I wish I could say I was surprised at this photo. I’ve been looking at it for the last couple of days trying to figure out what’s so funny. Is it that that guys can get away with being fat in Hollywood and women have to be skinny? Is it that we wouldn’t want to see any fat people naked so these fat guys have to wear bodysuits? Is it the whiff of homophobia with Paul Rudd sniffiing Seth Rogen’s ear? Is Jason Segel’s presence a dig at Rachel McAdams who pulled out of the 2006 cover because she didn’t want to be naked?
And I want to say to Annie Leibovitz – why? Why do these sexist images? You just got screwed for being a lesbian having to pay a major estate tax because of your inheritance from Susan Sontag. Aren’t these issues on the same continuum? Does being an artist mean that you can be sexist?
I also love how Vanity Fair likes to anoint people as the next big thing. These guys are comedy legends? Please. According to dictionary.com a legend is: a collection of stories about an admirable person; a person who is the center of such stories. Feels like they’re stretching it just a bit by calling Jonah Hill a comedy legend. Am I the only one who thinks that.
The package is like a list of the guys that hang out with Judd Apatow telling fart jokes. And the layout even annoys me. Guys like Jonah Hill, Danny McBride and Russell Brand get their own pictures while Leslie Mann (wife of Judd Apatow) Anna Farris and even Amy Poehler are in pictures with guys. Women can be comedy legends just as long as they are with men. And don’t get me started on Seth Rogen as Frida Kahlo.
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THANK you for saying this! I thought the exact same thing when I first saw these pictures in the new issue. It left a bad taste in my mouth. Glad to know I’m not alone.
Yeah, go figure they won’t go naked. I’m not going to lie, I thought the photo was HALF-FUNNY and somewhat obnoxious…
I’m more offended by the fact that those guys on the cover are automatically considered FUNNY, while those females are just there for the male gaze. Sigh.
That’s the way it is in Hollywood–female nudity is sexy, while male nudity is simply funny (think Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Walk Hard).
You see all these naked/semi-naked actresses in these photo layouts in magazines. How often do you see naked men shot in sexy poses in magazines? If their careers lag, do you think we will ever see Tom Cruise or Matthew Mccaughney pose nude for a magazine to revive their careers?
when IS Vanity Fair?!?!?
lol… i love this cover! it’s a farce, it’s a joke and mostly … it’s funny!!!… and i’m a woman! i’m not offended…and i dont share your p.o.v…. but to each their own… glad someone is still stoking the sensitive feminist fire!!…i didnt see this mag yet this month.. but i’m now headed out to buy it…
also, normally i dont comment on others comments but
“If their careers lag, do you think we will ever see Tom Cruise or Matthew Mccaughney pose nude for a magazine to revive their careers?”
IMHO: having these 2 has-beens pose nude WOULD actually be a great career move, considering that their looks are the only redeeming quality they have!
Men get away with all the things we are criticised for. Fatness, oldness, wrinkliness, untannedness, blemishedness, unattractiveness, unsexiness…etc etc etc etc
I really liked echidne’s take on the image:
http://haloscan.com/tb/echidne/1840790024386911746
“Takes off feminist skin, plugs in ‘female gaze’ eyeballs, picks up the whip of matriarchy and female dominance and sits pack comfortably)
You need to show some skin, guys! Get busy there with those dumbells first and suck in those bellies. How many months before the baby elephant will be born? And where is its trunk, in any case? Who the fuck hired the first guys to walk in off the street? I need some muscle here, some stubble, some hazy, smoky eyes and juicy lips.
Hey, you there! Swing those hips for us! Show that you have something to offer to us ladies. Wet your lips, dammit! Imagine cunnilingus! Dammit, NOt like that.
Remember who’s paying for things here. No! Not like that! You have to OFFER! Open your mouth. Push out those hips! You are there to be viewed, to be nibbled, to be enjoyed. To serve, fuckit!
I need some women on the edges of the picture, fully dressed, staring at the cocks. Can you do that for me, like yesterday? Right after you get us some real eye-candy to work with, of course.
(Slips back into the feminist skin, slips out through the door.)”
Sorry, that link doesn’t seem to do what I want it to. She posted on March 4th, on
http://echidneofthesnakes.blogspot.com/
I see what you mean about men and women being able to get away with different things in Hollywood but I have to say that I find the original cover (is it the one you show with Scarlett Johansson?) much more offensive. To me it seems to be blatantly sexifying and objectifying talented women.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with these guys challenging beauty norms – I think they’re poking fun at Vanity Fair’s rigorous, meaningless standards. And the more VF is criticized the better!
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