In L'Italia esplode (Italy explodes), a diary from 1952, written in 1968 by Italian journalist, translator and fashion critic Maria Vittoria Rossi - better known as Irene Brin - and published posthumously in more recent years, the author revealed how editors would put together the December or Christmas issue of many magazines during the '50s.
Between 20th December and 7th January, photographers would go around different churches and sacred places to capture the genuine Christmas spirit and take pictures that were used in the December issue of the following year (an astonishing gap of time for modern standards...). Brin recounted for example how a photographer stumbled upon a humble yet surprising representation of a Nativity scene staged by the locals in Les Baux, a village in Provence. A famous American magazine published the images the following December and people started flocking to the village turning it into a touristy place.
Things changed, though, as the years passed: as Brin warned in the '60s, art directors of international publications had started to consider Christmas as a huge personal advertising campaign.
Brin wittily tried to imagine the editorial meeting of a magazine working on the December 1968 issue with the editor announcing a rather bizarre idea, doing a Christmas photo shoot among the lepers on the Island of Kauai, Hawaii, a wicked yet financially rewarding and cheap way to come up with a striking shoot, paid by the Hawaian tourist office.
"We may go there in March, before we go to Bolivia for the shoot for the 1969 Easter issue (..) lepers in Kauai are not contagious and they adore acting," Brin's imaginary editor states.
Brin described in bitterly sarcastic tones the editor's terribly cynical and exploitative plan: "We will put here on the right a group of elderly and tragic looking leper ladies. Their clothes in tatters and in a palette comprising ashen grey, violet red and at least one shade of yellow. We will need sticks and crutches. On the left we will have the cute looking leper girls. Barely dressed (..) in white matte tones, maybe with wreaths of flowers on their heads. Some of them may be clutching a dove to their hearts. In the centre in the background we will have the men with their spears (…) we will take the spears on loan from the Honolulu Museum or we can carry them all the way from California. On the foreground we will have a beautiful Virgin Mary. Maybe with just a spot of leprosy on her forehead...and a wreath of white flowers. She will be clad in a pale blue dress, and, please, remember the draped motifs of her dress as she will be kneeling down. It should be inspired by a sort of 1400s Florentine mood. Next to her we will have Saint Joseph. He will have to be in a very bad condition and (…) with a patch on one eye. Ms Myrtles please pay attention as the patch should not look like the advert for Hathaway's shirts. In the middle we will have the Baby Jesus – also a leper. (...) A key detail: he will be sleeping among leaves and grass in a wooden box on which there will be written Eat Tropical Fruits. Maybe you can take the box with you from Los Angeles..."
Times may have changed (we do everything at faster rhythms nowadays...), but the fictional editorial meeting Brin described in the '60s perfectly captures the lack of humanity and cynicism that many media people in powerful places have developed throughout the years. Yes, the times may have changed, but there is something that has become even worse and that's the emphasis on superficial shoots revolving around Christmas, on images devoid of any deep meanings or that ooze false piety, revealing nothing else but commercial messages (in Brin's brilliant fake dialogue the editor references Hathaway's advert with a man in a mysterious eye patch, pretending to be asking the assistant Ms Myrtles to avoid it, but actually almot begging her to copy it) and very empty hearts.
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