The Gabourey Sidibe Elle Magazine controversy has been gaining steam in the last few days. At first Elle was criticized for the way Sidibe was photographed on the October cover (the picture is a close up, and does not show her profile like the other cover girls for the month, many believe this is because of Sidibe's weight) but now many have said that Elle also lightened Sidibe's skin. So far, Elle has denied claims that Sidibe 's pictures were treated any differently than the other models, but as criticism rises, it will be interesting to see how Elle deals with this potential PR crisis.
Gabourey Sidibe is an amazing actress that was the star of one of the most successful movies from the previous awards season. I can see how ELLE could be criticized by having her cover picture be the only close up out of the four girls chosen for the covers, but I feel the critics are just tainting what an honor it is for Sidibe to be chosen as one of the most successful females in their 20s. This very well could have been a big PR crisis for ELLE but Sidibe did give out a statement on how she is very happy with the photo shoot and is defending ELLE on their choice of how she was presented in the magazine.
ReplyDeleteI think that in this case it is very interesting that the potential PR conflict was managed directly by the actress herself. ELLE is a magazine that is very popular here in the United States and is read by many women and men. Magazines that are so heavily involved in the public and especially involved in Hollywood have a reputation of concentrating on what is beautiful to the standards of Hollywood. Gabourey Sidibe does not fulfill the stereotypes of a young, beautiful actress (according to Hollywood) and I believe that this is the exact reason why her picture was cropped so much especially when compared to Lauren Conrad's full body cover photo.
ReplyDeleteThis situation had the potential to outrage women who are larger than a size 0 (which is most of us out there), women who do not fit the mold of having perfect skin, perfect hair, and a perfect smile (according to Hollywood), and even women of color. I am glad that this did not turn into a large issue, but it should be noted that it definitely had that potential.
ELLE was probably wrong to assume that American women (and the male contingent of ELLE readers) would be averse to buying the magazine if it had a full body cover photo of Sidibe (why else would they not?).
ReplyDeleteI think this was an opportunity that ELLE missed to garner FAVORABLE news coverage for breaking the mold and celebrating diversity (of body size, shape and color!).
As an American woman (who doesn't usually read ELLE), I just might have bought the magazine if they had given the cover a chance to show an alternative (and closer to reality) version of beauty, rather than tout the Hollywood status quo of beautiful = white, blond, and skinny.