mizChartreuse || redefiningSuccess

What do you think of when you see this photo?   Does this image conjure up any implication other than what it liteally is?   Maybe something like this? LeBron James is the third man to appear on Vogue’s cover, and March 2008’s editorial photosoot features several athletes and models in different scenarios, photographed by Annie Leibovitz. LeBron and Gisele Bundchen, both stars with great shape and on top of their game, took several great shots together and look good. However, there has been much speculation, backlash, and criticism regarding the implications of the cover and the chosen pose. LeBron is an intense player, and very passionate. He is also ridiculously well-dressed and sharp. Is this photo depicting his emotion, or is it implying the steroeotype of the black male buck? Or King Kong with the innocent white dainty damsel? I don’t know–he is all muscles and tattoos and bared teeth. Well, Gisele doesn’t look scared or distressed; she looks genuinely happy, not to mention gorgeous. But would Vogue have posed Steve Nash or David Beckham like that? Or Brett Favre or Kobe Bryant? Other photos from the shoot:     Doutzen Kroes and Apolo Ohno:   Shaun White and Daria Werbowy:   Raquel Zimmerman and Jared Rome:     It is a great photoshoot. If you click here you can see all the shots–each couple has a pair of action and still. But my question is, why did they choose that particular photo to be the cover over perhaps this other photo of LeBron and Gisele? … … LeBron is pleased with the cover, saying he was just “showing a little emotion” and that everything his name is on “is going to be criticized in a good way or a bad way; who cares what anyone says?” Yes, the cover may not mean anything, or may not have been intended that way. But regardless of intention, what is to be said of the oversight? I don’t know. People are saying a lot, regardless of whether he thinks it implies anything or not. The following is from Huffington Post: “In a column at ESPN.com, Jemele Hill called the cover “memorable for all the wrong reasons.” But she said in an interview that the image is not unusual — white athletes are generally portrayed smiling or laughing, while black sports figures are given a “beastly sort of vibe.” For example, former NBA star Charles Barkley was depicted breaking free of neck and wrist shackles on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Dennis Rodman graced the cover of Rolling Stone with horns poking out of his forehead and his red tongue hanging out.”    

Magazine covers, especially of those calibers, are not done in a rush.   People have had many different responses, judging from my reading about the cover on blogs and newssites:

–”Lebron is straight up perpetuating a stereotype (that of the brutal, wild savage) that helped enslave, lynch, and murder hundreds of THOUSANDS of our black men for centuries… and I’m just supposed to be content because he made it onto “massa’s” magazine?! Take that weak shit somewhere else.”

–”I would have gone for the more “calm” cover. But not because I’m offended. The other picture just looks stupid. It doesn’t exactly scream VOGUE. More like TESTOSTERONE MONTHLY. ”

–”Never in a million years would I have picked up on this. I thought it was a hideous cover to begin with, but not because of a racial issue.”

–”I don’t know, I didn’t find him scary. Maybe because she seems to be having fun? I’m more annoyed that some people have brains that automatically go “black man”=”king kong”. If it was say, Tom Brady with ’angry scream face’ on the cover would the same comparison have been made?”

–”I don’t think they’d put Tom Brady on a magazine cover with a ’scream’ face. They’d put him in a nice suit and he’d look handsome and calm. But they chose not to do that with a handsome black man. Different issue: athletes and models? How about female athletes? How about male models? Also: I’m over Gisele. Just completely tired of seeing her.”

–”When I saw the cover, I didn’t think it offensive. But of course, I don’t see pictures of black people and IMMEDIATELY ASSOCIATE THEM WITH MONKEY IMAGERY. Goddam. That being said, I do like the composition of the calm photo better. ”

–”I definitely think this is a prime example where racism is kind of forced on a situation where that wasn’t the initial meaning. Lebron is an athlete and I believe that the cover would have been the same with a number of other athletes, white, black, asian, indian, whatever. Sure the cover is pretty crap, but I’m just not feeling the racist undertones. Gisele is smiling and looks to be enjoying the embrace of Lebron (as if anyone WOULDN’T) and isn’t looking as though she’s a scared victim of the big bad black man. I would’ve liked it better had they dressed him up in a fine ass suit, but whatever. He’s still attractive, talented, and is still only the third man to grace the cover of Vogue. So this is where I say, give me a break. ”

–”I definitely think the pic is problematic. Arguments could be made to justify the imagery (he’s playing basketball, she’s modeling, etc), but given the rich history of characterizing black men as animalistic hulks out to steal America’s white women we should probably refrain from making these kinds of images for some time. Her smiling almost makes this worse. The king kong trope says that “unintelligent” white women will be swayed by the raw physicality of “uncivilized” black men before they realize that–oops–they’re sleeping with a gorilla.”  

Anyhow. Everyone will have their own opinions and viewpoints on the matter, so I digress…  

originally posted 3.26.08