It’s happened to her before, so this time, Keira Knightley took control.
According to the Telegraph , Knightley, 29, had a photoshoot and interview with Interview magazine back in August. She had an idea, a most powerful one, and asked photographer Patrick Demarcherlier to cooperate, which he agreed. Knightley’s idea? Demarcherlier would take a picture of the actress topless with one steadfast rule; under no circumstances is the photograph or the subject of the photograph to be enhanced or modified in any way.
When asked for her reasons, Knightley said her topless picture was in retaliation of the unrealisitic and oftentimes unfair expectations the public has about women’s bodies. Knightley said, “I’ve had my body manipulated so many different times for so many different reasons, whether it’s paparazzi photographers or for film posters.”
“That [shoot] was one of the ones where I said, ‘OK, I’m fine doing the topless shot so long as you don’t make them any bigger or retouch. Because it does feel important to say it really doesn’t matter what shape you are.”
Knightley’s had this fight in pubic before. In 2004, Knightley was cast as Gweniviere in King Arthur starring Clive Owen. According to Knightley, the role required a great amount of strenuous physical training, so much so that her breast size had shrunk. Buena Vista Pictures, the movie’s distributor, and Touchtstone pictures, the movie’s creator, took the poster for the movie’s release and digitally manipulated Knightley’s breast to be bigger and more noticeable. This did not sit well with Knightley.
According to Web Pro News , this situation left a lasting impression on Knightley.
“I think women’s bodies are a battleground and photography is partly to blame. It’s much easier to take a picture of somebody without a shape; it simply is. Whereas actually you need tremendous skill to be able get a woman’s shape and make it look like it does in life, which is always beautiful. But our society is so photographic now, it becomes more difficult to see all of those different varieties of shape.”
Knightley’s protest seems to be having its desired effect. Claire Cohen, writer for the Telegraph, considers it to be a powerful, positive feminist statement. “Anyone calling these shots ‘sexy’ is horribly, horribly misguided,” she wrote. “To me, it’s clear that Keira hasn’t got her tits out for the purpose of male titillation. Powerful, yes. Strong, yes. Feminist, absolutely. X-rated? Not even close.”
[Image courtesy of The Daily Beast]
