Thursday, October 15, 2009



Blackface uproar over unpleasant pictures in a French magazine



The rest of the world just does not share America's race neurosis. See the model concerned in a pristine state here (Not safe for work)
"The fashion bible Vogue Paris has joined Hey Hey It's Saturday in sparking controversy and outrage in Europe and the US over the use of a famous, pale skinned model who was painted black for a shoot.

Known for its attention-seeking spreads – the magazine has also used tobacco puffing models made up and dressed to look pregnant – the October edition shows Dutch supermodel Lara Stone posing in dark paint and light lips.

Styled by the magazine's veteran editor-in-chief, Carine Roitfeld, and shot by photographer Steven Klein, the photo spread has sparked a ferocious debate, with bloggers and readers evenly split about the effect and meaning of the images.

In the United States, condemnation was led by blog site Jezebel that accused the magazine of cultural insensitivity. "What Klein and Roitfeld should know … is that painting white people black for the entertainment of other white people is offensive in ways that stand entirely apart from cultural context," Jezebel said.

But readers and bloggers were not all convinced. On The Guardian website, seanthorpe wrote: “The American cultural imperialists of the Anglosphere are out in force again. The same [idiots] tried to get a Nigerian production stopped in the west end because the actors were whiting up. Not everybody who attempts to portray somebody whose skin is a different colour than their own is Al Jolson.”

Source

I think Al Jolson (Asa Yoelson) was brilliant myself -- and anyone disagreeing with that is an antisemite (Heh!). Very incorrect pic of him below:



11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Once again, we see America trying to spread it's addiction to political correctness to the whole world. Most Americans are not smart enough to understand that there is nothing that will deprive them of their freedoms as much as PC has done, and continues to do.

Sharon Stone said...

Personally, i don't find her spread unpleasant at all. ;)

Bobby said...

Vogue is a stupid magazine, why would anyone care about what they do?

Anonymous said...

From the post: "The rest of the world just does not share America's race neurosis."

From the article: "The fashion bible Vogue Paris has joined Hey Hey It's Saturday in sparking controversy and outrage in Europe and the US ....."

Hey wait a second... you mean that there are more people in the world other than Americans that think that this photo shoot was stupid, unnecessary and offensive?

Who would have thought that?

This site goes off the deep end sometimes and this is another example.

No one is calling for Vogue Paris to be shut down, burned, fined or anything.

Vogue Paris has the right to print things that are offensive. The people that are offended have the right to speak out and say "we're offended." Yet this site seems to be saying that criticizing something is somehow a restriction of "free speech" or "free expression."

It isn't.

The Curmudgeon said...

Oh. Mammy!

Bobby said...

"Hey wait a second... you mean that there are more people in the world other than Americans that think that this photo shoot was stupid, unnecessary and offensive?"

---Would you be offended if a sexy girl was holding an AK-47? Were you offended with their girls smoking cigars? What offends one person pleases another.

Personally, I don't like white girls being painted like black girls, but I'm not the editor of Vogue Paris and I'm not under pressure to sell magazines.

What's really offensive is how the fashion industry only uses skinny people plus photo retouching to make them look completely unrealistic.

What's also offensive is going to an Abercrombie & Fitch store and seeing a shirtless salesman as if he was at the beach.

The fashion industry is by nature offensive and immoral, it's ridiculous to expect anything better from them.

Bobby said...

"It's not the fashion industry that's the problem. It's the weak-minded women who are the targets of all this crap. If you print a magazine that tells women you can show them how to lose 30 lbs. in 4 days, you will become very rich. And although they will stay fat, they'll keep buying your magazine."

---I think the blame belongs on both the magazines and the readers. It's a vicious cycle, insecure women read magazines that make them even more insecure.


"The fashion industry is controlled by a handful of goofy queers who just love making people run out and buy their new clothes every six months."

---Well, not every designer is gay, but they are quite prominent. Still, I'm more worried about the magazines than the actual designers, they don't tell Vogue what to do, it's the editors who have that power.

Either way, I do my shopping at Target where I buy no-name brands which are extremely cheap. I will never understand why women and sometimes men buy a famous brand when you can get a perfect imitation for much much less.

Worse is when you see really ugly people wearing overpriced clothes. What's the point? If you're ugly a designer label ain't gonna make you pretty.

Anonymous said...

You ain't a man until you split a black oak!

Mr. Bojangles said...

Anonymous said...
"You ain't a man until you split a black oak!"

Or a black ho, or a black head!

Anonymous said...

Next up the phrase blackhead will be censored even when talking about the skin issue.

Robert said...

Since I first came across it, I just can't help but think of this clip from The Three Stooges whenever blackface comes up:

Mammy! Pappy!