The fashion magazine Elle is known for its popular cover that includes numerous famous and inspirational women. But Mindy Kaling, star and creator of the hit FOX TV show The Mindy Project, whom doesn’t have the perfect zero size figure, was cut down to only a face shot.
Elle’s point of cutting her body and turning the photo into a head only and black and white picture only implied one thing – something is wrong with her. Many critiques said that the reason she didn’t a full waist color picture, was because she is an Indian American and her body according to Hollywood standards, is “fat” and not fit to be on the cover.
In the past, Elle has included cover pictures of Blake Lively, Victoria Beckham, Taylor Swift and many others, but what do all of these pictures have in common? They are all colored pictures of at least half their body. It just doesn’t make sense because you want to believe that magazines don’t look at your body, but the truth is that this all people seem to care about.
This not only puts a bad impression on women, but teenage girls who actually seem to look up to these actresses. By implying that their body doesn’t fit or belong on the cover is only conveying a wrong message.
According to Social Issue Research Center, at least 80% of women over the age of 18 are unhappy with the reflection that they see in a mirror. This is usually the result of what society has implemented in our society. Whenever I read opinions on how magazine covers are just showing beautiful skinny girls, I always looked over it and never thought that it was actually true.
But something like this where Mindy Kaling’s picture was purposely changed into a black and white photo, emphasizes that the reality is skinny perfect girls are what’s “in.” Apparently you have to be a certain color too, because being Indian is not something that is acceptable on the cover of the magazine. The magazine could have made the cover in color, but instead decided to turn it into a colorless photo. This just shows what we are actually teaching younger girls to believe is the idea of a model.
Even though many of her fans did criticize the cover, Kaling went on the Late Show with David Letterman and stated that “I was, for the first time in my career, on the cover of a fashion magazine, which is such an awesome, nice thing.” Though it may not be a big deal to Kaling, it has seemed to spark up a lot of debate.
It may be something for her to be prideful over, but shouldn’t Elle magazine or Mindy make a statement at how the picture really has nothing to with her body size and the color of her skin? Obviously since they didn’t point to the specific critiques only means that the truth was that it did affect what went on the cover of the magazine. The magazine only issued this statement to clear up the controversy, “Mindy looks sexy, beautiful and chic, we think it is a striking and sophisticated cover and are thrilled to celebrate her in our Women in TV issue.”
Am I the only person that would love to see her full body? I love Mindy Kaling and I think she is an amazing actress and a person in general. To think Hollywood has to make everyone look pitch perfect is really annoying. Instead, I wouldn’t mind seeing actresses or models who don’t fit into the “perfect” ideal look and are just who they are. I probably would have praised Elle magazine for having the courage and understanding that your body is really your body. The whole controversy deserves all the attention it has gotten.
I don’t understand how some people are actually saying this commenting on Mindy Kaling’s weight and color is actually dissing her, instead of helping her. When people commented on Kalling’s cover it was mainly to make a point at how we are doing something wrong. Instead of telling people – women specifically that their body size is not acceptable on the cover of a magazine, they should be promoting to love and accept yourself.
It’s a problem that has been reoccurring for years and years and yet there still isn’t a change in anything and we are still living on the same standard of having the perfect and beautiful body. Overall, I am trying to say that if we want to actually see girls loving their body and loving who they are then we need to change the people that seem to establish what is perfect. That means magazines need to realize that showing an oversized girl is capable of being on the cover of the magazine is perfectly fine. Size and the color of your skin shouldn’t determine whether you are on the cover of the magazine or not.