Social justice crusades by Hollywood types tend to attract eye-rolls and critiques of being tokenistic, shallow and more intended for a display of virtue politics and photo ops than the difficult work of effecting meaningful change.
The glitzy world of show business and social justice politics can make for awkward marriage, as can be seen with the hapless entertainment reporters covering this year’s Golden Globes, including one bewildered reporter interviewing a forceful extrapolating on the gender pay gap.
It would be easy to accuse the actresses clad in black at this year’s Golden Globes in solidarity with the #metoo campaign, highlighting sexual harassment of women in Hollywood, of showmanship.
The campaign gained steam in the wake of an explosive 2017 investigation by the New York Times revealing decades of sex abuse by Hollywood studio boss.
The stakes in making such a statement are less high and infinitely more fashionable now, when the King has fallen, than when he could chop your head off. There is less personal risk involved.
But the huge platform afforded to celebrity means even a brief pivot of the spotlight directing the fickle popular culture attention span on an important issue, can have a huge impact in directing resources, awareness and conversation in the right direction.
Laura Dern, Nicole Kidman, Zoe Kravitz, Reese Witherspoon and Shailene Woodley at the Golden Globes. (AAP) Source: AAP
Symbolic gestures can also create an environment of support and solidarity for whistleblowers and those who might still want to speak out.
The amplification of the racial and gender social justice fight in the entertainment industry in the last few years from #oscarssowhite to #metoo feels like an overdue release of decades of discontent from artists in the industry.
The Hollywood machinery is responsible for churning out global cultural product that has a deep impact on how we see ourselves and the world.
Storytelling is powerful. Who gets to tell those stories and who they include and exclude, teaches us who to empathise with and creates deep subconscious cultural knowledge.
This has an impact on politics and society, how we engage with others, and how we see ourselves.
Contrary to thinking it self indulgent, I think it is more apt for celebrity culture to address localised struggles, rather than trying to solve the world’s famine crisis or the conflict in Darfur, or the challenges of refugee women in the third world.
I don’t think Hollywood celebrities should fight everyone’s battles. That being said, there needs to be more than a token acknowledgment of other women adjacent, fighting the same battles in the same industry.
An anticipation of intersectional criticism seems to be behind the decision of to invite feminist activists working on the ground, from Asian, Latino and black communities to accompany them to the awards.
Meryl Streep, left, and Ai-jen Poo arrive at the 75th annual Golden Globe Awards Source: AP
Meryl Streep attended with National Domestic Workers Alliance director Ai-jen Poo, while Emma Watson arrived with Marai Larasi, the founder of UK-based black feminist organisation Imkaan.
This solidarity is welcome, as is the link to the experiences of women in entertainment to a broader feminist project. But what black and brown women want is more than a temporary invitation, it’s the power to invite. It’s a place on the red carpet to begin with.
Marai Larasi, left, and Emma Watson arrive at the 75th annual Golden Globe Awards Source: AP
The marginalisation of women in positions of power in Hollywood is exacerbated for women of colour, who occupy even less power in relation to the mainstream than their white sisters.
The gender power disparity that allows powerful men to get away with endemic sexual harassment and abuse, that allows women to be paid less than their male peers and also impacts female creativity and representation, both on and off screen, is heightened for women of colour.
These are the women who aren’t even allowed inside the tent, to complain about the tent.
The challenge as Ava Duvernay tweeted, is more than one of accommodation, or linking hands on the red carpet, but of restructuring the industry as a whole.
It’s about linking the experiences of high profile white women to the injustices experienced by those people we care less about - the less glamorous, low paid, low status minority women in the industry, often toiling behind the scenes with no profile.
Real change will occur with an acknowledgment of how white actresses are also unconsciously embedded in the very patriarchy women of colour are fighting.
They have more power to spotlight their issues and need to pass the torch on to illuminate the world of other women with less class and racial privilege, and with less space on the red carpet.
They have more power to spotlight their issues and need to pass the torch on to illuminate the world of other women with less class and racial privilege, and with less space on the red carpet.
This means not only acknowledging their own struggle and power in relation to others but also being willing to give up that power. If you want others to work with you, you must also work for others, and be as committed to racial justice and lifting others up, than your own narrow concerns.
This means transferring the baton not only to women who look like you but those that don’t. It means fighting for resources to allow women of colour decision-making positions to express creatively on equal terms, from a frame of reference refracted not from a white gaze, but their own authentic gaze, on issues particular to their experience.
It’s not an accident that this year’s references first black Oscar winner Sidney Poitier in her rousing . Her message on the battles that come from rising from a background of poverty and racial discrimination, is a powerful reminder that #metoo is about freedom for all, not just the moneyed elite.
"What I know for sure speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we have....Each of us in this room are celebrated because of the stories that we tell, and this year we became the story.
"But it's not just a story affecting the entertainment industry. It's one that transcends any culture, geography, race, religion, politics, or workplace. So I want tonight to express gratitude to all the women who have endured years of abuse and assault because they, like my mother, had children to feed and bills to pay and dreams to pursue. They're the women whose names we'll never know. They are domestic workers and farm workers. They are working in factories and they work in restaurants.
"So I want all the girls watching here, now, to know that a new day is on the horizon! And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say 'Me too' again."
Let the revolution begin.
