How the Miss Universe Pageant Explains the World

Travel Blog  •  Jim Benning  •  07.14.08 | 5:03 PM ET

Let’s face it, the Miss Universe pageant isn’t just about beauty. It’s about flaunting power on the world stage. It’s a metaphor for geopolitics. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Miss USA, Crystle Stewart—a Texan—tripped on her jewel-encrusted dress at the pageant yesterday in Vietnam, not unlike her Miss USA predecessor did so famously in Mexico a year earlier. These have been rough times for Miss USA winners around the globe. We can only hope that next year we’ll see a real change in the way the next Miss USA conducts herself abroad.

Tags: Global Village, North America, United States, South America, Venezuela, News and Briefs


3 Comments for How the Miss Universe Pageant Explains the World

Jim Benning 07.14.08 | 7:19 PM ET

I should have known the Foreign Policy blog would offer its own take on the pageant:

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/9249

Scott 07.15.08 | 4:26 PM ET

If the pageant is a metaphor for geopolitics then what can we read from Miss Venezuela’s triumph?

Jim Benning 07.15.08 | 4:33 PM ET

Her victory represents the rise of the left in Latin America, no?

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