Thursday, March 27th, 2008
What Is Wrong With This Picture?
The latest Vogue cover featuring model Gisele Bundchen and NBA star LeBron James has sparked heated controversy concerning racial and sexual stereotypes.
Critics believe that the image represents an abrasive black man grabbing a helpless white woman in distress, while others don’t see any form of racism in the photo.
While all this hype is going on in the media, Gisele was caught carelessly shopping her worries away. I guess in her eyes, any attention is good attention.
Represent tu ideas and take our latest poll!
More Pictures After The Jump!
Email
Digg
Facebook
Does Gisele look “distressed”? Um, no. She’s smiling. How in the world is this photo racist? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve read today.
actually to me it is racist, because the pictures resemble the posters for king kong.
however that is not my biggest problem with the pictures it is because the issue is there shape issue and all the men are athletes and all the women are models. where are the healthy women in the magazine bought mostly by women. it was stupid.
@Coourtney, what does smiling have to do with racism, she is getting paid of course she is going to smile?
I think it is very racist. Courtney, you sound clueless.
This shit is pouring with racism. Whenever these issues come up in the media it just gets shrugged away and it is partly because of people like you courtney. Ignorant people I swear!
Its racist and sexist (lets not forget that). Iris makes a good point about the model/ athlete issue. To me, why cant they have FEMALE athletes (Williams siters would be nice) and MALE models.
Show that women are STRONG, and men should have to be physically scrutinized!
I know Ana! I don’t get why the polls show mostly no answers. He is clearly racist.
The owners of the magazine want to create controversy to sell magazines………….there is nothing racist about this……..please people……..that is ridiculous.
Maybe you are the racist one Angela. People always like to deny racism or pretend it doesnt exist. You people make me sick!
Before I get stepped on for my comments, let me say I love all cultures and people alike. Now… I think it was the photographers intention to make his artistic expression resemble King Kong. I’m sure Lebron and Giselle were aware of it as well. Yes, the picture is controversial, but most artists walk that line anyway. I see this as nothing more than art.
@colocha
So you agree that the intention was to make this whole thing look like King Kong and you still don’t think that’s a racist act???? If you think it’s art then it should be “racist art”
I do agree that those Vogue editors knew exactly what they were doing and I can understand why many black ppl don’t like this cover.
The photo which was taken is symbolic as Lebron James is compared to King Kong. The only comparison would be that Lebron is King of Athletes, as he is one of the few superstar athlete to be on the cover of Vogue, why the racist view? As a black male, I find this cover as an honor, Lebron is the new Michael Jordan, what would you guys suggest? Lebron wearing a ballerina outfit and doing spins? Come on, use your brains!
Looks great to me.
@ Tyrese. No i dont suggest Lebron wear a ballerina outfit, unless he wanted to. The point is that it Promotes and Maintains racial and gender stereotypes. (Like we need that!). Maybe you should study some Sociology to get my point.
Only positive= it creates dialogue.
Miguel,
My response is similar to Tyrese’s. It’s a symbolic form of art. Lebron is also known as ‘King James’ - reference King Kong. Giselle can identify with the fairy-tale ‘danzel in distress’ theme minus the distress, because she’s so delicate and beautiful. It’s simply a form of artistic expression. I can see people taking offense to it because it can be interpreted the wrong way, lebron = monkey, but the people that can’t see further than that, are usually the ones with subconscious race issues. BTW, King Kong could also have been chosen as a theme because Lebron is strong and unstoppable. He gets what he wants. No one can touch him…. Just a thought.
I am with Miguel. Maybe if that was you or a family member being depicted in that light…you would feel differently. Pop culture has made us feel like we need to just except these images and see them as ‘art.’ This is crap!
Thanks, Negrita and Miguel. I agree with your well-written respones.
Don’t be calling me King Kong fool.
im a black women and saw nothing wrong with the cover. colocha is right when saying u must have some subconscious racism going on to see a black man and tie him to a monkey in a racist way. if lebron were white no one would ever say a thing but since he’s black it “must” be a racist thing. he is known as KING james. if giselle was black would it have changed anything? i dunno guys, i wasnt offended until the comparison was brought to my attention…
i would like to thank u for your concern tho! honestly its nice to visit a latino site to find u defending another race and i really do mean that…
everything is wrong with this cover but its not so much racist. i guess more subliminally saying white girls should go after athletes. which is often the case. but thats not what bothers me its just to very contradicting people that have nothing to do with one another. its seems very tacky especially the face lebron is making and the pose. dont get me wrong i respect you both and your careers but not this cover. but when all said and done there are much more worse things to complain about in this world today. lets start voicing our comments about the things that truly matter
That king kong comment is appropriate. no you are not a gorilla or any black person. but it doest resemble the poster. these stars dont realize how they are manipulated in many photos and commercials such as that justin timberlake commercial wheres he is degrated. i feel the same here. but they have to do what there agent tells them. remember a picture is worth a thousand words
@risk you said it better than i ever could. the inside of this issue is probably worse than the cover.
racist? RACIST?! are you kidding me?! the only thing remotely racist about that cover are the people calling it racist and making controversy where none should exist. RACIST?! i seriously cannot believe someone would look at that and pull the race card. it’s that type of mindset that prevents this country from moving forward. it’s a picture of a strong basketball player and a small model. WHAT IN THE WORLD IS RACIST ABOUT THAT?!
@ Ana.. you don’t need a sociology class to see the point of this cover. maybe that sociology class is the problem. it sounds like it’s been implanting in you a desire to quickly call racism when it’s not necessary. i want to personally thank you and your sociology class for doing your part to ensure this country is stuck in a ‘racist’ mindset for a long time to come.