We’ve debated topics of varying importance on The Frisky, for this installment of “Debate This,” we’re tackling a subject that is truly timely and serious. Should we—and that’s a royal “we”—laugh when models fall on the runway? This sparked a little heated debate during our morning meeting today, so I’ve asked two particularly empassioned Frisky staffers to square off on the matter.
It's Girl-on-Girl Crime!
“Models Go Down!” posts seem to be the online answer to the "This Celeb Got Fat!" brand of schadenfreude that we all know and love so well in the tabloids. Just like I wish they’d stop with the latter, could we please learn to leave these poor girls alone?
Women hating on women is rampant enough as it is, and while it's easy to poke fun at excessively beautiful folks (and yeah, people falling is always kinda funny), consider our Catherine's analogy -- laughing at models falling is the equivalent of yelling at an employee for not doing their job while their computer has suffered an unexpected meltdown. Sure, it seems like, all they have to freakin' do is walk -- is that so hard? But consider this: the shoes are usually outrageous and they don't fit, and for some ridiculous reason runways are always crazy slippery.
Plus, these girls are, like, 16 on average. How would you feel if you were some scared kid from Russia with 45 cameras blinding you and the most influential people in your industry staring at you like hungry hounds? Intimidating much? Models may be taller than most of us, but contrary to popular belief, they’re people, too. --Erin Flaherty, Style Editor
What's NOT Funny About It?
Should you laugh when a model becomes road kill on the runway? Um, YES! Why? Because it’s hilarious. The collective gasp of all the I-live-for-fashion types in the audience, the stunned look on the model’s face that screams, “My life is over,” as her tailbone makes contact with the floor—unless something’s broken, these things are pure comedy.
Here’s how I see it. Runway model make buckets of money and there’s only one thing they have to do—stay upright while they walk for the 10 minutes of a fashion show. When they can’t do that right, it’s amusing. Sure, as Erin mentioned, their heels are never the right size and runways are slippery, but designers could easily change those things if they wanted to make sure slippage wasn’t a possibility. Instead, the fashion world intentionally makes walking a challenge, fetishizing the idea that it’s SO HARD to be a model. But that’s a whole ‘nother rant.
Basically, if designers and the models themselves didn’t take the whole thing so darned seriously, it wouldn’t be nearly as chuckle-worthy. So, some advice for the next model who slips and falls mid-strut: stand up, take a bow, and laugh it off yourself. --Kate Torgovnick, Pop Culture Editor
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What's your opinion?
