A white lily. By Flickr user chiaraogan. |
Vanity Fair has gotten more and more disappointing in terms of showing the style and elegance of actors across racial lines. It's gone from a great read to a trashy one. Now I enjoy a trashy mag anytime, but I appreciated that they were trying to inject some thought into the cultural conversation. Now, it appears, they've abandoned that.Help me encourage them to bring it back!
So here's what I wrote. If you like it, please sign on and share it with friends. I'd love to see the Vanity Fair editorial staff see that there's an earnest desire from readers to have a more diverse representation of actors in their Hollywood/pop culture coverage:
***
The Problem: It's almost cliche now that Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood Issue will feature white actors to the near-total exclusion of actors of color who are as busy and talented as their white colleagues.
Too often, actors of color-- and the important stories they tell-- are relegated to specialized or marginalized publications. Rather than segregating actors, we paying newsstand readers and subscribers would prefer to see and read about actors who are telling compelling, powerful stories-- which are sometimes not at the top of the box office returns-- no matter what race they are.
One Solution: Vanity Fair has an impressive stable of writers, photographers and editors. They are thinkers who have the ability to do more than pander to the masses, just as countless other publications do already. VF has a unique position and ability to elevate and challenge our cultural conversation. Therefore, we ask that they make an effort to do so, starting with that most powerful of impression-makers, the visual on the cover.
That's why I created a petition to Graydon Carter, Editor in Chief, which says:
"As Vanity Fair readers, we ask Graydon Carter, Krista Smith and the editors who contribute to the yearly Vanity Fair Hollywood edition to provide equal visual representation among talented actors across racial lines. "
Will you sign this petition? Click here:
http://signon.org/sign/vanity-fair-publish-diverse?source=c.em.cp&r_by=497767
And please feel free to share this with friends you think might want to sign on too.
Thanks so much! I think if we get enough signatures, we can really make an impression. Lord knows I've heard enough people complain about VF's lack of diversity. Maybe if enough of us let them know we want them to do better, they'll make some change. Thank you!!