New in Ill Thought-Out Photo Spreads
Hm. I can't imagine why some people are upset about this Vogue Italia "Make Love Not War" photo spread. I'm not a prude by any stretch of the imagination, but this turns my stomach. It features women cavorting with soldiers in what I'd imagine is supposed to be Iraq. In some shots the women look like hookers (e.g., the one where one of the models is straddling a soldier while another soldier films her), in others they look like victims of rape or at least violence (e.g., the shot where a soldier's holding a model by her neck, or the picture of what looks like a soldier pinning a model in the mud). I don't know; it just seems like there's no right way to photograph a scenario like this. In shots where the models and the soldiers are laughing and apparently enjoying themselves, it looks like they're taking the situation too lightly. In the more serious shots, it looks like the women are being victimized. The whole thing is just tasteless. I think that's what it boils down to.
On a slightly different topic, I wonder if those are real soldiers or male models, because they're uniformly gorgeous. (Well, I wouldn't want to end on a depressing note.)
Labels: fashion, photos, rape, soldiers, violence, Vogue Italia, war, women
