Renee Rosenow

In Keira Knightley’s new movie, “The Duchess,” posters were created that digitally enhanced her bust. Knightley put up a fight with studio heads and her bust line went back to its normal size. This is familiar territory for Knightley. In 2004, Knightley’s breast size was made larger on the posters of the film “King Arthur.” The media immediately honed in on the image and more publicity was put on Knightley’s chest than the actual movie itself. With the “King Arthur” posters, Knightley approved the image, but this time Knightley took action and demanded her image be all natural.

My question is this: Is Knightley’s movie, “The Duchess” really more marketable with her bra size going from what seems to be an A to a B?

Knightley, her A-sized breasts and all, has at 23 years of age made a name for herself as a serious actress. She has been nominated for an Oscar, been in the box-office smashing “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy and has been making movies that do not exploit her as a sex object. Why insult her and her career by making her breasts just a little bigger? Would men really have noticed if Knightley’s breasts were an A cup or a B cup? Would they really have stopped and gawked at the poster and suddenly had the inclination to see the Victorian themed movie?

Digital enhancements on posters are quite common in Hollywood, though. But, more often than not, someone, whether it’s a fan, a gossip blogger or the actress herself, notices if the image is digitally enlarged.

On the Imax posters for “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” then-17-year-old actress Emma Watson was given a digital cup size increase. I would hope that J.K. Rowling would not approve of Hermione having plastic surgery. In addition to Knightley and Watson, the svelte Kate Hudson was also given a digital enhancement on the poster of the movie “Fool’s Gold” last year.

With these posters, Hollywood loves sending the unassuming public mixed messages. They tell us anyone over a size four is too fat, yet they tell us if you are a size zero, like Knightley and Hudson, your chest size isn’t good enough either. It’s sad to think that a smart, gorgeous and talented woman like Knightley still has to go through body issues all because of someone sitting in a studio demanding that her look isn’t good enough.

Flipping through a fashion magazine from today, one can tell that Hollywood has changed a great deal in the past five decades in terms of image. The biggest sex symbol from the 1950s was Marilyn Monroe and posthumously, Monroe continues to be a sex symbol. And what was Monroe’s dress size? That would be a size 12. If anyone in today’s Hollywood was a size 12, they wouldn’t have a job, let alone be a sex symbol. Maybe they could be the sidekick, but never the leading lady. Hollywood craves perfection.

But, as the Hollywood standard goes, Knightley herself gives us mixed messages about body image. Yes, she declined to have her breasts digitally enhanced on a poster, but she is also rail thin. So much that as a common reader of entertainment magazines, more often than not, Knightley is shown with a caption saying she is too skinny.

In the world of pop culture today, an actress does just about anything to make herself look better. Whether it’s with a diet, plastic surgery, excessive exercise or an unhealthy lifestyle, the women of Hollywood prove that the their image is a disturbing one.

Knightley isn’t perfect, but she is completely happy with her flat-chested body in a world of size D breasts, which is one step in the right direction. Yet, in terms of body image, Hollywood still has far to go.

Proite is a senior print journalism major and staff writer for The Spectator.