I’m an #Activist: Exploring the Defanging of Social Justice Movements Through Celebrification by Jessica Zhang
Celebrities who branch out into activism
Celebrities can bring an elevated level of awareness to important issues, but the growing concern over “performative” activism on social media means that their actions are not always well received. Their brand must be conducive to activism for the public to acknowledge that they are “sincere.” The trust that stems from parasocial relationships can help persuade their audiences into individual action, but celebrities are not lawmakers and cannot influence policy.
Activists who attain celebrity through their activism
While most activists inevitably become public figures as they gain media attention, some activists use social media as a tool to grow their brand and make them be known as activists – the causes they support become secondary to the persona. They seek to appear trustworthy and will tend to cultivate a reputation for being a good person doing good works. Unlike activists who are subjected to celebrification, activists who seek celebrity may face scrutiny for their efforts to be “relatable” and authentic.
Activists who undergo celebrification
Many activists start out as concerned citizens seeking change, and young people have been given the media narrative that they are tech-savvy and passionate about social justice. Young activists receive praise for the way they use social media to document their surroundings and educate those around them, but that framing redirects attention away from the issues onto the methodology, turning the activists into spokespersons and consultants instead of messengers. Parasocial trust turns against them in that they become representative of the entire movement, and any criticism of them is then capable of being transferred to the movement.
For more information, please read “The celebritization of indigenous activism: Tame Iti as media figure” by Julie Cupples and Kevin Glynn and “Greta Thunberg’s iconicity: Performance and co-performance in the social media ecology” by Thomas Olesen .
Social media has changed, and, in fact, narrowed, the way we interact with public figures like activists. The sheer simplicity of building a following and being able to follow people through these platforms ensures that other methods of keeping track of activists’ activities become largely unnecessary. Concentrating on only one channel means that public figures and celebrities now share a metaphysical space, blurring the boundaries between the two groups. Social media has had an impact on parasocial interactions as well, now making it possible to be a “fan” of an activist. However, activists are supposed to only be mouthpieces for a cause, not brands in and of themselves. Social media is driving the meshing of activism and celebrity in an unprecedented way, but not every consequence of this process is necessarily productive.