Meryl Streep used the acceptance of her Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Globes as a platform to speak out against hatred and her discontent with president-elect Donald Trump. The eight-time Golden Globe winner has faced a fair amount of praise and backlash for her bold comments.
The majority of criticisms from those unhappy with her speech referenced her comments about the MMA and sports and her disassociation with the middle and lower classes in the U.S.
Her comment about sports and the MMA may have been off-target, but in a broader analysis, her speech was primarily positive.
The actress spoke of her disapproval of Trump mocking a disabled reporter last year, addressed the importance of respecting one another and communicated the high level of responsibility that the famous have.
Does her career in the entertainment industry truly have relevance to her message of respect towards others? Is it that out-of-place for one person to spread a sentiment of love?
Celebrities can be widely criticized for not using their platform for the greater good or for their shallowness. They can also be attacked by others for being “out of touch with reality” when they voice controversial opinions for the greater good. In United States society, it is practically impossible for celebrities to be evaluated in a completely positive light by the public.
Social media allows us to delve into some of the most intimate details of entertainers’ lives. We know so much about them. We absorb all of their work and hang onto every last word they say (if we’re crazy enough about ’em.) It’s easy to feel like you really do know that musician or actor after closely following all of their social accounts.
We want to see that they’re human like us sometimes. Pumping their gas. Having acne. Looking like garbage at the grocery store. Oddly enough, we can also become outraged when they act too down to earth.
Hey, that prominent Hollywood actress is acting like she’s one of us by displaying her views on recent national events! What a hypocrite, showcasing her political opinions — save your talking for when the camera’s rolling.
If the majority of people really believe that all people in Hollywood are out-of-touch, unaware Americans, then why does the majority continue to watch, talk and regurgitate the personal lives of Hollywood entertainers?
It’s because we do, in fact, value the voices of Hollywood’s elite — and not just for their tear-jerking performances. They play a role in a lot of American lives, whether we admit it or not — we probably know at least one fact about what a Kardashian did or said in any given week.
We are pervasively intertwined in the world of entertainment culture. Telling celebrities to “shut up” about politics and to strictly keep making the work that we pay for and consume in silence is ludicrous. Incredibly enough, the stars of your favorite TV shows and the voices behind your favorite albums are, in fact, human beings who can form a valid opinion, just like us.
Not to forget, a lot of celebrities have attained a higher education and didn’t live the entirety of their lives in wealth and fame, so yes, they certainly do have grounds to speak on these matters.
Surely, we should take their opinions and views with a grain of salt because some of Hollywood’s elite may not realize their high status of privilege, and some of them were born into that privileged status.
But no matter their extent of understanding of the average American life, they still can and will use their platforms to speak their personal beliefs. Often, it seems that celebrities like Meryl Streep are simply doing it to incite positive change.
It is ironic beyond measure to deplore artists for speaking on political opinions. They are not robots programmed to make capitalistic products for you and only for you. If we value their personal media and opinions beyond their work on the screen or in the studio, it’s a little contradicting to deem their opinions invalid when it comes to containing a political view potentially opposing our own.
If you truly believe there is no purpose or influence in political activism of the famous and affluent, please consider the irony of an individual voting for a reality star and household name like Donald Trump, a man with quite literally zero experience in politics, while simultaneously deploring celebrities’ political activism.
The same person swayed an entire country by using his platform as a TV personality and billionaire (one might even dare call him out-of-touch), promoting his supposedly relatable, “I’m Just Like You” rhetoric.
The election of our president-elect contradicts the off-point assertion that entertainers have no place in politics.
Huh, seems out-of-place for a billionaire public figure, right?