This is a standard, but silly, argument from Big Hollywood about how the entertainment industry hates the troops:

But patriotism doesn’t sell, right? If it did, Hollywood would be inundating movie theaters with pro-troop films and other tales of American soldiers in heroic action.
“Red Tails” also slices into another depressing Hollywood meme…An even better patriotism test comes next month when “Act of Valor,” a film which boldly toasts American soldiers as heroes, hits theaters. A “Valor” take down of the film competition may open the floodgates for more pro-troop features, assuming the appropriate bean counters are taking notes. Or, will Hollywood executives ignore the numbers and retreat to projects depicting U.S. soldiers in unflattering light? Is there a better chance we’ll see a new installment of “In the Valley of Elah” or “Redacted,” films showing the darker side of the modern soldier, than a “Red Tails” sequel?

I don’t want to spend time explaining why patriotism and unqualified support for the members and actions of the armed forces no matter what they do aren’t the same thing, because I think it’s obvious to everyone here and everyone reasonable why that’s the case. But I think there’s something fundamentally silly about the idea that Hollywood is unaware of the fact that patriotism sells.

In the last 10 years, the following movies with patriotic themes were among the top-10 grossing movies of the year. Last year, one of the top-selling superheroes of the year was Captain America, up there with Pixar’s most middle-American offering, Cars 2. In 2010, Iron Man 2 kept stumbling drunkenly towards public service. 2009 was ruled by Michael Bay’s military Valentine, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, along with the paen to charity and football as mainstreaming experiences, The Blind Side. In 2008, Tony Stark discovered service of country instead of himself in Iron Man. In 2007, Spider-Man 3, the latest installment about the webslinger who became a representative of post-9/11 New York, topped the box office list; the uber-pro-military franchise Transformers made its bow; Jason Bourne kept the idea of an intelligence community with integrity alive in The Bourne Ultimatum; and Will Smith saved human society in I Am Legend. The previous year, Clark Kent resurfaced to keep an eye on Metropolis in Superman Returns, and Hollywood affirmed a kinder, gentler American consumerism in Talladega Nights. 2005 had less obvious themes, though America obviously beats the Martians in War of the Worlds. 2004 reinforced Spider-Man’s ties to New York in that incredible subway scene. 2002 had Spider-Man topping the charts again, a celebration of the immigrant experience in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and more Americans v. the Aliens in Men in Black 2. 2001 was the last year a World War II movie cleaned up at the box office, but no one could accuse Pearl Harbor of being anything less than a big, old-fashioned patriotic weepie.

Even by the standards of military-worshipping conservatism, Hollywood is deeply committed to making movies that both reflect and make bank off that particular strand of patriotism. And if you’re thoughtful enough to have a broader understanding of love and country, there’s even more out there for you.

It may not be the first time French fashion magazines have shown some bizarre racial attitudes — anyone remember the time Carine Roitfeld had Lara Stone do an editorial in blackface for French Vogue? But French Elle apparently decided it wasn’t totally over the line to publish a piece (since pulled) about how Michelle Obama has finally, at long last, turned black women into French-acceptable style icons. In the name of educating them, here are 10 black women with incredible high style, who were around long before FLOTUS made the national scene, elevating everyone from Jason Wu to White House Black Market:

1. Josephine Baker: The toast of Paris, Baker may have been more famous for the clothes she didn’t wear during some of her most famous performances, but she wore designer clothes off-stage, popularized a hairstyle and a hat style, and did it all while aiding the French resistance and aiding 12 adoptive children.

2. Billie Holiday: The flowers in her hair. The big necklaces and earrings. The comfort with her curves.

3. Coretta Scott King: In the midst of the civil rights movement, Mrs. King and her husband brought classic style to the fight for justice, including fashionable hats, mixed textures in the fabrics of her clothing, flower-shaped stud earrings, and classic silhouettes. One of the reasons French Elle’s article is so stupid is that it ignores the role that style’s played in the fight against racism in an attempt to assert dignity and poise in the face of white hate.

4. Diana Ross: She’s rocked everything from the conservative fashions of early Motown to an Afro. And while she’s worn designers ranging from Halston to Bob Mackie, Ross’s interest in fashion was initially professional. She’d wanted to be a designer, but ended up helping establish international trends instead.

5. Kathleen Cleaver: The former Black Panther was one of the radical women who helped popularize the Afro, and with her gorgeous earrings and signature sunglasses, she stood for the idea that you could be involved in the struggle for black liberation without playing by conservative and respectable style rules.

6. Alek Wek and Iman: Elle appears to have missed the fact that black women don’t just buy fashionable clothes, they represent the way they should be worn to the whole world. Both Wek and Iman were born in Africa and have become international style icons, walking for and inspiring everyone from Alexander McQueen to Yves Saint Laurent — and both do enormous amounts of charity work.

7. Condoleezza Rice: No matter how you feel about her politics or her tenure as National Security Adviser and Secretary of State, Rice wore great jackets, killer boots, and turned pearls into an assertion of power rather than a representation of fustiness. And she could pose in a gown at the piano she loves to play, too.

8. Beyonce and Solange Knowles: High fashion and hipster queen, the Knowles sisters have very different senses of styles that compliment their music and personalities. Elle should know that black women aren’t just confined to street fashion, to one label, or to one set of trends.