Hollywood, the Popular Press and Changing Demographics.
I recently read an op-ed piece by Joanne Douglas of Shine about the New Hollywood according to Vanity Fair and the lack of ethnic diversity. The photo says it all. The New Hollywood is…oh…pretty much all white.
Don’t get me wrong. These young starlets are photogenic, gorgeous, elegant, talented, slender - as most young starlets tend to be - and they are certainly deserving of their cover.
But let’s look at the facts. America is becoming increasingly diverse. Racial definitions are expanding. Inter-ethnic relationships are far more common than they were fifty years ago and, especially out here in California, children come in all shapes, sizes and colors. We are various shades of red, brown, black, white, pink and tan. While traditional white groups make up approximately 68% of all Americans today, according to census figures, that number will fall to approximately 46% by 2050. Interesting…
I am not so presumptuous as to accuse Vanity Fair of prejudice for featuring the above women. They are the young women Hollywood is currently fixated on, and whatever Hollywood loves…I suspect that as ethnic diversity in all fields continues to grow, Hollywood and the popular media will catch that train. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
I consider myself a Jewish mutt, with ancestors from Argentina, Sweden, Hungary, France, and Romania. My skin color is what my father has always described as milk chocolate, my eyes are golden, my hair is auburn and thick and wiry. When I was a kid, our community didn’t consider us white and we were banned from joining the local swim club. All that changed by the time I was twelve, it changed legally, but still…in the minds of our friends and neighbors, we weren’t officially white. We’ve come a hell of a long way since I was a child, and I don’t know that white is still white.
I’ve always resented forms that ask my race. Checking one of those little boxes is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Look at our genetic history, none of us truly fits into any one category. My father is as pink-skinned, green-eyed, white-blond as they come, yet when you look at his genetic profile from The National Geographic Genome Project, his genome never left the Middle-East. On the other hand, my dark-haired, nearly black-eyed, dark-skinned mother’s genetic ancestors are scattered all over the world.
The Temptations: Beauty’s Only Skin Deep
My friends ask what do I see in you? But it goes deeper than the eye can view
You have a pleasin’ personality and that’s an ever lovin’ rare quality
Now show me a girl, a girl that’s fine, an I’ll choose the one with true lovin’ every
time
Because I know that beauty’s only skin deep ya,ya,ya
And I believe that beauty’s only skin deep oh,ya
So if your lookin’ for a lover, don’t judge a book by it’s cover
She may be fine on the outside, but soooo untrue on the inside
