Thursday, October 29, 2009

Yes The ANTM biracial photoshoot was contrived

Oh yes I need to add that the ANTM biracial photoshoot this past week was obviously contrived. Meant to cause hype right after the French Vogue Black Face controversy. A bit too ironic that the biracial photoshoot would be just after the controversy, don't you think? Tyra should have had the girls learn about "models of all ethnicities" and explain how more and more models of all ethnicities are being used in print ads, instead Tyra creates this contrived shit. Well here are more of my thoughts on the biracial shoot from Zap2it.com here:

The van stops and out of the woods comes Tyra and Jay.

Tyra is transforming the petite models into biracial models. She is shooting it as well. She teaches the girls the meaning of the Hawaiian word for "being mixed" or "Half and half," Happa. Tyra makes it so dramatic. I didn't think being biracial was that big of a deal. I mean aren't many of us biracial at this point?

Still, I feel nervous listening to Tyra tell the girls which two nationalities they each will portray for the forthcoming shoot.

Tents are set up, and the itty bitties are covered in an interesting brown foundation and I can't help but think of the French Vogue controversy over the black face model Lara Stone recently.

It's National Geographic meets a sad commercial for donating a dollar a day to feed children in poor countries, photo-shoot.

The girls are wearing the outfits that fit the vibe of the cultures they were representing, but with their hollow looking faces and expressions it's sadness I felt.

We are the world.

Tibetan, Egyptian, Greek, Madagascar, Mexican, Malaysian, Japanese, East Indian, and Native American, the list goes on. The girls should have been shown some images ahead of time of people from these cultures to get inspired. But no. Instead they are winging it, with Tyra as their non-explaining, frustrated photographer, who is having a terrible time shooting the girls. The little models obviously have spirit for the cultures they are trying to give props too. Sundai clings to a walking stick; Jennifer's necklace is almost bigger than her. Laura's legs are crooked and bent, and my eyes zig-zag down her body, but her eyes manage to have a glow. Brittany doesn't look as determined as the Pocahontas she is trying to portray. Erin's covered with too much makeup, and has a huge frock of wheat on her head, and although her shoulder forward and space between her body and arm gives her length, we lose the life in her eyes, but her dark haired wig looks nice. Nicole is looking off into the sunset perhaps, and has a long neck despite the chunky necklace. Nicole makes a statement within the theme and looks the most "into" the shoot, like she is on a mission to win this cycle.

This week's petite guest judge is supermodel Kirsty Hume, but she doesn't help the pee-wee models out with any tips on being a short model. I don't think this day will ever come, but I watch each week hoping one of the guest judges with represent shorter models and give some helpful hints to the hopefuls.

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