Book Jackets with Familiar Faces

Lisa — Wed, 28 May 2008 18:38:20 -0700

We all know the current trend of photographic book covers for novels. Much has been made of trends to show just feet, just torsos, or various other truncated body parts. But lately I’ve been noticing more photographic book covers that show actual faces.

One side effect, of course, is that readers are given a very strong suggestion of what the main character looks like, rather than letting them use their imaginations—like seeing a still shot from the movie based on the book.

I wonder if the trend is part of our society’s general obsession with things that are “real”: movies “based on the true story,” reality television, etc. If the main character of a novel has apparently been captured on film, does that make the story seem more real?

This past week, I’ve been struck by something else about these headshot/full-body photo covers—something that’s made me wonder about just what-all goes into publishers’ decisions about which models they use…

Case Study #1: Suite Scarlett, by Maureen Johnson
Quick, who’s the most famous Scarlett you know? Scarlett O’Hara, you say? Okay, second-most famous, then—and a real person, to boot. In fact, the only real person I can think of named Scarlett. (It’s not a common name, after all.) That’s right: Scarlett Johanssen.

Is it just a coincidence that the model on the cover of Suite Scarlett looks startlingly like Scarlett Johanssen? I’m not saying she’s a dead ringer (okay, it's mostly the hair), but take a look at Photo A and Photo B and tell me there’s not a resemblance.

So, is Scarlett Johanssen unwittingly selling books for Maureen Johnson? Not that Maureen Johnson needs help selling books! And maybe most of her young fans don’t know or care about Scarlett Johanssen anyway—but adult buyers, on the other hand…

Case Study #2: Band Geek Love, by Josie Bloss
Stop me if this rings a bell: “This one time? At band camp?” Yeah, I thought that would be enough. Even if you’re lucky enough to have missed the movie American Pie, a few years back you probably heard that line repeated often enough to feel like you’d been there after all. It’s spoken, of course, by Alyson Hannigan’s character. Alyson Hannigan… the band geek… with red hair… cut in a pageboy.

She played the flute (you probably knew that, too) instead of the trumpet. And again, many/most of this book’s readers haven’t seen American Pie either. But is Alyson Hannigan unwittingly helping sell Band Geek Love to adults?

Of course, Hannigan gained most of her fans through her role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I’d bet a very healthy percentage of those fans were band geeks themselves. So, maybe it’s only natural!

Case Study #3: Allie Finkle’s Rules for Life: Moving Day, by Meg Cabot
I’m stretching a bit here, but I can’t help looking at this book cover without thinking of one very famous person. Wait, make that two very famous people. Maybe it’s the clothes. Maybe it’s the hair. Or the complexion. Or the mouth. But all my brain can think is Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

(Amazon’s images for this book are pretty crummy, but Meg Cabot’s got a good image on her site.)

This may all be in my head. Or maybe it’s only my astounding television/movie star ignorance that has kept me from seeing celebrities in the faces of all photographic book covers.

What do you think?

ETA 5/30/08:

Case Study #4: How to Be Bad, by E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski, and Lauren Myracle
Tell me you look at this one and don't think of everybody's (latest) favorite British waif, who in various films has played soccer, fought pirates (including undead ones), and worn tight, Victorian dresses in the rain. That's right, I'm thinking of none other than Keira Knightley.

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Book Jackets with Familiar Faces