Performative Wokeness/White Victimhood: The Hypocrisy of Celebrity Villainization of Paparazzi (original) (raw)

Abstract

This commentary contrasts the gender and racial politics of celebrity input on the current uprising in comparison with the gender and racial politics in celebrity media production. On June 11, 2020, a video of an all-white cast of celebrities vowing to “take responsibility” for racism was released. It garnered millions of views within hours. Such exhibitions of white celebrity solidarity and empathy in response to the current uprising contrast deeply with exhibitions of white victimhood within the context of the Hollywood-Industrial Complex, even by the very celebrities featured in the video. For example, Kristen Bell, who is featured in the video, has been a leader in anti-paparazzi initiatives in California, thus targeting and criminalizing the work of paparazzi photographers, who my work has shown are predominantly Latinx. Bell was an outspoken advocate for a California law that made photographing a person’s child “because of that person’s employment” punishable by up to one year in prison. In her comments in support of the law she repeatedly used the term “pedorazzi” to describe paparazzi photographers, thus insinuating that non-consensual pictures of her children are akin to their sexual molestation. Jennifer Garner similarly testified before the California State Assembly in support of the anti-paparazzi laws, using highly racialized language to describe the photographers. She stated in tears, “Large, aggressive men swarm us…I don’t want a gang of shouting, arguing, law-breaking photographers to camp out everywhere we are.” This commentary will juxtapose the self-righteous performance of white celebrity "wokeness" with their own practice of racial aggression toward the laborers who work at the bottom of the Hollywood hierarchy. Ultimately this commentary will be a critical look at celebrity involvement in social justice that underscores their will to ignore their own involvement in systematic oppression, racism, and racialized violence.

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