LeBron James is featured on the historic April issue of Vogue magazine with supermodel Giselle Bundchen. We were disappointed that the cover didn't feature handsome LeBron James wearing a suit. LeBron is in our opinion one of the best dressed athletes in any sport. The Vogue issue is part of a new controversy with some people wondering why LeBron James is scowling in the cover photo with his teeth exposed to appear like a menacing "King Kong" character. Blogger Ali Eteraz describes Annie Leibovitz's image as the modern day interpretation of LeBron James as "King Kong" and Giselle Bundchen as "Fay Wray".
Ali says the cover "fulfills every racist stereotype in the world: primal screaming, white girl carrying, black beast. Way to go Vogue Magazine."
Many scholars believe King Kong is a parable of racism and a metaphor for Hollywood's depiction of the Black man in America.
Author David Rosen writes about the symbolism of King Kong in his essay King Kong Race, Sex and Rebellion. Click here to read the article from the book Jump Cut A Review of Contemporary Media.
It doesn't require too great an exercise of the imagination to perceive the element of race in KING KONG. Racist conceptions of blacks often depict them as subhuman, ape or monkey-like. And consider the plot of the film: Kong is forcibly taken from his jungle home, brought in chains to the United States, where he is put on stage as a freak entertainment attraction. He breaks his chains and goes on a rampage in the metropolis, until finally he is felled by the forces of law and order. The causative factor in his capture and his demise is his fatal attraction to blonde Ann Darrow (Fay Wray). As Denham says in the last words of the film, “Oh, no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.” If we look at KING KONG in terms of a racial metaphor, “Beauty” turns out to be “the white woman.” Aside from the sexual aspect implicit in the question of race, there’s the more direct, and somewhat delirious, sexual imagery in the film. The ape often functions as a most appropriate anthropoid symbol of “lower,” “animal” instincts. In this case we have a giant ape (literally a huge, hairy monster) and his unrestrained, headlong pursuit of a “blonde,” that archetypical Hollywood sex-object, ending on top of the world’s foremost phallic symbol.(1) The sexual theme touches on the standard racist myth of the black male’s exaggerated sexual potency, and the complementary notion of his insatiable desire for white women. It should be noted that the popular cultural representations of the twenties and thirties continued to present the Sambo character and the minstrel tradition, exemplified by Stepin Fetchit on the one hand, and Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor on the other. In other words, blacks were presented as the stereotypical good natured, fearful, stupid, lazy characters who loved to dance and sing, and who provided laughs and entertainment for white audiences. source
ESPN's Jemele Hill gave her opinion on the Vogue cover. She advises LeBron James to protect his image and to be more aware of how he is depicted in the media. CLICK HERE TO WATCH A CLASSIC MONTAGE OF HOLLYWOOD STEREOTYPES DEPICTING CARICATURES OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS. Radio shows, movies, books and comic strips were filled with caricatures and negative images of Blacks, Native Americans, Hispanics, Asians, etc.
LeBron's image clearly means a lot to him, maybe even as much as pursuing a championship. And that's why I can't understand why he would allow Vogue to feature him with supermodel Gisele Bundchen in such a distasteful manner.
In case you haven't seen the cover, LeBron has Gisele in one hand and a basketball in the other. LeBron is dressed in basketball gear, with his muscles flexing, tattoos showing and bared teeth. Gisele, on the other hand, is wearing a gorgeous slim-fitting dress, and smiling.
She looks like she's on her way to something fashionable and exciting. He looks like he's on his way to a pickup game for serial killers.
Now, maybe the point was to show the contrast between brawn and beauty, masculinity versus femininity, strength versus grace. But Vogue's quest to highlight the differences between superstar athletes and supermodels only successfully reinforces the animalistic stereotypes frequently associated with black athletes.
A black athlete being reduced to a savage is, sadly, nothing new. But this cover gave you the double-bonus of having LeBron and Gisele strike poses that others in the blogosphere have noted draw a striking resemblance to the racially charged image of King Kong enveloping his very fair-skinned lady love interest.
LeBron is just the third male ever to appear on Vogue's cover, but it's hard to believe Vogue would have made Brett Favre, Steve Nash or even David Beckham strike his best beast pose. And even if Vogue had, it wouldn't carry the same racial undertones as having a fear-inducing black man paired with a dainty damsel.
Too often, black athletes are presented as angry, overly aggressive and overly sexual. Or sometimes, they're just plain emasculated. source
The truth is that this is an accurate portrayal of the successful black man's abandonment and betrayal of his mothers and sisters -- and his continued repudiation of the black woman as a mate worthy of being a part of his success. We're good enough in the ghetto when they're unemployed and have no options, but not good enough for Beverly Hills or to share in their riches.
The Wesley Snipes Black Woman Hating Club has another official member. I don't know how they're going to keep up with the demand!!
Posted by: 7575esq | March 26, 2008 at 01:17 AM