California Beaches Blog

Is Hollywood or Vanity Fair the problem, asks Maynard Institute’s Richard Prince in his Journal-isms column. The new March issue — the Hollywood issue — features a bevy of starlets, all of them white. Dressed in cream, beige, gray, tan or olive attire, the cast of nine young women includes four blonds, three brunettes, and two red-heads. What’s wrong with this picture is that there are no Blacks, Latinos or Asians, say watchdogs who seek better representation of minorities in media. With Hispanic or Latino ethnicity making around 15% of the U.S. population; Black or African Americans equalling approx. 12%; and Whites representing over 70% of the population, at least one and optimally two non-Whites would better reflect the nation’s demographics.

Richard Prinze is a “person of color” who studies news coverage, media issues and journalism careers of  “people of color”. He asked Vanity Fair spokeswoman Beth Kseniak what this magazine cover represents or says about the publication and state of affairs in the film industry. She replied that the coverage reflects Hollywood and the industry. She said the mag cover included young actresses who already have a few films to their credit and will be appearing in more movies in the coming months.

Prinze then sought comments about VF’s statement.  Gil Robertson IV, who founded the African American Film Critics Association, said he wasn’t shocked, but he asked– what about the box office success Zoe Saldana, with lead roles in two of the biggest films of the past year — ‘Star Trek,’ and ‘Avatar’? Other African American actresses such as Paula Patton and Nicole Beharie were also overlooked in favor of an all white cast. In Prinze’s interview, Robertson told him that Vanity Fair’s coverage was just another problem with race and racism, and reflected no forward movement —  just more of the same. You can subcribe to the Richard Prinze online newsletter:-mije.org/richardprince/