Minorities in Hollywood

[crankykate]

Alison Elliott was in The Wings of the Dove (opposite Helena Bonham Carter) back in the day. She was pretty good in it, and I was kind of surprised that she fell off the radar as quickly and thoroughly as she did.

Topic: Someone in another thread hypothesized that VF made their cover so lily-white on the grounds that any publicity is good publicity, and producing a cover that looks like the Tri-Delt Spring Picnic ca. 1955 in a year that saw Gabby Sidibe earn an Oscar nom and Zoe Saldana rock the house in two of the biggest films of the year would be a sure way to get people talking. And people are certainly talking -- I haven't seen this much interest in the VF Young Hollywood issue in years. I'm just cynical enough to think there might be something to this argument.

[batmom]

But wouldn't it have been so much more positive to have generated the conversation by having Gabby S on the cover? Then they could have generated buzz for all the right reasons, even if it was based on cynical motivation. But the risk that people wouldn't buy a cover featuring someone who wasn't conventionally pretty was too great, I guess.

[Deleted]

Feb 4, 2010 14:02:31 GMT -4 crankykate said:

Alison Elliott was in The Wings of the Dove (opposite Helena Bonham Carter) back in the day. She was pretty good in it, and I was kind of surprised that she fell off the radar as quickly and thoroughly as she did.

Topic: Someone in another thread hypothesized that VF made their cover so lily-white on the grounds that any publicity is good publicity, and producing a cover that looks like the Tri-Delt Spring Picnic ca. 1955 in a year that saw Gabby Sidibe earn an Oscar nom and Zoe Saldana rock the house in two of the biggest films of the year would be a sure way to get people talking. And people are certainly talking -- I haven't seen this much interest in the VF Young Hollywood issue in years. I'm just cynical enough to think there might be something to this argument.

I love Wings of the Dove. That reminds me to watch it again; I haven't in years and it's a beautiful film.

On VF, however, I'd believe they'd deliberately tried to stir things up a little more if they didn't have such bad form when it comes to POC. This is a magazine whose cover star is almost always a) a hot female or b) a movie star, yet they have never given Halle a cover. Their 1st cover to feature a solo black woman was Beyonce in 2005. To get to 2005 and never have put a black women on the front is just a disgrace. There's also been some quibbles about how VF has portrayed the couple of black men to make the cover (Chris Rock as a clown, Tiger Woods mugshot-esque cover).

Not to mention, these special covers they do announcing the new stars usually feature only 1 or 2 POC and with only one exception, these actors have been on the inside flap not the front.

[Deleted]

I loved Alison Elliot in The Spitfire Grill, huge tearjerker.

Topic: I can see why Zoe didn't make it if she was on before, but she should get her own cover soon. But there is no excuse for no Gaby or no upcoming Latina star.

[Deleted]

Feb 5, 2010 14:58:34 GMT -4 @georgia said:

I loved Alison Elliot in The Spitfire Grill, huge tearjerker.

Topic: I can see why Zoe didn't make it if she was on before.

Well, not really because Amanda Seyfried and Kristen Stewart were both on before as well.

[bklynred]

I think I heard Mario Lopez or someone similiar mention covering VF's "whiteout" today at 7 pm. Not sure if it was Access Hollywood or ET, etc. I'm glad it's getting press, even if they can't backtrack, people can still call the magazine out on their sh*t. My mom has had a subscription to them for years and I occasionally read it; I definitely feel snubbed when they don't even feel people who look like us are important enough to put on the cover.

crankykate, Tri Delt Spring Picnic...hilarious!

[Witchie]

The inside pictures are better than that whitewashed cover. So there! Gabby & Monique look luminous in their picture with Lee Daniels.

[angelaudie]

I guess this is the best place to post this. Producer Mark Gordon, exec producer of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice, has been outed for using the n word twice during a read through for a Army Wives spin-off. He did this in front of African American actresses Gabrielle Union and Wendy Davis. He claims he was reenacting a scene from Blazing Saddles. Everyone in the room was offended but it sounds like ABC attempted to sweep this under the rug.

[discoprincess]

Aug 12, 2010 14:21:54 GMT -4 angelaudie said:

I guess this is the best place to post this. Producer Mark Gordon, exec producer of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice, has been outed for using the n word twice during a read through for a Army Wives spin-off. He did this in front of African American actresses Gabrielle Union and Wendy Davis. He claims he was reenacting a scene from Blazing Saddles. Everyone in the room was offended but it sounds like ABC attempted to sweep this under the rug.

I can understand why ABC did so if the network wants to protect its bottom line; people realize that this guy was dead wrong and there will be a lot of fallout for it.

Then again, ABC could say, "We don't condone his actions" and distance itself from this fool.

[Babycakes]

Vanity Fair's annual HW issue. This year it has 2 (1.5, Rashida is mixed) black people on the extended cover. Better than last year. That's progress right? 1.5 out 15. Are there no sexy, fascinating, or talented Asians and Latinos in HW?

I'd forgotten how utterly terrible last year's cover was. And not just for being so "white". It was completely white-bread and vanilla. Not only was it boring as hell, half of those chicks were average actors at best, terrible at worst (Kristen Stewart), and/or forgettable and interchangeable.

ETA: The only ones I can actually recognize are KS, Amand S, Emma Stone, Evan Rachel Wood, and Carey M. None of the rest should merit being on the cover. Where was Zoe Saldana or Frieda Pinto?