The plot of Fritz Lang’s mysterious 1927 silent film Metropolis revolves around a group of powerful elites determined to maintain control over the masses. To do so, they began to fabricate artificial crises aimed at pitting ordinary people against each other and distracting them from the real crisis of the elite’s extravagant and corrupt power. In an attempt to cover up their efforts, they cunningly plucked girls from the masses who were “of their own kind” to do the dirty work of fomenting this false hostility and dragging the population into chaos and anarchy.
Many doomsday prophets and conspiracy theorists have used Lang’s films to inspire an apocalyptic view of current events. Although we must be careful in the speculations of those prone to magical thinking, it is possible that such hyperbolic stories contain hints of truth, at least in a symbolic or figurative sense. It often happens. In his recent book, We Have Never Been Woke, sociologist Moussa Al Gharbi argues that much of today’s “culture war” debate, whether it’s left-wing calls for #resistate, is hypocritical and “elitist.” ” warns that right-wing disillusionment with PC rules is a distraction from society. Key issues that actually affect everyday people and further entrench the status quo. This style of political rhetoric is propagated by “symbolic capitalists” (a term he borrowed from Pierre Bourdieu) whose engagement with the vulnerable is ultimately performative and self-serving. It is something.
Al Ghabi’s research shows that many people support politicians in the name of “giving a voice to the people,” including Taylor Swift supporting Kamala Harris, Beyoncé, Bad Bunny, Charli XCX, Hulk Hogan, and Jason. Shedding light on celebrities. Aldean, Amber Rose, and Fat Joe support Donald Trump in this election. Bad Bunny’s career is particularly emblematic of an obsession with surface-level “symbolic” acts.
In an upcoming chapter on Bad Bunny’s oeuvre, I wrote that the 30-year-old Puerto Rican singer was a “master of the spectacle.” His penchant for attention-grabbing promotional tactics, avant-garde fashion, mysterious use of social media, scandalous performances, and outlandish lyrics and music videos suggests that we live in an era dominated by sensational public spectacle. It embodies the theorist Guy Debord’s argument that
Bad Bunny’s endorsement of Harris follows comedian Tony Hinchliffe’s unflattering “joke” about Puerto Rico at the Trump convention Highly curated video showing views of the island -Although done in the form of a montage, this was just one of many political statements he made. From comments about transgender rights and homophobia to statements about last week’s Puerto Rico gubernatorial election, Bad Bunnies has been praised for using his celebrity for good.
I’m sure that celebrities who make political statements have good intentions, but elites, especially those whose careers are deeply steeped in a culture of sensational “spectacular” like Bad Bunny, have no right to take the moral high ground. I have to question the irony of standing up and speaking out. I will go out on behalf of the people. On the surface, celebrities who make political “speak” appear not to be the mouthpieces of “the people,” but rather the highly concentrated power bases in which they are deeply embedded.
That those who enjoy Bad Bunny’s music receive political advice from him reveals the overall power that such a great public figure wields over the public.
When someone like Bad Bunny, known for his decadent music and bourgeois lifestyle, makes such statements about who to vote for and encourages people to take to the streets to protest, such sensational I wonder whether such forms of activism are likely to produce concrete grassroots political action. Alternatively, it not only “neutralizes” people’s concerns by simply absorbing them into a symbolic globalized political system, but also fuels frustration and social division, further weakening people’s sense of agency. Just symbolic activism. discourse.
The people and media that people turn to for entertainment, especially those supported by corporate funding, do not only pretend to speak on behalf of the people but also as authorities on political issues. There’s something creepy and manipulative about it. For example, it’s upsetting when a comedy show like SNL dares to stray from its intended purpose (to entertain) and instead sends a political message to its viewers. It reveals that “celebrity worship” sometimes literally means that these public figures assume quasi-divine power, swaying public opinion not because of their qualifications but because of their status alone. . Of course, celebrities can “use their platform for good,” but they can also easily use it for further purposes that are not in the interest of people who stick to their word. That those who enjoy Bad Bunny’s music receive political advice from him reveals the overall, godlike power that such a great public figure wields over the public.
In that sense, sensational moments like Hinchliffe’s vulgar (and rather unimaginative) comments have spawned numerous public statements to “Resist #Hate” and a seemingly continuing scandal that permeates the news cycle. and is part of the anger cycle. Although such discourses are encoded in highly moralistic and alarming language, they do little in practice to draw attention to practical issues and encourage grassroots action. Metropolis may be fiction, but the highly performative nature of these cycles and the divisions they create feel eerily constructed. Even if they don’t, they do little to strengthen everyday people’s agency over those who determine the status quo.
Regarding Puerto Rico in particular, there is nothing symbolic about the political corruption and lack of proper representation and resources that the people have had to deal with. Celebrity solidarity moves beyond symbolism to encourage island youth to ‘get their hands dirty’ and play an active role in proposing concrete steps to bring about lasting change should be expected. But those who praise the “noble” efforts of figures like Bad Bunny, whose careers are shrouded in an aura of glamor created by corporate elites, are naive at best.
Countless celebrities will continue to engage in symbolic advocacy with little fan freedom, but look at celebrities like Ms. Lauryn Hill, J. Cole, and Puerto Rico’s Tego Calderon. That would be good. Rather than relying on the sheer power of their position or the imposition of abstract and divisive political sentiments, banks are centering people’s own concerns and voices in subtle ways. Masu.
