Last week a controversy brewed when gossip and entertainment website TMZ.com made some harsh remarks about pictures of Jennifer Love Hewitt in a bikini. The young starlet was captured in some less-than-flattering pictures on the beach while vacationing in Hawaii. The images highlighted some cellulite on her backside with captions like “Jennifer Love Hewitt ... we know what you ate this summer -- everything!” However disrespectful, I will admit that I laughed out load after reading that caption. Are remarks like those are acceptable? Do you think this publishing this photo was a tasteful design decision? Is all entertainment “fair game”, or is there a line to be drawn?
Hewitt backlashed against the remarks on her MySpace page, saying that “a size two is not fat!” and “being a size 0 doesn’t make you beautiful”. She also remarked that she was more upset for young girls than she was for herself, encouraging “all girls with butts, boobs, hips and a waist…put on a bikini -- put it on and stay strong."
People magazine featured the controversy on the cover of the magazine last week, with the cover line “Stop calling be fat!” The magazine did not use the same picture that was ridiculed on TMZ, but the two images were clearly captured minutes apart. Still, the picture on the People cover was much more flattering and the story was clearly written in Hewitt’s defense. Do you think the media should be used as an outlet for personal attacks and defenses? What do you think of such a (in my opinion) trivial matter being featured on the cover of such a prominent magazine? What about putting such revealing photo’s on the cover?
2 comments:
Jessica, I laughed out loud as well. Unfortunately, our society craves intimate details of the lives of celebritites, so to find out that the likes of Jennifer Love may have some cellulite was a guaranteed sell for these glossies.
It's unfortunate that the morality behind deciding whether or not to publish such personal and introsive photos is instantly outweighed by the demand for them.
The picture people published for its cover shows Jennifer smiling for the cameras. I don't think there was anything wrong with them covering the explosion the tabloids created by revealing such a scandolous spread.
The picture of Jennifer from behind was obviously taken using a zoom-lense, a little too obtrusive in my opinion.
However, might we also consider the ethics of airbrush and photo shop while exploring this topic. Jennifer is a Hanes model, and can be seen skimping around in her perfect flat tummy in a recent commercial selling her perfect bra. Does the commercial match the reality of what we are seeing?
Did these photos set off a reality for little girls, one that even Jennifer admits upset her more than her own self-esteem?
Jessica, to answer your question, I don't think the media should be used to make personal attacks on celebrities or anyone else for that matter, but sadly it happens more often then people would like to admit and much of society craves such information. Too often are celebrities expected to be perfect and when they are featured in magazines, all the airbrushing makes it seem like they are. They are presented as ideal images that people have to try and match up to. Too frequently have I seen magazines featuring candid pictures of people who are by no means fat, and yet captions would make you think that the moment someone gains 10 pounds, it's the end of the world. I'm happy that Jennifer commented back to TMZ because I feel that the media is getting out of control with its concept of "beauty" and someone needs to stop them.
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