http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/20/gabby-sidibe-cover-girl.html
While the mass media leading the wave, it also always stand in the teeth of the storm. There is no right thing for mass media to do. Traditional fashion magazines are one of the kinds of mass media that usually involved in controversy. They are often be blamed for sending wrong messages, such as all beautiful girls and women are thin, women are born for shopping, and perfecting body image is of crucial importance in attracting men, to the society. However, when they try to run opposite to their traditional ways, they would be accused of conspiracy. Elle magazine is recently stuck in controversy for this reason.
Elle is under fire for putting Gaborey Sidibe on the cover of one quater of its October issue. Gaborey Sidibe is a talented Oscar-nominated African-American actress. Gabourey Sidibe first made her name last year by her outstanding performance in the film Precious. According to Wikipedia, Sidibe plays the protagonist Claireece "Precious" Jones in the film Precious which is based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire. Claireece is an uneducated 16-year-old girl who also suffers from obeseness. She also has given birth to two children after being raped by her own father and tries to get rid of her parents’ hands.(1) It was this role that earned Sidibe a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actress which is an high achievement for new actresses like her. “The film won numerous awards, including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Award.On December 15, 2009, she was nominated for a Golden Globe in the category of Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Drama for her performance in Precious. On April 24, 2010, Sidibe hosted Saturday Night Live with musical guest MGMT.”(1)
In celebrating its 25th anniversary, Elle selected Gabourey Sidibe as one of the Hollywood’s favorite 25-year-old actress and put her on its cover. (2) Elle published four different covers and the other three girls that appeared on the covers of this issue were Lauren Conrad, Megan Fox, and Amanda Seyfried.(3) Yes, of all the other three girls, none is of the same type as Gabby; actually, compared to Gabby, they are from the same box: typical it-girls of Hollywood, thin, and white.(3) Elle is thus drawn into the vortex of controversy. With only a few of people cheer on Gabby’s appearance on the cover which is usually only available for white celerities, most people accused Elle of making joke on Gabby.
Many people pointed out that Gabby looks much lighter on the cover than she looks on the cover of Ebony. So Elle is accused of having lightened her skin in order to make her more like an Elle-cover-girl which is usually the type of the other three girls. However, Elle denied such accusation and said "Nothing out of the ordinary was done. We have four separate covers this month and Gabby's cover was not retouched any more or less than the others.” (3)
In addition, Elle was also blamed for treating Gabby differently from the other cover girls. Take a look at all the four covers and it is not hard to notice that while Megan,Lauren, and Amanda were given knee-up shots with enough margins, Gabby was shown above chest and her body image almost occupied the whole cover.(3) Does this suggest that Elle meant to hide Gabby’s non-size-2 figure and make her look narrower?
Furthermore, some people believed that Gabby was on the cover simply because Elle wanted to increase its diversity. (4)Previously, another fashion magazine, Vanity Fair, was charged of racism for its cover of March,2010 issue. In the name of “A New Decade, A New Hollywood!”, the cover story of Vanity Fair’s March issue picked several hot stars who are all white and thin. New hot stars like Gabby who is fat and non-white were left out. People thus blamed Vanity Fair for suggesting that only white thin chicks can be counted as new muses. (5) Therefore, it may be possible that Elle used Gabby as a tool to avoid being racist.
Allison Samuels, the author of the Newsweek article, highly suspected the real reason lying behind Elle’s choice. Why Gabby gained a lot of attention from the White world but no other African-American actresses, who had the same accomplishment as Gabby, had done before? She thinks that Gabby, at present, cannot be the African-American actress with the highest achievement. So Elle felt free to put Gabby on its cover may because Gabby, without the traditional beauty of Black women, could mean no harm to the domain White female beauty. Allison also afraid that Elle might send wrong information with Gabby’s cover suggesting that this represents Black beauty. (5)
However, I think Elle, unfortunately, was caught into an non-win situation by public. Elle would be blamed with or without Gabby for being racist in both cases. Gabby is a gifted actress as well as the other cover girls but with completely different types of beauty. There is nothing reprochable here that Elle tried to display Gabby’s beauty in a different way since what works for the other girls may not work for Gabby. And why should Elle provide the same Gabby as she was on the cover of Ebony? While Allison question Gabby’s appearance on the cover of Elle because many other African-American actress did not make it, I view Gabby’s appearance as sign of more and more African-American girls will make it. Isn’t it a great progress that Elle has made to diversify its message to the society? I also think that, in this controversy, it was not Elle that should be blamed but the team behind Gabby, as Geneva S. Thomas also pointed out. Her team members must know what is the best way to show her beauty and what kind of Gabby does the public want. Why they did not stop Elle making Gabby’s appearance look wrong, especially with Gabby’s hair which is a big deal to African-American women? (2)
It seems that people who are identified or self-identified as weaker group usually think it is of crucial importance to gain respect from the stronger group while ignore their own importance. As we have read in Feminism Old Wave And New Wave by Ellen DuBois, feminists tried to win women rights by gaining respect from the major society which meant the male-dominated society. During Civil War, many women actively participated in the “patriotic work” to show their “political seriousness” and abilities. Because they believe, their rights would be gained once men realized their functions in the evolution. However, such expectation was failed. And feminists gradually realized that “the oppression of women was not top priority for anyone but women themselves” because men just do not bother to care about that. (6)
Similarly, Black women tend to seek places in the White-dominated society to prove their importance. However, I think it is more practicable for Black women to create their own fashion industry than to demand their places in present White-dominated fashion industry. First, as men do not care about women’s rights, the White-dominated fashion industry does not care about African-American women’s appearance within it. On the other hand, fashion is something that strongly connected with exterior characteristics. Since White fashion is often created primarily for White women, it does not fit Black women. Just like we Asian girls would better not to dress the same as White women for we have different characteristics, Black girls should create and follow their own fashion trend. And ”mainstream has always have a fascination with the so-called exotic look of very dark skin, fuller lips, and broader noses”(4). With their own Black fashion directors, Black women can show their true beauty to the world without disguise by White fashion directors. African-American women also have their own gifts that envied by people from other communities. As we have read in You Go, Girl, many white women envy “hip, funny, and sassy Black women”(7. P147) such as Oprah Winfrey and Wanda Sykes who can even make their voices “in the mainstream culture”(7. P127). Although I have just been the States for a month, I also found that many fellow Black girls are witty and gifted in acting and dancing. For example, in my acting class, a Black girl always surprises me with her improvisation and good sense of rhythm.
As Allison says in the Newsweek article: “Hollywood and the fashion just don’t care.” So why do Black women care about them? Since places are often available for black women in films made by African-American directors, then train and support more directors of this origin.
Sources:
“Gabourey Sidibe” Wikipedia. 23 September 2010 at 00:16. 26 September 2010.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabourey_Sidibe
(2) “Gabby Sidibe’s Elle Cover Is Another Reason Why Black Fashion Directors Are Necessary”. By Geneva S. Thomas. 10 September, 2010. 26 September 2010.
http://clutchmagonline.com/newsgossipinfo/gabby-sidibes-elle-cover-is-another-reason-why-black-fashion-directors-are-necessary/
(3) “Was Gabourey Sidibe's skin lightened for the cover of ELLE?” By Jennifer Romolini, Shine Staff. 15 September 2010 at 12:57pm. 28 September 2010.
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/was-gabourey-sidibes-skin-lightened-for-the- cover-of-elle-2391180/
“Gabby Sidibe: Cover Girl?” By Allison Samuels. 20 September 2010. 26 September 2010.
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/20/gabby-sidibe-cover-girl.html
(5)”Vanity Fair's "Racist" March Hollywood Magazine Cover: Too White for 2010?” By Jaimie Mancham-Case. 03 February 2010. 26 September 2010.
http://www.examiner.com/movie-in-los-angeles/vanity-fair-s-racist-march-hollywood-magazine-cover-too-white-for-2010-photo
(6)”Feminism Old Wave And New Wave”. By Ellen Dubois. First circulated in 1971.
(7)”Enlightened Sexism”. By Susan J. Douglas. First edition 2010.
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