Do you think there is enough people of color on magazine covers?

[annice22]

I have a question to ask:

Do you think that there is enough women of color or people of color displayed on the cover of the mainstream magazines?

I guess I have grown-up always questioning things and trying to fight to change it. I recently contacted the four magazines that I purchase regularly and asked them a similar question. The question I asked them was "Why are there NO women of color on your magazine?" I also stated that I will no longer purchase their magazine. I guess now I will have a lot of money that I can save and invest.

I figure nothing will change unless you want it to.

[LeslieAGD]

Why is everything a race issue?

I'm Latina and I can see that Latinos aren't "represented" as much as whites and blacks in magazines, tv, film, etc...but that doesn't mean I don't like/don't want to see the magazines, tv programs, and movies, etc.

[Sistermadly]

I think we always have to ask the media questions about representation. That being said, are you speaking of mainstream magazines only?

Most fashion magazines don't put models on their covers anymore, they want celebrities, specifically actresses/actors with high profiles. They especially like to put these people on covers when they have something to promote, like a new film or television show (or sometimes album, but there aren't many musicians who make it to the cover of fashion rags).

There just aren't that many non-white celebrities who have the profile of, say, Jennifer Aniston, or Angelina Jolie. The one with the highest profile of all is on the cover of her own magazine. There are lots of musicians with a high profile, but as I said before, the only female musician who had a large, mainstream profile this year was Gwen Stefani, thus you saw her on lots of covers.

I think that mostly the magazine industry is driven by circulation. If there were suddenly a new hot black/latina/asian actress or actor who was known widely enough in mainstream consciousness, I'm sure you'd see that person on the cover of lots of magazines. But still that begs the question: why aren't people of color considered as "marketable" as other celebrities?

[annice22]

Originally posted by LeslieAGD
Why is everything a race issue?

I'm Latina and I can see that Latinos aren't "represented" as much as whites and blacks in magazines, tv, film, etc...but that doesn't mean I don't like/don't want to see the magazines, tv programs, and movies, etc.

Women of color includes everyone not just African-American women but every nationality and race that is not the majority.

I would love to see different women on the cover of mainstream magazines. America is suppose to be this diversified country but yet if you look at all the mainstream magazines and major networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX all you see is the same type of shows with similiar actors. That becomes really boring. I would love to see a show that has a Asian American, Indian-American, Native-American, etc as the lead in a show or a sitcom the showcases a whole cast as such. I do not think it would be that hard for network executives to come up with show ideas or situations.

Just giving my two cent.

[Taualumna]

Sismadly is right...they don't really put models on fashion magazine covers anymore. Actually, I think that is a "good" thing, at least for the Asian communities...there just aren't that many well-known Asian models in North America, but certainly, putting Lucy Liu or even Zhang Ziyi on the cover will definitely get good sales.

Some minority groups, especially immigrant Asians, don't seem to want their kids in entertainment (I wasn't allowed to major in drama alone, for example. I had to take a "second" major, history, and tell my parents that I intended to go to law school. Even then, they wanted to know why it wasn't history and economics), which is why many Asian celebs who are well-known in North America are foreign.

[PM_Mama00]

Originally posted by annice22
I would love to see a show that has a Asian American, Indian-American, Native-American, etc as the lead in a show or a sitcom the showcases a whole cast as such. I do not think it would be that hard for network executives to come up with show ideas or situations.

Just giving my two cent.

UPN. They have tons of sitcomes showcasing minorities.

ABC-- George Lopez Show. (is that the name? haven't gotten to watch in forever)

Miami Vice-- ok so it's 80s, but African American and white

I'm sure there's more but that's waht I can think of off the top of my head. My point is that there are many African American only shows out there. Not as many as "white" sitcomes. Maybe their popularity isn't as high because they are on UPN and not ABC or NBC.

There aren't alot of Asians, but I don't know much about their culture so I can only assume that it's because of Taualumna's reasoning.

[LeslieAGD]

Originally posted by annice22
Women of color includes everyone not just African-American women but every nationality and race that is not the majority.

I would love to see different women on the cover of mainstream magazines.

I'm not saying other races and ethnicities shouldn't be "represented" but I don't pick up magazines and say, "oh, I'm not going to read this because they've featured blonde, blue eyed, white actresses for the last four months"...or turn on the TV and decide which shows I want to watch due to diversity.

I guess I don't look at these mediums and see "color" vs. white.

[TheEpitome1920]

I personally don't care. I can buy Ebony, Essence, Jet, Oprah, Black Enterprise and sure enough there's a Black people on the cover every month!

[Taualumna]

Originally posted by annice22
Women of color includes everyone not just African-American women but every nationality and race that is not the majority.

I would love to see different women on the cover of mainstream magazines. America is suppose to be this diversified country but yet if you look at all the mainstream magazines and major networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX all you see is the same type of shows with similiar actors. That becomes really boring. I would love to see a show that has a Asian American, Indian-American, Native-American, etc as the lead in a show or a sitcom the showcases a whole cast as such. I do not think it would be that hard for network executives to come up with show ideas or situations.

Just giving my two cent.

My only worry is that the show would be nothing but "ethnic" jokes, and things like that just don't last very long...it gets boring. Just look at "All American Girl" and "My Big Fat Greek Life"

[PM_Mama00]

Originally posted by Taualumna
My only worry is that the show would be nothing but "ethnic" jokes, and things like that just don't last very long...it gets boring. Just look at "All American Girl" and "My Big Fat Greek Life"

Yeah but all us ethnic Europeans laughed at Big Fat Greek Wedding/Life because we know it's all very VERY true. At least for Greeks and Italians because our family life and values are very similar.

[Taualumna]

Originally posted by PM_Mama00
Yeah but all us ethnic Europeans laughed at Big Fat Greek Wedding/Life because we know it's all very VERY true. At least for Greeks and Italians because our family life and values are very similar.

I think all "ethnic" people laughed at the movie and the show...however, that's all they ever talked about on the show and it kind of got boring!

[KSUViolet06]

As a Black woman, I'm satisfied that when I visit the magazine isle, there are plenty of faces that look like mine up there in all types of magazines. There are quite a few high rated sitcoms with almost 100% Black casts and LOTS of movies with Black actors.

Something I DO happen to think about even though I'm not Hispanic or Asian is how it must feel to look at TV/magazines/movies and not see a face like yours ANYWHERE. If you think about it, these two groups are GROSSLY under-represented in film/TV/magazines. Which is shocking considering that Hispanics are the fastest growing ethnic group in the US.

[Taualumna]

Originally posted by JocelynC
As a Black woman, I'm satisfied that when I visit the magazine isle, there are plenty of faces that look like mine up there in all types of magazines. There are quite a few high rated sitcoms with almost 100% Black casts and LOTS of movies with Black actors.

Something I DO happen to think about even though I'm not Hispanic or Asian is how it must feel to look at TV/magazines/movies and not see a face like yours ANYWHERE. If you think about it, these two groups are GROSSLY under-represented in film/TV/magazines. Which is shocking considering that Hispanics are the fastest growing ethnic group in the US.

I don't know about the Hispanic communities, but in order for the (East) Asian communities to have more "representation" attitudes have to change about the entertainment business. Immigrant (and even first generation) parents must understand that "good" entertainment is more than classical music (EVERY SINGLE Asian I know took music lessons (piano, violin and/or flute) while growing up.

[wrigley]

Originally posted by Taualumna
I think all "ethnic" people laughed at the movie and the show...however, that's all they ever talked about on the show and it kind of got boring!

Keep in mind that it's very rare if a movie plot ever crosses over into sitcom success. It's apples and oranges in terms of the quality of writing and caliber of cast.

I laughed at movie but I cringed at the sitcom of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding".

As for "All-American Girl", Margaret Cho lost creative control to the higher ups at ABC. She's a great comedian but went through alot crap during that sitcom.

[kddani]

Originally posted by JocelynC
[Something I DO happen to think about even though I'm not Hispanic or Asian is how it must feel to look at TV/magazines/movies and not see a face like yours ANYWHERE. [/COLOR]

Just a few Hispanics that are media darlings and have graced the covers of numerous magazies: Eva Longoria, JLo, Jessica Alba. There are others, i'm sure, those are the first that come to mind.

The only two Asian women I can think of are Lucy Liu and Sandra Oh. But maybe the lack of Asians in the entertainment biz is more a result of not being encouraged by the particular culture?