The race issue comes up again—this time on the cover of Vogue
[Cross-posted] Vogue’s April 2008 cover with the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James and Gisèle Bündchen has been branded by some as being racist. As noted by the Plain Dealer over in Cleveland, Ohio:
LeBron shares the April cover of Vogue magazine with supermodel Gisele Bundchen. It’s been noted by some that his open-mouthed screaming face and the way he is cradling a blond woman in his left hand has racial overtones in its resemblance to an old movie poster of King Kong and captive Fay Wray. Vogue says it chose the photo because it’s “expressive, fun and upbeat.”
Once I got over the bad typography, I had to wonder if this cover furthers stereotypes. Being a minority, I personally didn’t make the connection that Margaret Bernstein and Sarah Crump reported on above. If I imagined the races switched, I also didn’t get much of a reaction—except to note that it would have been unusual for Vogue to feature a woman of colour on its cover, let alone a man of any colour.
However, I wondered: would a black man who isn’t a basketball player have made it? Or one who isn’t dressed as such?
I don’t think it’s necessarily the pose, but whether there is a stereotype at play here. While Mr James has his own line of clothes—which he is modelling in the cover photograph—would a cover showing him in more conservative attire have been chosen?
One blogger gave other examples, and reacted to the photograph:
A tuxedoed LeBron James out on the town with a stylish Gisele photo shoot would do. A Lebron on a couch with a magazine full of him and Gisele on the same couch with a magazine full of her; signifiers that they are man and woman at the top of their professions photo shoot would do. Or, the two in full nightclub gear with him watching her trying to dribble in the low light of an empty Quicken Arena. The possibilities are endless.
And yet LeBron James allowed himself to be captured interminably not as the King James of his profession and rising player in the business world, but as a human King Kong, The Great Nigger whose fame is inextricably tied to how proficiently he puts a leather ball through an iron hoop.
Calling it a modern-day interpretation of King Kong and Fay Wray, Feministe website writer Ali Eteraz referred to the image by Annie Leibovitz as “King James Turned Into King Kong.” She also said the cover “fulfills every racist stereotype in the world: primal screaming, white-girl carrying, black beast.”
Are they seeing something that has escaped the rest of us? It’s the “Shape Issue,” remember? The contrast of the 6-foot-9 James and 5-foot-11 Bundchen seems like nothing more than an innocent pop culture poke at celebrity. Do we really need to read more into it?
As for the comparison to poor Fay Wray, does anyone see Bundchen looking remotely stressed in this shot?
James is the third man to appear on a cover of Vogue (after Richard Gere and George Clooney), and the publisher has defended its choice because it is an issue devoted to size and shape. From the Associated Press:
“Nobody says more about fashion size and shape than Gisele and LeBron,” Vogue spokesman Patrick O’Connell said. “LeBron is an amazing star and athlete that has crossed over into a cultural phenomena.”
To me (being neither black nor white), the King Kong connection, isn’t obvious—but the idea of “the black American good only on the basketball court” seems to be cemented here. Sad, in a year where Americans could be voting in their first black president.
Whatever the case, Vogue seems to have benefited hugely from the publicity, from the blogosphere and sports’ fans who might never have commented on the magazine.
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Comments
Jack: 1.5 billion Chinese and you are a minority? Well I guess it's more of a geography problem. ;) Since when didn't the media need to exploit to sell issues of their publication? Mixed racial marriages are more common so I wouldn't even give it a second thought.
It seems to me as a white guy that the white man can do nothing right...
Black man isn't on the front of the magazine - racists.
Black man is pictured doing what he does - racists.
...It seems that no matter what someone is unhappy. If anything the fuss will have an adverse effect by worrying people about having black men on the cover of things because they know they'll get called racist.
For me, as a guy who has grown up believing we're equal and taking that for granted, things like this trouble me because it's making an issue where there wouldn't be one. If you know what I mean? I wouldn't have thought twice about using pictures of people from any group in my work, but fuss like this sends the message that I can use pictures of white people however I want, but have to tread lightly around anyone else.
where does the 'racist' accusation come from? if it comes from gisele being the 'white' damsel and lebron being the 'black' kingkong, then we're getting it all wrong! fashion is supposed to be fun and must not be taken seriously. this is coming from someone who writes for a fashion magazine. although fashion plays up on the signs of the times, i find no logic on the black vs. white accusation here. they are both non-white to start with.
lebron is simply displaying the 'rage' that is often displayed by someone who's playing serious basketball. any player of any race displays that 'look' all the time when in the zone. is the facial reaction any different for an asian or white player?
also, they are both celebrated for their body and their professions and they are equally on the cover. i don't see an unfair advantage for either of them.
anyone who'll be in the cover will be subject to speculation. it's getting tired, if it was, let's say, shapely queen latifah with justin timberlake on the cover, wouldn't it probably spawn the same kind of reaction?.
i say 'enough already.' let's deal with racism by beginning with things that happen in the everyday, not those captured by klieg lights.
One of my wisest professors in uni told me to always let the data drive my theory, not the other way around. If you have a theory, you can always find data to support it, no matter how you have to cherry-pick and hunt around. He was talking about linguistics, of course, but it applies to most things. And I think we have a case here.
If you have an idea that America is hopelessly and deeply racist, you find the data to support that. Nevermind that we may be about to elect our first black President or that the most powerful woman in this country is black (and neither an athlete nor a musician!)--if you want to find evidence of your grievance, you find it, no matter what.
If this were a King Kong reference, even subliminally, I would expect Gisele to look more scared, or at least less like she's having fun. If the idea is that black people are only athletes (or musicians--we all know blacks have that innate sense of rhythm), then Vogue is kind of an odd choice to promote that ideal considering the prominent position of Andre Leon Talley.
I think it's great just to see someone different on the cover of Vogue. It usually bores the crap out of me, because you can only see so many thin, beautiful-in-the-standard-way white women before it becomes very meh. It would have been even nicer to see LeBron James and, oh, Jennifer Hudson maybe, or what the heck? Michelle Obama. heh.
Pete: point taken. This is an unusual case, because as you say LeBron James is famous for basketball. Vogue can be accused of being racist, however, if you begin counting the covers and the races of the cover girls (there are many considerations here, mind you, and chief among them are what submissions come in to the magazine); so it was inevitable that when a black American finally appeared on the cover it would be scrutinized more deeply and, arguably, more than one might regard as reasonable. I would say this differs with other publications that didn’t have such a noticeable record.
It’s not quite “damned if you do and damned if you don’t”: Vogue (and the rest of us in the media) simply have to be more colourblind, and adopt the very attitude that people like you and me have. There have always been signs that it feels somewhat distant from mere mortals like us.
Owen, I guess this applies to your comment, too. If Vogue was more balanced over the years, then I don’t think we’d have batted an eyelid. GinBaby below mentions this: that the covers are same-again, usually. We in the media have a responsibility to reflect society fairly. While I do not expect this to change overnight—for instance, the sudden introduction of a normal-sized celebrity or the disappearance of airbrushing would have an adverse effect and marginalize the publication—we do need to nudge things in a positive direction.
The core of the ‘racist’ allegations stem from the whole King Kong aspect, which I never saw till I began investigating this more. GinBaby: I agree fully, especially in the age of the internet. And where is the distraught Gisèle?
I hadn't seen this before. Being an old horror movie buff, I instantly picked up on the Kong motif. Personally, I thought it was a play on his basketball nickname, King James, vesus King Kong. I thought it was clever, not racist.
Now, I'm pretty sure that both are clearly having fun. And I doubt that James was forced to do it, or was duped to make himself be interpreted as a 50-foot-gorilla so that whites the world over could snicker at his naivete.
My old boss once said, "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" -- if the hammer you have is the lens of racism, I guess these are the things that become nails that reall aren't.
My only obligation is to treat people ethically. I didn't choose the circumstances in which I was born into and am not responsible for the sins of the world. Racism may be near death but how would we know? With the Rev. Wrights of the world, or David Duke for that matter, as long as they keep re-opening old wounds which have long since healed.
I think, however, there is still some racism out there in the west, though admittedly way less than 50 years ago.
I look at the monkey chants against black players in European football or the simple racial gulf on the issue of ‘Did O. J. do it?’ and I have to wonder.
It's the exaggeration that troubles me Jack. European football fans are well fanatically crazy. I was at a corner store nearby where my folks lived in Carson, CA and saw a Black thirty-something male wearing a T-Shirt extolling the innocence of O J Simpson. Well I think that he's most likely guilty, but my conclusion has nothing to with race. This reminds me of "To Kill a Mocking Bird" Gregory Peck's famous movie. Yes it's a tragedy that some Blacks were convicted or received inadequate legal representation due to racial prejudice. To give O J Simpson a pass solely to get even with past injustices is not only a tragedy but is as great an injustice as the first because it validates the prior ones as acceptable behavior.
I read the original book To Kill a Mockingbird, so I agree with what you are saying.
I personally believe Jason Simpson to be the real killer after a very convincing BBC documentary, itself apparently based on a well written book, which did seem to suggest bias (whether it was racially motivated is another matter; it could well have been because of O. J.’s celebrity status) on the part of the LAPD.
The division between black and white America on O. J.’s guilt (majority of blacks believes he is innocent; majority of whites believes he is guilty) is a good example of how different lenses view the one issue—even though blacks and whites probably saw the same televised coverage of the case.
What are the first two English words that every Italian learns? "Manchester United"!
I was actually kinda disappointed with this issue. I don't see the 'shape' correlation between Gisele Bundchen and Lebron James or Jared Rome and Raquel Zimmerman.
Sigh.
Unfortunately, no one ever answered feedback@vogue.com.
Interesting post Jack.
Interesting posture for a Non-American. First you are correct in your views -- this sort of image is subtle at best, yet - highlights the notion of race, color and the value of liberty. Or, the lack of popular culture freedom for Ethnic-Americans; their image is still for sale, and legacy has little value in America.
If America is free from the bonds of slavery, and hate why keep playing that old negro song. To view, Mr James as a new face in diversity business would allow him respect. A nice suit would have worked well. Vogue is the standard for fashion; why the message of violence, big negro, fair skin female, and rage. I am someone who dwells in urban America.. and can see this theme of race played in the boardrooms of Corporate America. Vogue thought is was cute, hip, edgy, and today. This form of image-making is dangerous to say the least. Imagine the little African-American males that read into the codes of this "Cultural Brand" of imagery. Vogue simply could have reversed the images: presented King James for who he is... They missed a wonderful chance to shift the course of "The Exported American Pop Culture Image "
As an Ethnic-American child I loved Vogue. Until 1970 something, my dear aunt was a fashion designer for the very rich folks around the globe. Life then in New York City, was a wonderful time of exciting diversity, change and struggle. When, my aunt showed her new fashion work it was with her label tags... When she showed me the designs in stores... Well, her little lable tag was gone, replaced with Anglo-American branding.
Maybe next month Vogue's cover will feature 50 cent dressed as the All American Urban School Teacher. That would be real and edgy huh?
Simply: Bill
Mr Yan.. Oh, one more thing ... The web is filled with lots of opinion.. But the fact is: Race Matters, in the words of Dr. West, one of America's academic cultural code readers.
Also race matters to America's children; they are unable to process the complex data of racial struggles, color, economics, and effectual media/ branding plans. For a kid of any Ethnic-American group to see Vogue's Cover image would cause great confusion. Kids can't understand Interment Camps, Slavery or the Pop Culture Presentation of Race: http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content4/children.views.TV.pn.html
We are growing a new breed of youth that have trust issues based on the presentation of Race.
Mr. Yan, thank you for allowing me to share this factual view of America's broken society.
Best,
Simply:bill
I saw humor and whimsy in the cover. A great contrast as well. Am I so out of touch or just a hopeless optimist?
Not exactly. It is a good cover but the fashion heads aren't crazy about it. They've been stingy since they stopped putting just models on the cover.
And Gisele no longer counts.
To view art, without its cultural context, and value discounts the meaning: art is didactic. It can entertain and educate.
Or, cause divides based on race, and class. Vogue's brand is, or was the standard for Fashion Art. They dropped the ball, and Mr James missed his shot at control of the image.
That's the number #1 rule in the image game. Look at Mike..."I want to be Mike", MJ never allowed this level of color branding.
Simply:bill
The only Vogue cover I hated was Madonna as Evita Peron. The Perons were fascists who stole millions from Argentina and extorted money from its citizens. Many died due to the power, which the Perons wielded. Andrew Lloyd Webber is an idiot for glamorizing her but I'm indifferent regarding the exploits of Madonna.
Zak, I don’t think your optimism is misplaced at all. I know you well enough to know that you would never harbour anything near a racist thought, and it is a sign of “colourblindness” (I mean this in a good way) that you see the humour behind the shot. I highlight it having been on the receiving end of racism and knowing how even the subtlest of images can affect those who are less accommodating and perceptive.
I never felt comfortable with the Madonna as Eva Peron casting or, in fact, the glamorizing.
Texas Crude, I totally agree. Vogue doesn’t measure up well compared to how it was when Anna Wintour first took over, or even compared with Liz Tilberis’s EIC reign at Harper’s Bazaar.
Jack,
Yes, Ms. Anna Wintour ushered in a sense of style that reflected on the brand that Vogue shared with pride around the world. The spring issue in her day was FRESH.
But then, Vogue did not have the same pressure to sell pages... Media cost, readership, all effect cover choice.
As a kid I would rush to the news stand each month to look at Vogue. I still have stacks of them at my mother's house. They were one of the first that opened the door for Sir Gordon Parks' wonderful fashion photography.
Yes to advance as one Nation... Well said!
Best,
Peace.
Simply: Bill