Thinking Out Loud: Shailene Woodley and DAPL
Several years ago I attended a Lyle Lovett concert. It was amazing on every...single...level. What I remember most was his appreciation of his band. He understood that tickets were purchased because of his name and he gave the performance his all. However, he knew how amazingly talented his musicians were and gave them all time in the spotlight. "Give us some guitar, Billy Williams," he'd yell. "The amazing Paul Leim on drums."
The concert was no longer about the main attraction, the concert was a shared opportunity for musicians to showcase their talents.
Celebrities protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) in North Dakota put me in mind of this concert.
"What?" Stick with me, this will make sense.
Shailene Woodley of Divergent fame was the darling of the #NODAPL protest. Like Lovett, she understood that through her celebrity, general audiences will become more aware of the protest and show their solidarity. Her intentions, I truly believe, were good at heart.
What she did, however, was turn Native Americans into props.
The protest began when the Standing Rock Sioux Nation made it known they did not want the DAPL to cross the Missouri River less than a mile from their reservation. DAPL construction would destroy sacred land and an oil leak would destroy their water source. Woodley throw her support behind the Standing Rock Sioux Nation and did everything she could to halt the construction, including posting photos on her social media, sharing with other media, and so on.
The photos featuring Native Americans, like the one below (from Time Magazine), do not name individuals besides Woodley. In fact, the cutline states "Actress Shailene Woodley standing with two other people."
Two. Other. People. How disrespectful is that?
I thought this was a one time deal. I was wrong. Throughout her photos in the media she does not acknowledge, by name, the Native Americans she claims to support. One could argue, like I will do so more eloquently in my research, that she is using Native American protesters as props to support her own agenda. What agenda? Well, more exposure showing what a wonderful person she is. This is helping her to win awards from environmental organizations, for example. The more her name is out there, the more she may also be offered sweet movie roles. The more movie roles...the more money in her bank account. You see where I am going here?
According to Lester and Ross in Images That Injure (p. 118), Woodley is engaging in a subtle form of racism. By disregarding the names of the Native Americans in her photos, she is dehumanizing and rendering them invisible. The white actress is more important that the Native Americans who are attempting to save burial sites and their water supply.
Like Lovett, Woodley was using her celebrity to bring attention to others. He brought audiences to the concert and highlighted his talented - and diverse, by the way - musicians. Woodley used her fame to make her audiences aware of the #NODAPL protest. However, she failed to humanize real people who are trying to save their way of life.
Note: this is a personal weblog and all posts are my opinion. Unless information is appropriately cited, everything I say is to be considered nothing more than ramblings as I conduct research.
