Leonardo DiCaprio and online activism

22 years after his first of six Oscar nominations, in 2016 it was finally time for actor Leonardo DiCaprio. With his lead in The Revenant, he finally got to go on stage to receive his award. He clearly deserved the Oscar for Best Actor according to the audience, as he received a long standing ovation. For the film, he swam through ice-cold rivers, crawled through the snow and – even though he normally doesn’t eat meat - ate raw bison liver. DiCaprio, a well-known activist, used his word of thanks to warn people of climate change. He used his experience  creating The Revenant to raise awareness. “Our production needed to move to the southern tip of this planet just to be able to find snow. Climate change is real, it is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.”

Leonardo DiCaprio is currently seen as one of the most famous and active celebrities when it comes to raising awareness about climate change. But even though he is so popular online, he is also criticized for his actions. How does DiCaprio present himself as an activist, and how do people respond to this?

DiCaprio’s activism

As mentioned above, Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the most active celebrities in the climate change movement. In 1998 he established his foundation, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. He started his mission to protect the world’s last wild places. As the website , ‘LDF implements solutions that help restore balance to threatened ecosystems, ensuring the long-term health and well-being of all Earth’s inhabitants.' Through public campaigns, media initiatives and grantmaking, the oundation wants to bring attention and funding to six different program areas that are all related to our environment. DiCaprio was designated as the United Nations Messenger of Peace for Climate Change and in 2014 he received the Clinton Global Citizen Award. In addition to his foundation, he also serves on the board of several environmental organizations, Natural Resources Defense Council, World Wildlife Fund, Oceans 5, the International Fund for Animal Welfare and National Geographic’s Pristine Seas.

The actor also uses his Instagram to raise awareness. All of his posts are dedicated to recent environmental issues or events and to his foundation.

The figure above shows 9 of the most recent (re)posts from his Instagram page. These posts are dedicated to the Amazon fires, the Turtle Survival Alliance, the Australian bush fires and the koalas, and more. His Twitter page mostly consists of retweets that are related to environmental issues, and his Facebook page is full of articles that warn or give hope to people about climate change. DiCaprio smartly uses his fame on social media to change this world for the best.

Online image

What makes Leonardo DiCaprio such an important and famous activist, is the fact that he is “on message”. According to Michael Silverstein & Michael Lempert, "Message does not only refer to “communication about issues so much' but also what one communicates about his or her identity and personal values through selectively taking up some issues and avoiding others” (Silverstein & Lempert, 2012). Through becoming identified with those issues, one acquires a persona as an activist. Di Caprio is thus not only communicating himself as an actor, but also as an activist. Even more, he clearly uses most of his social media communication to construct that activist persona: DiCaprio focuses specifically on climate change and environmental issues, and this is visible on his social media pages. As mentioned before, DiCaprio’s social media mostly exists of articles, news, and warnings about issues like forest fires, wildlife, and global warming. Because of this consistency in what he posts and what he stands for, he creates an abstract portrait of identity that addressees and audiences can imaginatively experience.

Signs on, of, and issuing from the body, signs in time and space, signs in the mass media – words, pictures and so forth – describing and evaluating the people and events of political life, are all part of his Message and the means that make creatures of politics (Silverstein & Lempert, 2012).

What might be an advantage for DiCaprio is that he acquired most of his fame through his acting. In the way of contributing to Message, being a celebrity becomes a great asset in the realm of political life in several aspects. As both candidates and incumbents, U.S. presidents have often sought to have such celebrity personalities nearby, because this would enhance their starlike qualities. DiCaprio’s activism can reach a way bigger audience thanks to his celebrity status and his massive social media following.

But this seemingly rich and luxurious lifestyle also receives its criticism. DiCaprio was criticized because of his usage of private jets and yachts. After he called out climate change deniers at the Global Citizen Festival in New York, some users responded to The Hollywood Reporter's article about DiCaprio. 

People responded with pictures of him having a good time on his yacht, or him coming out of his private jet. The seemingly hypocritical behavior of Leonardo DiCaprio has also become a meme. 

Pictures of him in The Great Gatsby and from his acceptance speech are accompanied by a text that exposes his actions.  Using a private jet might produce more CO2 since there are fewer passengers on a flight with a private jet than on a commercial flight. Therefore, people see it as hypocritical, since he often brings up the importance of the issue of global warming and climate change. His 'identity', who he is what he does, has an impact on the effectiveness of his activism. He is not being criticized for his stance on environmental issues but for his private behavior. As a result, the audience disregards his message. 

Others, however, seem to support him and his activism, and they believe that he really cares about the environment. 

The people who believe in climate change and who see DiCaprio as an honest activist, support his actions and support what he has done for the environment.

The discussion about DiCaprio's activism does not end there. Climate deniers also have their opinion on the famous activist. On the subreddit r/climateskeptics, members often comment on DiCaprio's actions.

The comment section of the subreddit is ruled by criticism of DiCaprio's actions. But as mentioned before, DiCaprio himself has responded to these climate deniers at the Global Citizen Festival: "...Yet, surprisingly, some have reacted to this movement with insulting tweets and negative talking points - individuals that seem to career more about profit and their own self-interests than about your own future." He added that "unless you live in alternate reality, there is no more time for denial."

Even though he receives a lot of criticism for some of his actions, he is still consistent in his posts and tweets about the environment. His portrait of identity that others can imaginatively experience differs. One person might believe and trust him for what he says, but others only think it is hypocritical. 

Activism on social media

In Leonardo DiCaprio’s activism, social media plays a big part. DiCaprio does not only inform people through his social media accounts, but he often encourages his followers to sign a petition and take action by (re)tweeting. Phrases that are often seen across his Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are ‘Join us!’ and ‘Take action now’. He wants to create a physical movement from the people that he can reach. 

Not only his tweets but also his retweets are focused on changing the behavior of others, and inspiring them to take action against climate change.

Modern media have always constituted a channel through which social movements not only communicate but also organize their actions and mobilize their constituencies (Gerbaudo, 2012).  Paolo Gerbaudo argues that social media have had an important impact on social movements. Their main contribution has been at the level of the creation of a ‘choreography of assembly’, a process of symbolic construction of public space, which revolves around an emotional ‘scene-setting’ and ‘scripting’ of participants’ physical assembling. This practice is seen in the use of social media in directing people towards specific protest events, in providing them with suggestions and instructions on how to act, and in the construction of an emotional narration to sustain their coming together in public space.

The term ‘choreography’ indicates that the process of this symbolic construction of public space has not been entirely spontaneous or leaderless. Gerbaudo stresses how social media must be understood as complementing existing forms of face-to-face gatherings and as a vehicle for the creation of new forms of proximity and face-to-face interaction. With such a big platform, activists can reach people all over the world. 

DiCaprio on the climate strike of September 2019

In September 2019, DiCaprio encouraged people globally to "join the fight for a livable planet and #strikewithus" through his Instagram. He choreographs offline assembly through social media. 

In some ways, social media can be seen as the contemporary equivalent of what the newspaper and the leaflet were for the labor movement in the 19th century. They did not only convey abstract opinions but also shaped the way in which people came and acted together.  Some would argue that social media are making our lives easier and making our communication faster and better. This view is also exemplified in Paul Mason’s account of contemporary activism: “one fact is clear: people know more than they used to … they have greater and more instant access to knowledge, and reliable ways of counteracting disinformation” (Mason, 2012).  But with the circulation of fake news and conspiracy theories nowadays, this might be too optimistic. 

Another critical view of the influence of social media on contemporary social movements comes from Scholar Evgenyi Morozov. He has talked about the risks of ‘slacktivism’, or activism for slackers. For Morozov, slacktivism is feel-good activism that has zero political or social impact but creates an illusion of having a meaningful impact on the world without putting in a lot of effort. It has become a term to describe the turn to "armchair activism" that increasingly relies on social media and/or consumerism. On June 26, 2015, when same-sex marriage was in all states legalized in the US,  many Facebook users and celebrities turned their profile pictures rainbow-colored, among them Leonardo DiCaprio. The use of Facebook likes, hashtag campaigns, and reposting photos on Instagram are common slacktivist strategies (Day, 2017).  

DiCaprio's reposts on Instagram Instagram.com

DiCaprio often reposts videos and photos on Instagram, instead of creating his own posts. Even though Leonardo DiCaprio is in many cases seen as a true activist, this activity on Instagram can be seen as a form of online slacktivism. Morozov alerts us that social media can create serious risks for activists, given the increased possibilities for monitoring by state security apparatus. 

Leonardo's activism

As a famous actor, Leonardo DiCaprio puts a lot of his efforts into his activism. His Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation has been active since 1998, and now his activism has spread to social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. But not everyone seems to be happy about this. Even though many people support him and his foundation, he has also received a lot of criticism. Not only from the people who deny that climate change is real in general, but also from people who think his behavior is hypocritical: next to his public activism, he still has a private jet and yacht that emit CO2 into the air.

But

DiCaprio does not give much thought to these critics on social media since his online message is still consistent. These social media platforms are important for his activism to encourage and inspire others. But since DiCaprio often reposts others, we might call it online activism for slackers. His social media behavior is contributing to a discursive battle for meaning, where he tries to normalize the idea that we should act and that there is really something like climate change. This adds to his online persona and message, but his personal behavior undermines the impact of his engagement in that discursive battle for meaning. In this digital age where social media has  influence, the online image, presence, and identity of politicians and activists are becoming more and more important.

References

Day, A. (2017). DIY Utopia: Cultural imagination and the remaking of the possible. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books.

Gerbaudo, P. (2012). Tweets and the streets. Social media and contemporary activism. London: Pluto Press.

Lempert, M & Silverstein, M, (2012). Creatures of Politics: Media, Message, and the American Presidency. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Morozov, E. (2011). The Net Delusion. How not to liberate the world. Penguin books.

Silverstein, M. (2003). Talking politics: the substance of style from Abe to" W". Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press.