Last week, The Envelope section of the Los Angeles Times published a cover featuring six top actresses for their story “A Shift in Focus: Actresses Call for a Change in the Way Many Stories Are Told.” The article examined the topic of women in Hollywood and their treatment on screen. Posing on the cover were Jessica Chastain, Margot Robbie, Diane Kruger, Saoirse Ronan, Annette Bening and Kate Winslet.
It shouldn’t be necessary to point out the obvious, but clearly it’s necessary to point out the obvious. pic.twitter.com/FQjLkBiaMy
— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) December 22, 2017
It wasn’t 30 seconds after the cover was published that readers realized they were all white and blonde, except for Chastain. As you can see, this being 2017, they opened Twitter and started smashing on their keyboard.
no editor on that entire staff said "oh, huh, wait a sec?" Not in discussions about the photo, not in booking the photo, not the day of the photo shoot, not looking at proofs, not sending it over for a final look before publication? Dozens of places to stop and reconsider.
— Laura Lorson (@prairielaura) December 22, 2017
Four of the last 8 winners of Best Actress in a "Supporting" role are African American. Viola, Lupita, Octavia & Monique.
— 🌻Norma Francisco Wine (@NormaWine1) December 22, 2017
People also went after the actresses who posed for being so tone deaf. As of yet, only Jessica Chastain has responded. Chastain soaked in the guilt and agreed that there’s a problem that there were no women of color in the photo.
Its a sad look that there's no WOC in this pic of us promoting our female lead films. The industry needs to become more inclusive in its storytelling. What were your favorite WOC lead films this year? I LOVED @salmahayek in #BeatriceAtDinner https://t.co/tzoijwy88q
— Jessica Chastain (@jes_chastain) December 24, 2017
To be fair, Chastain shouldn’t be too hard on herself. Pretty, blonde, white girls are probably the most marginalized group of people in the world. It’s about time they get their due. Sure, women of color may represent at most 5% of Hollywood, but white girls represent 25%. That’s 20% more suffering!