Fan Rant: The Ridiculous, Disgusting Photoshopping Must End!
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand, Images, Posters
I love image editors like Photoshop. They've allowed me to make boring pictures funky, wipe the years off old and worn memories, and even get rid of the errant hair or blemish to make that nice photo truly shine. But I would give it all up and wipe my hands of them if it meant that the programs would be pulled out of the hands of Hollywood and the image-fixing machine.
We're getting bombarded by all sides. It's bad enough that lazy frakking poster creators actually shovel out horse poop like the embarrassingly terrible poster for The Takers, one that doesn't even bother trying to match the skin tones of the stars' heads with the stunt bodies, or thinks Paul Walker has massive Science of Sleep-like hands.
But we're also getting a never-ending onslaught of body de-hancements. I really can think of no better word for the folks like Ralph Lauren who are Photoshopping their models into sick, skeletal bodies. Adding to the pack is W Magazine, as BoingBoing shares. They scored an interview with Demi Moore and threw her up on the cover. While she may have discussed her dislike of being called a cougar, methinks she'd have more of an issue with what they did to her body. She's already ridiculously thin, but still, they edit. It looks like they tried to give her an "hourglass" shape (I use that term begrudgingly because it really doesn't apply when we're talking about skinny women who are Photoshopped to look curvy.), but worst of all -- they wiped out part of her already pencil-thin legs and were too lazy to make sure it matched. You can see part in the image above, look at the hip on the right, or in its full glory after the jump.
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WTF! What happened to the rest of her hip?
Part of me wonders if this is some sort of subversive movement from inside the system, trying to infuriate us to the point that we take a stand against rampant photo editing. Could photo manipulators really be this lazy? As well as the editors who okay the shoddy work? And do any of you look at these over-edited images and think they're attractive, whether they be movie posters or celebrities airbrushed to plasticness and narrowed to stick figure form? Lots of people got kerfuffled with heroin chic, but these latest media incarnations are making those old, so-called skinny pics look downright round and cherubic.
But what can we do about it? All I can come up with is throwing Richard Simmons and the rest of the health pack into a closet, getting everyone overeating to the point of flappy, cellulite-packed obesity, and torturing all the image manipulators and editors back to the real world, or into a whimpering pulp so that some more reality-based people can take over.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-18-2009 @ 1:01PM
weetiger3 said...
I agree with your assertion that all of this blatant manipulation of the images we're supposed to buy must end, however, I do need to point out that according to Idris Elba (via Twitter), one of the stars of "The Takers", that poster is supposed to look not only photoshopped, but done that badly.
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11-18-2009 @ 1:14PM
Boat said...
I agree. The poorly photoshopped posters must end. Either pay a real artist to render the actor or get that stupid actor in the studio to take some real photos.
Paul Walker has some of the worst photoshopped posters (the poster above plus the Fast and the Furious ones). Another frequent bad poster actor...Dane Cook (check out the posters for My Best Friends Girl and Good Luck Chuck).
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11-18-2009 @ 1:50PM
Marcos Kirsch said...
There's all sorts of things wrong with the manipulation of photographs. In France, they're thinking about forcing the use of a disclaimer on Photoshopped images. The U.S. should do the same.
http://ca.tech.yahoo.com/blogs/the_working_guy/rss/article/3894
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11-18-2009 @ 3:23PM
Anonymous said...
Quit spreading ignorance.
If your problem is with body image issues, which is completely valid, make your point without so much bitching about it. It discredits your opinions.
Before attacking designers, learn yourself over what is photography and what is photoshop. Paul walkers hands weren't enlarged for the photo, it was a photography matter. Would you say the same things if they had shrunk his hands?
It's also not the designer's fault. They often have to answer to a number of people all giving their input and notes that most times dismay the designer. So take a chill pill, and quit these ill-informed posts. Stick to the news, please.
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11-18-2009 @ 2:53PM
Monika said...
Anonymous:
No, Paul Walker's hands weren't enlarged for the photo. That's because his head was slapped onto another body without any thought of lighting, perspective, etc.
And yes, sometimes it is the designer's fault. The Ralph Lauren ads are clearly more than the photo manipulator's burden, which is why I mention editors, but I feel safe saying that no one at W asked for Demi Moore to be shoddily Photoshopped so that a chunk of her hip was removed.
11-18-2009 @ 3:18PM
Marcos Kirsch said...
Anonymous - I guess I did not make myself clear. I should have been more specific.
Yes, my problem is with modifying people in order to make them look more attractive than they are, such as giving them larger breasts or making them looks thinner, or making their legs a little longer. Adding explosions and so forth is ok with me.
11-18-2009 @ 3:31PM
Landen said...
i can kind of understand what anonymous is saying... being a designer myself there are plenty of times when i'm rather embarrassed about the end product due to my client's tastes differing from my own...
..a little harsh though...
photoshopped women (and men too!) in magazine and posters absolutely contributes detrimental body image issues... but that's nothing new, right?
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11-18-2009 @ 4:50PM
CoreyBean said...
What amazes me is how horrendously bad the Photoshop jobs are. I'm assuming the peopl working on these are some kind of professionals. How are they able to get away with such crappy work? The Ralph Lauren ads are particularly odious. How many people looked at those adds before they were put before the public? NO ONE noticed how ridiculous those things looked?
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11-18-2009 @ 5:41PM
Matt said...
This article isn't relevant to films. I'm sick of Cinematical's other agenda's and all the 'we don't normally comment on a celebrity's private life, but...' stories. This site is fucked now - the quality has gone down rapidly over the past year. I'm not reading anymore.
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11-18-2009 @ 10:22PM
Andy said...
I've gotten so used to ridiculously bad film posters that I don't even think about it anymore. It's also good for a chuckle.
I find it kind of funny that Ralph Lauren can even find Photoshop operators (I'm not going to use the word artists) that are THAT bad. I mean the images they got busted for are just funny. I doubt anyone could be influenced by something that hilarious
But I would argue that the subtle things you don't see day to day might have a greater effect on people's sense of reality. Search Google for 'retouch example' and you will find amazing examples where a massive amount of slight of hand has taken place...even on people you would say are already strikingly beautiful.
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11-18-2009 @ 11:07PM
Mia said...
More people should speak up against this ugly trend. I remember staring at the LOTR3 poster, and just couldn't believe what they did to Viggo Mortensen's face. Shame on those lame, lazy Hollywood studios.
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11-19-2009 @ 8:09AM
C.A. said...
This is a pet peeve of mine whether it is movies or magazines or anything. I hate bad/unnecessary photoshops! Down with bad movie posters!!!
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