all have that stripper body, yet they are being photographed as pure innocent girls. Women are still getting caught up in this whole notion of sexualizing themselves to appeal to men. And society promotes it as well! Clearly Vanity Fair thought that if they put Gabourey Sidibe on the front cover, they’d loose their male audience. It is unfortunate that after all these problems of bulimia and anorexia, popular culture can’t seem to drop this “perfect image.”
Even these successful Hollywood women, who make millions of dollars and seem to have it all, are still faced with the feminist issues of equality. Vanity Fair is not the only magazine that features thin white women on their covers. Yes, Valdana is accurate when she states that America has come a long way. Unfortunately, her optimism is questionable. What else has to happen until a talented woman like Gabourey Sidibe can appear on the cover of a magazine? Until America can look past skin color and pant size, we are nowhere near where we need to be in regards to women’s equal rights.
No comments:
Post a Comment