Americans are bombarded with images every second of every day. When we log onto the internet, advertisements and images are everywhere. Before we can watch our favorite YouTube video, we must first watch a thirty second advertisement. Big city buses have images tattooed onto their sides and there is even a building in downtown Cleveland with a giant LeBron James looking towards the heavens with outstretched arms plastered onto it. The newspaper, most magazines, television, and the internet visually assault us and yet more often than not, Americans do not counterattack this blitz of imagery. What I mean by this is that although images are everywhere, we seldom stop to look at them beyond their surface value. Most images, especially advertisements, are meant to evoke a certain emotion to make us feel a certain way. Painters and photographers often try to communicate a certain concept or idea through their work. Very rarely is an image developed without a meaning or objective behind it. Our job as conscious thinkers is to determine this meaning or objective and try to understand the means by which the artist attempts to get their point across.
The cover of the April 2008 edition of Vogue Magazine struck me as particularly interesting. Vogue is a fashion magazine published on a monthly basis by Condé Nast Publications. Adorning the cover of this specific edition is a photograph of the famous American basketball player LeBron James and world renowned fashion model Gisele Bündchen. Behind the two prominent figures, a grey background fades to an even lighter grey in the middle of the image. LeBron is wearing a black sleeveless athletic top with all black athletic shorts. On his feet are huge high top black and white basketball shoes, and suspended in mid-air between LeBron’s mammoth hand and the ground, is a regulation National Basketball Association basketball. His mouth stretches wide open in what appears to be a menacing yell or growl. His right arm flexes in the act of dribbling the basketball and his tattoos on his arms are clearly visible. LeBron’s left arm extends out grasping Gisele at the upper hip. Gisele is draped in a long turquoise dress which appears to be blowing in the wind or shifting in her movement. Open-toed high heels adorned with bows glamorously secure her tiny. A smile is implanted on Gisele’s face and her hair looks messy and tangled as if it has been blown back or as if she is moving. Her skinny left arm protrudes out towards the camera and her right arm is positioned somewhere behind LeBron’s back. Gisele’s right leg extends out beyond the left side of her frail body, while her left leg is tucked back behind her right. Around the image is the usual lettering on a magazine cover with the word “Vogue” printed in red in the background at the top.
Many people believe that this image of LeBron James and Gisele Bündchen is largely reminiscant to the image of King Kong with the woman he takes for his wife on top of The Empire State Building in New York City. Others say that this image is offensive and based on a pre-World War I era poster of a gorilla posed as a German soldier clutching an American woman trying to persuade men to enlist in the U.S. Army. With much analysis and deep thinking, I also believe that the image on the Vogue magazine cover is strongly based on both the images of King Kong and the gorilla German soldier. The photographer of this image and the publisher of Vogue magazine intended to create a parallel between these images and achieve this concept very effectively.
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How can a poster from the 1910s be comparable to the cover of Vogue fashion magazine? How can two totally different eras in American culture be strikingly similar? In the World War I era poster, much like the Vogue cover, a monstrous gorilla tightly grasps a woman while walking up a beach with the word “America” drawn into the sand. The background, which appears incessantly gloomy, is grey with a large city looming over the water which is rolling up onto the beach. The “German” gorilla wears a traditional spiked helmet and holds a club in his right hand. Chiseled into the enormous club is the word “Kultur,” the German word for culture. The gorilla’s menacing eyes glare directly straightforward, and with mouth agape appears quite intimidating. The woman he is carrying in his left hand seems to be in imminent danger. Her breasts are exposed and similarly to Gisele, she is also draped in turquoise cloth. One of her hands cover up her eyes, while the other grabs the back of her head. The woman’s unkempt hair flows backwards as if she has been tossed and thrown about. At the top the words “Destroy This Mad Brute” are screamed very loudly in a bold orange font, and scrawled at the bottom of the image are the words “Enlist, U.S. Army.”
To fully understand and compare both of these images, it is only practical to first understand the social, political, and racial climate of the image portrayed on the poster. In the time the World War I poster was in circulation, the early to mid 1910s, there was still a lot of anti-African sentiment in America. Racism ran rampant and discrimination against minorities was a large part of everyday life. In racist and vulgar language, people of Africana descent are often called “monkeys, gorillas, and apes.” This profane, foul language must date back to at least the time of this poster. There is a simple, direct method in using a gorilla to spur young American men to join the army. Since anti-African sentiment was high at the time of war, it must have only made sense to use a gorilla to portray a German soldier. After all, it would not have been nearly effective to portray the German soldier as a typical white man. To even further the racist intent behind this poster, the gorilla holds a beautiful white woman with blonde hair. She symbolizes the innocence and purity of America which is being defiled by this monstrous German gorilla. At the time, white Americans must have attributed their dislike of German soldiers to African Americans and only continued the vicious cycle of racism in America. Aside from the two main figures, all of the other elements in the image also play an integral role in it’s meaning.
The beach the gorilla is walking up clearly symbolizes the German military invading American soil. The water can be perceived as the Atlantic Ocean, which could have been traversed in order to destroy America. The city in the background could be thought of as New York City or any other major city in fact. It was probably not given a specific name to scare American civilians into thinking that the German invasion could happen to them no matter where they resided. The word “Kultur” on the bat can be seen as the symbol of fear of the spread of German culture, but also as the spread of African culture. The German culture symbol is obvious; if the Germans invade America and are victorious, they will spread their culture. The hidden symbol is that the gorilla and his club, as previously stated symbolizes Africana people as well as the German military, are parallels to the African community as a whole. In this time period, African American culture was influencing the white population more and more. Most U.S. history classes cover World War I and the period after: the 1920s. The 1920s were known as the jazz age and the era of flappers and Prohibition. Jazz style, music, and dance were all largely developed by the black population in America. The creator of this image must have foreseen this significant occurrence, and they must not have been very fond of the idea of the spread of Africana culture. It is amazing how much such a simple image can symbolize, but what is even more amazing is how an image can be comparable to an image created almost a century later.
The similarities between the Vogue cover portraying LeBron and Gisele and the World War I poster of the gorilla and the damsel in distress are endless. To begin, LeBron and the gorilla share many similarities. Both of these figures are depicted as very muscular with their right arms flexed. LeBron toys with a basketball, while the gorilla wields his club. The sameness between these two objects is that they are each the influence of the figure possessing them. LeBron obviously plays basketball to influence American society, while the gorilla is trying to bring his German culture to America with brute force. Another easily discernable similarity between the two beings is their posture and what they are holding in their left arms. Both LeBron and the gorilla are a bit hunched over with right arm extended outward and left arm holding a woman. The last, but certainly not least, significant likeness between the two main figures are the facial expressions on the faces of LeBron and the gorilla. Both of the figures portrayed in their respective image have menacing eyes and mouths wide open appearing to be fixed in a growl. This can be seen as both figures attempting to assert their authority and intimidate those who stand up against them. LeBron James could be seen as trying to intimidate his competitors, while the German gorilla could be seen as trying to intimidate citizens of America. Although these two figures are the focal point of their images, another necessary comparison must be made between the women in the grasp of the main figures.
Like their beastly counterparts, Gisele and the woman in the World War I poster share many comparable similarities. For one, they are both in a grip of a strong, masculine figure and seem to have little to no control whether they will be let go or not. Although Gisele appears happy, like the woman in the clutches of the gorilla, she appears to be a damsel in distress. This means that in both images the woman is portrayed as weak and not able to fend for herself. Another item of similarity is that they are both clothed in nothing more than a turquoise dress. One last similarity between these two women is their hair. Both of their hair seems to be tousled and thrown every which way to show that they were in peril. Now in realizing the many distinct similarities between these two images, what does this mean today?
Many people argue that this specific Vogue cover is politically incorrect and racist towards African Americans. It is obvious that LeBron James is being compared to a gorilla from the World War I poster and it can be seen as extremely offensive. I believe it is merely a recreation of an image from a different era, but I can definitely see how it can be deemed as racist and offensive. It is obvious that the photographer for Vogue modeled the photo of LeBron and Gisele off of the very similar World War I poster. Many see this image as a perpetuation of racial stereotypes, while others simply see two people at the top of their profession. The image can only truly be left up to interpretation by each and every person who views it.
In this vast world of images, deeper meaning is often overlooked. When we take the time to stop and interpret or analyze an image, not only do we ponder and think, but we also try to understand how something is being utilized to make us feel a certain emotion or think in a certain way. Every person can view something in their own way which often causes conflict. One thing that may mean nothing to one person could mean the world to another. Part of understanding an image and what it could potentially symbolize is to look at things through another’s point of view. Perception and interpretation are everything. What do you see?
