America Anno Zero: for the first time Vanity Fair US and Vanity Fair Italia together for an issue on the United States on the eve of the vote
On the eve of the presidential elections on November 3, to understand the complex phase that the United States is going through and try to imagine the future of this immense country (and the world), Vanity Fair Italia and Vanity Fair America collaborate together for a special issue.
«For the first time in the history of this magazine, with Radhika Jones and the US editorial staff we have created a severely clear portrait of the United States of today. A country struggling with historical changes and revolutions that question the foundations of its history, its democracy and even its dream, the American Dream. On the cover, we have chosen to put her, Jane Fonda, an icon, an activist rather than an actress. 82 years old, a force of nature, a woman who has never stopped fighting and who perfectly embodies the doubts, questions and actions of an entire nation ", explains Simone Marchetti, director of Vanity Fair Italia.
For its part, Radhika Jones, director of Vanity Fair America, writes: "When Simone Marchetti asked me and the Vanity Fair America team to help him curate an issue on America in 2020, we jumped at the opportunity. We are used to writing about politics, about celebrities, about the world of entertainment and technology. But the collaboration with Vanity Fair Italia, which this year did such an important and engaging job, helped us to better understand what America represents and where it is headed ".
The interview with Jane Fonda reveals the background of the actress's commitment, who has always put her "body" at the service of the causes she believes in, from rallies against the Vietnam War to ecological battles in front of the White House in her Fire Drill Fridays, inspired by Greta Thunberg. Fonda reflects on Biden and Trump and the challenges any President will face after the vote.
Radhika Jones He then paints a beautiful portrait for Vanity Fair Italia of his hometown, New York, at the time of the pandemic. A wounded metropolis but ready to rise again, which suffers but which does not stop looking up, a city that has made resilience its strong point.
The issues that have access to the election campaign, climate change and social conflict – the tones of which have been exacerbated even more by the pandemic – are addressed in an article by the writer Daniel Duane, which bends how and why the fires that are ravaging California arise and how scientists can fight them, and in an exciting essay by the intellectual and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, which addresses the social conflicts that gave birth to Black Lives Matter and the birth of an anti-racist majority intent on creating a more inclusive world.
Still on this theme, a series of portraits frames seven visionaries who help understand how a movement like Black Lives Matter is born, a new generation of artists and activists who laid the foundations for global protest in defense of social justice. You go to the director Ava Duvernay to the writer Colson Whitehead, and to the journalist Isabel Wilkerson.
A reflection on the role of Silicon Valley and on the risks and manipulations of digital platforms, recalling the scandals that followed the previous American elections, makes it Anthony Breznican, journalist, novelist and correspondent for Vanity Fair America who interviews Jeff Orlowski, the director of the documentary The Social Dilemma.
The expert Dave Cullen instead it tells the story of the activist Gabby Giffords, essential to understand why the issue of gun control entered the agendas of American politicians in 2020, and how we came to talk about it.
And there is also a reflection on the show, the raw material of Vanity Fair. Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair America's leading critic for everything related to film, TV and theater, wonders: if a former reality TV star managed to become President of the United States – read Donald Trump – what is the weight of Hollywood stars in the life of the country in the Covid-19 era? All the other colleagues of Vanity Fair America then point out which books, films, documentaries and TV series are the key to understanding their country today.
Vanity Fair Italia also asked overseas colleagues if the American dream still existed. The answer was yes, and it's called Canada. To explain why it is the journalist Sonia Saraiya, in a funny article that is also the story of her marriage.
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