HW Pick: “Meet the De Blasios!”

November 5, 2013

Meet-the-De-Blasios-NY-Mag-cover1Call it patronizing all the way down to the typography. If NY Mag chose to frame the family, and the likely next first family of New York City as a biracial flavor-of-the-moment, as the hands-down winners of the 2013 Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa mailbox double-take contest, the stereotyping of:

is worse than that. It’s not just the white-accented cameo-style portrait in the fashion of a primetime promo, each gaze designed to introduce and imprint that character into your heart/infotainment diet, it’s the Hollywood-style titling and typeface, as if branding The De Blasio family as a show. It might as well read: Meet The Jeffersons … with a White!

 

(Plausible perhaps as a greeting card, the illustration logically voids that format with the word “meet.”)

If this cover is anything — as the sub-head questions whether the foursome can even make it to Sweeps Week as mostly a visual novelty — it’s as a cringeworthy reminder of white media’s two gestures when it comes to celebrating African-Americans. Option A: they’re athletes. Option B: they’re in entertainment.

(photo: pending. Design Director: Thomas Alberty)

Source


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Harlem World Magazine, 2521 1/2 west 42nd street, Los Angeles, CA, 90008, https://www.harlemworldmagazine.com. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
We're your source for local coverage, we count on your support. SPONSOR US!
Your support is crucial in maintaining a healthy democracy and quality journalism. With your contribution, we can continue to provide engaging news and free access to all.
accepted credit cards

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Articles