My instincts say it was trying to say something along the lines of "Huge muscular guy is huge and muscular. Glamorous model is glamorous."
That said, I don't think the comparison is out of bounds; the huge muscular guy, is, in fact, huge and muscular, and he's making an angry face. And he's got a pretty woman draped across his arm. Race aside, I don't think movie monster comparisons are coming entirely out of left field, just given that. I don't think that it was intentional: If they were going for a monster movie feel, they'd have used a smaller fashion model, and he'd probably be carrying her.
But the thing is, in the US, now, there are plenty of people who aren't going to be leaving race aside. And I don't think that we're at the point where you can have a black man and white woman cover shot without thinking about how people expecting racism are going to look at it. The "more civilized" picture is a lot worse than the one they used; it doesn't have any movement, and the thing huge guy is bringing to the table is athleticism . But they certainly could have tried harder.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2008-03-17 05:55 pm (UTC)That said, I don't think the comparison is out of bounds; the huge muscular guy, is, in fact, huge and muscular, and he's making an angry face. And he's got a pretty woman draped across his arm. Race aside, I don't think movie monster comparisons are coming entirely out of left field, just given that. I don't think that it was intentional: If they were going for a monster movie feel, they'd have used a smaller fashion model, and he'd probably be carrying her.
But the thing is, in the US, now, there are plenty of people who aren't going to be leaving race aside. And I don't think that we're at the point where you can have a black man and white woman cover shot without thinking about how people expecting racism are going to look at it. The "more civilized" picture is a lot worse than the one they used; it doesn't have any movement, and the thing huge guy is bringing to the table is athleticism . But they certainly could have tried harder.