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Jennifer Lawrence says speaking out against Trump would ‘add fuel to a fire’ ripping America apart. As political binaries continue to sharpen, should those in the public eye take sides?
The question of whether famous people should be politically outspoken is a complex one. I’ve argued with friends and family about it to no end. But my own stance has also shifted plenty of times over the years.
If you’d asked me only a couple of years ago I’d have said anyone who had a platform should use it. That to remain silent in the face of political unrest when your words had the capacity to change things was both ignorant and dangerous.
Now I’ve done away with the fire and brimstone and have a decidedly more relaxed opinion on the matter. Celebrities are kind of like our personal spokespeople. We align ourselves to the ones we like and dislike, and by extension they act as a mirror to our own opinions and ideals.
This makes them a bit of a moral hot potato. When they do something we don’t like, it feels like an affront. When they speak up on something that we agree with, it’s an opportunity to flaunt their affinity to ourselves – to tell the people around us that we were right, that this very famous person we’ve never met is exactly who we thought they were.
As Lucy Blakiston wrote in a brilliant Substack on the subject, we don’t want celebrities to speak out on political issues to learn from them. Despite what the media seems intent to churn out, we aren’t looking to actors and singers for guidance – we don’t really expect them to change the world (at least in this context).
‘We are simply wanting to see if their values align with ours,’ says Blakiston. ‘Maybe that’s because, whether we like it or not, the boundary between the person and the politics doesn’t really exist anymore.’
This debate crops up every time something major happens in the world – which is, everyday. We look to someone significant, they stay silent, and the inevitable arguments erupt. Jennifer Lawrence is the latest celebrity to find herself in the firing line.
Early on in her career, Lawrence was known for her vocal stance on politics. She’s been open about voting for both right and leftwing presidential candidates – a refreshing stray from the binary approach that now defines much of the West.
Now the actor has said she doesn’t ‘really know if [she] should,’ speak out on Donald Trump – arguably the most polarising political figure in recent history. ‘During the first Trump administration,’ Lawrence told the New York Times, ‘I felt like I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. But as we’ve learned, election after election, celebrities do not make a difference whatsoever on who people vote for.’
It tracks with my opinion pivot. I’d hasten to add that we probably expect too much from the people who are ultimately there to entertain us. The same people who dress in silly outfits and parade along red carpets simply for playing pretend. (Now, I’m not saying the arts and cinema aren’t indelibly important to us as a society – but when it comes down to the knuckle, it’s all just a bit of make believe.)
