Evolution of the Playboy Centerfold
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From a look at Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream and Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds:
Something else (related) happens around this time: Playboy ceases to be about the erotic everyday encounter. Flesh and blood women turn to images; the “girl next door” becomes distinctly mediated. The bunnies were always mediated, of course, but something about the earlier photographs made you forget the medium and feel as though you were staring straight into the eyes of a luscious partner. Enthusiastic photoshopping has aided the transformation. Gone are the freckles and downy arm hairs of the predecessors. Breasts are surgically standardized; gym routines and spray tans produce identically toned and tinted bodies. Girls of all ethnicities blend together into one latte-colored woman, and the result looks computer-generated. When you try to imagine how the models might feel and smell, things like rubber come to mind.
Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story
This is a fairly common feeling about the development of the Playboy centerfolds. I agree but only somewhat. (My pet peeve are those unkissable collagen lips.) There have continued to be playmates with individuality. Not that I’d dare name names. What stirs one man’s fancy can easily bore another.
