THE TIMES OF INDIA (September 15, 2019)
Celebrities aren’t what they used to be. Not long ago, they were bland ambassadors of their movies, music or sports. Their social concern was limited to causes that offended no one — a green marathon, or a cancer awareness ribbon.
Then a few, like Angelina Jolie, Bono and Madonna took up humanitarian causes around the world. This made for riveting pictures, the world sighed in sympathy. But even then, they steered clear of anything contentious in their own country, like racial justice or social equality. Famous women regularly insisted that they weren’t feminists.
But now, a new generation of woke celebs has blown away those conventions. Look at Beyonce, confident, compelling and feminist. Emma Watson declaring that trans rights are human rights.
Priyanka Chopra proudly calls herself feminist, and her pal Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, is editing the September issue of Vogue dedicated to female changemakers. It’s cool to care, and wear your earnestness on your designer sleeve.
And why not? We live in an image-driven world. When even politics is seen as entertainment, why shouldn’t entertainers, who are used to constant attention, direct that attention to causes they care about. They have influence, and they want to influence public conversation.
Some celebrities do have skin in the game, beyond holding up signs and mouthing platitudes. Deepika Padukone is sincerely focused on mental health work, after her own struggle with depression. Kim Kardashian not only professes to care about prison reform, she is training as a lawyer to do more about it.
Of course, there are still limits to what they can do. In the US, footballer Colin Kaepernick kneeled during the US national anthem to protest police brutality, and the reverberations have not ceased. In India, Aamir Khan can talk about children’s causes all he wants, but one mention of religious intolerance, and the trolls descend on him, threatening dire consequences. All the celebrities who spoke out against powerful men in the movie industry have faced immense pushback. No wonder that the bulk of celebrity activism still confines itself to safe causes — you can’t expect a celebrity to not care about popularity.
And so, many of them still confine themselves to causes that don’t challenge any real power. For instance, feminism was once a movement that cared about women’s collective emancipation, not just individual “icons” making whatever free choice they want. But in recent years, advertisers and PR machines have embraced a feel-good feminism, and social media is full of a shallow “yass, kween slay” rhetoric. In these times, it’s an effective way of brand-building, garnering attention and approval. It doesn’t get into mundane issues like wage equality and childcare, but is all about body positivity and sassy clapbacks. Barring a few, celebrities rarely talk about caste or class inequality, or injustice against minorities.
Celebrity activists also invariably mess up, failing their own causes. Priyanka Chopra bills herself as a feminist and goodwill ambassador for peace. But she was attacked for her cheery selfies from the Holocaust Memorial, for behaving like a badwill ambassador for war when she cheered on a military strike, and then accused her Pakistani questioner of “venting” and embarrassing herself. J K Rowling has been accused of being trans-phobic. Emma Watson faced the fire when she endorsed a skin-brightening product. Katy Perry spoke about “this strange race to be the most woke”. As she put it, “they want you to stand for something, but once you do, and if you don’t do it perfectly, they’re ready to take you right down.”
This isn’t fair to them, or the cause they are espousing. We might enjoy the idea of putting people up on pedestals and dragging them down, but celebrities are human too, evolving their views under constant public scrutiny. Sure, their opinions are often basic. But perhaps, instead of sneering at them to prove our own ideological purity, we might do better to help them widen and deepen their own views. Anyone who is willing to walk back on their mistakes and learn, is worth applauding.
The test is not about whether a celebrity is woke or not, it is whether they make an effort to stay conscious of unfairness or prefer to sleepwalk in their privilege. And dismantling social injustice is not the burden of icons and stars, it is a collective effort.
When the stars are woke: More celebrities are speaking up for social justice, while also trying to stay popular
