Vogue is racist?
March 20th, 200811 commentsEmail this
Vogue’s cover of a very game Lebron James clutching smiling supermodel Gisele Bundchen has sparked outrage among a few citizens. People shouting racism claim the photo evokes a racial stereotype of the “black beast clutching a white damsel in distress” [Gisele is Brazilian...], made famous by Emmanuel Fremiet’s sculpture and King Kong. Lebron is the third man and first black man to ever grace the cover in Vogue’s 115 years.
“Here you have an image of a black male athlete in an exceptionally aggressive stance, wide footed, bending over, clutching her with his arm,†said Jason Rosenfeld, professor of art history at Marymount Manhattan College. “It’s one thing to have an athlete in that kind of pose and with that kind of expression on a court after he or she has done something miraculous. It’s another thing to couple it with someone who is of an entirely different ilk and gender. That turns it into a racially charged image.â€
Vogue says the magazine is celebrating diversity and people are making something out of nothing.
“It’s so exhausting that every time people see an image of a black person they work themselves into a tizzy that somehow it doesn’t adhere to the way in which they think a black person should be presented,†she said.
“Needless to say, the intention from the beginning was only to depict LeBron and Gisele as superstars at the top of their game,†Vogue spokesperson Patrick O’Connell said. “The point about the entire issue is that it celebrates diversity. And I think that people need to look at the entire issue.â€
You know what’s racist? Making Lebron bounce a basketball in the picture. Why do all black men have to be basketball players. Why can’t he just wear a top hat and monocle and swing a cane around like on a normal Vogue cover. What? Lebron is a basketball player? Oh… I, uh, still stand by my statement.
By the way, where ARE all the white women at?
Anyone believing the cover of this magazine is racist is a racist themselves. Get over it and go on with your life. It’s only a magazine, and a shitty one at that.
The cover photo Vogue opted to use:
http://theblemish.com/images/2008/03/lebron-vogue.jpg
The April 2008 Vogue cover is supremely naive to the real racial dichotomies of “this” world… It’s a powerful allusion to King Kong and Fay Wray. And poor Lebron James doesn’t want to (or is too stupid or too vain or too deluded to) admit that he bears a resemblance to a gorilla in that particular pose. That’s understandable on his part to take the: “My @#$% don’t stink route”. But, keep in mind that images can be manipulated to make anyone look like anything…
There are so many other allusions to KK going on in the photo that I would waste my word count doing an inventory of them… For instance, why does Lebowitz have Giselle posing like some stiff doll in Lebron’s “hand”? Not his arms…his HAND….it’s like all of her weight is effortlessly supported by his fingertips. Also, notice how she is holding her arm. And, pay attention to those jungle sandals she’s wearing and that ropey, mass of blond ringlets…A direct allusion to the film. The photo’s intent is also highly nuanced on down to Lebron’s savage, teeth gnashing expression contrasted with Giselle’s Doris Day “tra-la-la” laughing, unconcerned smile. She knows her Kong won’t hurt her…”good Kong”. Rather an unlikely “couple”, in the traditional sense of the word.
Vogue has NEVER featured a black man on its cover… And, its been around since 1914… Now, all of a sudden, this odd photo cover pops up…
Check out the photo they (Vogue)could have used at:
http://jezebel.com/assets/resources/2008/03/lebrongisele031708.jpg
Now,look at the photo they DID use at:
http://jezebel.com/assets/resources/2008/03/lebrongisele031708.jpg
Compare it to a picture of King Kong found on Google Images at:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6c/King_kong_1976_movie_poster.jpg/200px-King_kong_1976_movie_poster.jpg
Hmmmmmmm…….. What’s going on here? THIS:
Any attempts to “white” wash Lebowitz’s and Vogue’s clear affront to the dignity of Black People deserves this retort : Maybe we shouldn’t end with “imagining” that any racially insensitive statements were being made with the Lebron James cover ; maybe we should also delve deeper and ponder whether or not the Holocaust actually happened… I would love to see Lebowitz come up with a cover of a Shylock-type character holding a pound of (pig) skin in one hand and a fist full of gold coins in the other as he smiles gleefully…How about seeing if Robin Williams is free? The headliner could read: “Was It All Hype??” And,… inside, you would have bone thin models sporting concentration camp outfits with planter soil rubbed onto their ruddy cheeks as they smile their carefree smiles and give their High Fashion poses around the deserted grounds of Auschwitz.
How artistic! And,… boy! If I had a penny for every stupid,hateful person on this
planet, would be richer than God…or at least, Oprah.
What do you suppose the response of the Jewish community would be?
I urge anyone smart enough to see and to be offended by this blatant insult to people of color to contact : http://www.naacp.org
Make your thoughts known to them and perhaps we can see justice rule the day in this particular incident.
God Bless.
I once took a shit, when I looked into the bowl I noticed it looked like a little brown fetus. I was going to get a camera and take picture of it. IT was living art after all. However, I chose to flush that little brown life form. I’m sure it melted away in the septic tank into a melding of brown sludge.
That brown sludge is very much representitive of the world. All constanly melding together.
The NAACP would like to stop that melding with their racist agenda. They would like to seperate all the shit into little pigeon holes. Some shit if it’s darker we give special treatment too. Other shit if it’s lighter, we treat it like shit and flush it.
Another time, the day after drinking a 12 pack of Beast Ice ( a bad idea BTW), I took a shit, it looked like a nice berber carpet with brown grape like globs floating throughout. That was also a very artistic shit. I didn’t treat that shit any different. I flush it too.
I’m saddened when I flush artistic shit, but since I’m not a shit-racist, I flush it just the same.
If there was some way to preserve and treat each shit differently I would. But in a world of billions of piles of shit, it’s just not possible.
I would say shit with corn in it could be scooped up and possibly planted…and there-fore recycled, to end up in the bowl once again. Sort of like the way trailer trash breeds and half educated NAACP proponents keep popping up complaining.
Ahh, just wanted to point out something. Brazilian is not an ethnicity, but rather a nationality. Giselle is white, her descendants are from Portugal and don’t go saing then she’s Portuguese cause that too is a nationality. Just thought I’d shed some light.
Portugese? she is rather obviously german! (no im not german im scottish) but i agree with the ethnicity point you made….
they just speak portugese doesnt mean thaey all have portugese ancestry )both of gisele’s parents speak german)
i don’t think there is anything wrong with the cover and I’m black.
I bet he could fit that pickle in his butt?
-DontWant
I might buy that mag, but only if there is a shot of Lebron pulling his shorts down and a 12″ mandingo cock was flopping out; then, at the same time a look of shock and horror on skinny assed Gazelle’s face.
Shot two:
Seeing him chase her around with it “WHOA WHOA WHOA you skinny white bitch. I’m gonna split you open from chitlins clear back to your turd squriter!”
Then a third shot:
Her face white, eyes rolled back in her head, in a cock induced coma.
Yeah, yeah…Hehe, then Bevis and Butthead could run in and do their head-banging and ass shaking dance!
That would be cool.
Vogue would really rock then!
They should make you their editor to make them more “edgy”
That wouldn’t be a good idea: it would all end very badly.
Vogue would become a bi-sexual version Hustler.
There are so many gay men working in fashion, with my love of anal sex things would get messy quickly.
I would end up seduced and loved-up by some young girly-man.
This new found proclivity for bi-sexuality would lead to Vogue presenting bizzare content.
At that point a whole issue would end up looking like the “Ta-Da” moment of an Aristocrats joke with a moderate amount of fashion content.
A man has to must his limitations….
Here end-eth the lesson grasshopper.