The April 2008 issue of Vogue had been positioned as truly ground breaking. People eagerly awaited the issue of LeBron James, a superstar athlete, posing with Giselle Bundchen, a superstar model, for the cover of the prestigious magazine. Not only were readers of Vogue expected to note that James was the athlete, who has the best body, of the year, but also, he was the first black man ever to grace the cover of the magazine. Instead of the cover screaming Hooray for Vogue breaking down racial barriers, it simply screamed RACIST! In fact the cover of the magazine shouted, “LeBron James is the King Kong of athletes!” So what is wrong with a black man being compared to King Kong? The answer is everything!
America has a long history of dehumanizing blackness. The 1915 film The Birth of a Nation portrayed black men as crazed animals after innocent white women. Black men were seen as natural born rapists instead of companions to white women, thus, reinforcing a notion of the bestiality of black sexuality. The threat of the black male penis in conjunction with soiling the pure white race has existed since slavery in America. This film, encapsulating on the fear of black men lusting after white women, served as a catalyst to maintain the terror of the Ku Klux Klan in the South, as well as, the forced inferiority through subjugation of black people in the United States. One can specifically locate the cover of the Vogue magazine in the same discourse of The Birth of a Nation.
When we look at the cover of Vogue juxtaposed with images of King Kong and Fay Wray, we should see striking similarities. In fact, LeBron James’ embodies a gorilla. James not only assumes a hunched gorilla like figure, but also, his grimace positions him as a wild animal ready to strike. One would think the athlete of the year would smile in place of a teeth baring scowl to express his accomplishments! Furthermore, Giselle Bundchen is positioned as running away from James but bound by his strong arm around her waist. Both LeBron and Giselle are even dressed strategically. LeBron James is wearing dark colors while Giselle is wearing a pastel color dress. The light and dark color contrast is similar to the photos of King Kong and Fay Wray. In the King Kong images light and dark imagery clearly depicts the difference between good and evil. Thus, LeBron James can be read as the “violent black man” while Giselle can be read as the helpless damsel in distress. This cover clearly places black masculinity as dangerous. While LeBron James’ grimace further enforces the criminalization of black men as untamed beasts, Giselle’s smile is its antithesis. The smile on Bundchen’s face plays into a paternalistic notion of white women needing protection from the Black Brute. Thus, the cover places white femininity as childlike and docile.
Although Vogue has denied playing on racial stereotypes for its cover, the impact of this image is still the same. Vogue, a high end fashion magazine, is marketed predominantly to middle class white women. If one looks at this image, the fear of the black man with the white woman is so apparent. LeBron James a multimillionaire has been reduced to an animal. While Giselle has been stripped of her agency and portrayed as the pretty damsel in distress. This cover shows how images are recycled through history based on prominent stereotypes of race, gender, and sexuality held by individuals. This image may come off as natural display of emotions; however, I see nothing natural in this photograph. Magazine covers are constructed with an audience in mind. These photos start off as ideas and go through an editing and retouching process, therefore, someone decided the emotion on their faces to the shoes on their feet. Whether or not the images were intentional, the impact is still the same. The cover of the magazine plays on the subconscious fears of blackness that are embedded in the fabric of America.
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