Vanity Fair: The Pretty White Girl Issue

[Label Basher]

"Young Hollywood" Is White, Thin



What does "Young Hollywood" look like? According to Vanity Fair, it's pretty, thin, female and white.

Amanda Seyfried, Anna Kendrick, Kristen Stewart, Carey Mulligan, Abbie Cornish, Rebecca Hall, Emma Stone, Mia Wasikowska, Evan Rachel Wood: There's not a single woman of color on the cover of Vanity Fair's "Young Hollywood" issue. Two of the ladies — Kristen Stewart and Amanda Seyfried — were already on the August 2008 "Hollywood's New Wave." issue. There were two women of color — Zoe Saldana, America Ferrara — on the cover of 2008's "Hollywood Issue," but apparently the next decade is not about diversity.

VF's "Young Hollywood" is much like the golden age of Hollywood: There was a fetishization of the lithe, gorgeous, virginal ingenue, whose virtues and ambitions were pure, and therefore desirable. You either wanted to be her or sleep with her. She was the photographed wearing white, and her "All-American" good looks meant that she was a WASP or a fresh-faced farmgirl. Certainly not black, definitely not fat, and never both. Looking at the March 2010 issue, has anything changed? Even Evgenia Peretz's descriptions of the actresses — "Ivory-soap-girl features," "patrician looks" "dewy, wide-eyed loveliness" — reinforce the idea that a successful actress is a pretty, aristocratic-looking (read: white) actress.

It's hard to say if fault lies with the editors of the magazine, or with Hollywood itself — trying to come up with some projects employing new, young Asian, black or Latin actors and actresses is a tough exercise. The few names which come to mind — Jaden Smith (The Pursuit Of Happiness, The Kung-Fu Kid), Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire, Julian Schnabel's Miral, Woody Allen's next film), Gianna Jun (Blood: The Last Vampire, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan) — are up-and-comers with just a few roles under their belts. The Hurt Locker's Anthony Mackie recently did a Q&A with VF.

Gabourey Sidibe — cover girl for the March issue of Ebony — is an obvious choice, though she admits in the accompanying interview:

"I don't try to live up to the standards of Hollywood or any of that – I know that I'm different and I celebrate it. In a weird way, I kind of really, really love being the alien in the room. I dig it."

And it's good that Gabby doesn't care about living up to Hollywood standards. Because judging from the VF cover, the "Hollywood" standards need to change.

jezebel.com

[xerq]

this was bound to happen.VF was just asking for it. i'm so surprised at how little attention Zoe Saldana is getting for someone in the highest grossing film on earth.

[KINGofVERSAILLES]

Originally Posted by Cinthia

you honestly believe only causasian actresses represent the future of hollywood?

I think that there are many extremely talented actresses on the cover and why should one of them be left off to make way for someone else for the sake of "diversity". I don't honestly think Gabourey Sidibe is going to have a long-lasting career. She's only been in 1 movie. Every other actress on this issue's cover has been working for years in the movie-making industry. I know there are other women besides Gabourey Sidibe, but she's the one that sprang to mind. I don't like the idea of diversity for the sake of diversity. Whoever merits the cover merits the cover. It doesn't have to turn into a "omg, they're all white!" thing. A completely non-racist society would accept individuals as individuals. Skin color doesn't matter. So if they're all white, that's fine. If they're all black, that's fine. If they're all middle-eastern, that's fine. etc. Vanity Fair has had non-Caucasian women on their Hollywood Issue covers before.

[Kenysha75]

Every year, Annie Leibovitz shoots Vanity Fair's "New Hollywood" issue and this year's cover makes a BYU class picture look like a Benetton ad. I mean, couldn't they have thrown Gabby Sidibe (DUCK!) in there? Or Manny from Modern Family (I'm dead serious)? Or Mimi's Precious moustache? Or sh*t, they could've slapped a wig on John Cho, slipped him in a Stepford Wifey gown and put him up there.

Anyway, here's the lovely ladies who made the cover. From left to right above: Carey Mulligan, a sad lesbian clown, Abbie Cornish, Mia Wasikowska, Amanda Seyfried, Rebecca Hall, Emma Stone, Evan Rachel Wood and Anna Kendrick.
dlisted.com

[Elfinkova]

I love this article.

[Katnani]

the cover is sooo funny...

[fantastical]

every year they do this. my goodness are there NO other races of up and coming actresses? vanity fair I'm going to need you to do better in 2010!

[Karen0193]

Originally Posted by Elfinkova

I love this article.

me too, especially a sad lesbian clown I like Kirsten but I admit I loled so hard when I read that.

[Nemova]

The look on Evan Rachel Wood's face on both pictures... I don't know why or how people like this girl.

[tullepen]

I don't think ANY of them are pretty..it's more like For Some Reason ,We Put These Mildly Attractive Women On the Cover.We hope it sells..

[Elfinkova]

^ I think Abbie and Evan Rachel Wood are the only gorgeous ones there.

[Cammy]

Oh i said something about this in carey mulligans thread.... its so boring and they all look so uncomfortable. Its almost a bit painful its so phony..

[eternitygoddess]

To be fair, they all are rising actresses with a good amount of talent and films to prove it.

[Elfinkova]

^ Definitely! They look like they despise each other.

[ponytrot]

Mila Kunis (among others) deserve this cover too.

But meh. Its Vanity Fair, and the article is too true. The pretty WHITE girl issue.