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NOTE:
This is the accepted manuscript of the following article: Hunting, K. & Hinck, A. (2017). “I’ll see you in Mystic Falls”: Intimacy, feelings, and public issues in Ian Somerhalder’s celebrity activism. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 34(5), 432-448.
See the published version in Critical Studies in Media Communication at the following link:
“I’ll see you in Mystic Falls”: Intimacy, feelings, and public issues in Ian Somerhalder’s celebrity activism
Kyra Hunting and Ashley Hinck
Abstract:
Critics of celebrity activism often assume that fans blindly follow celebrities who invite them to support celebrity activism and charity. These fans are often imagined as participating in celebrity activism only because their beloved celebrity asked them to — not out of any kind of rational understanding of a political issue, awareness of a public problem, or commitment to a public issue. We contest this view of celebrity activism. Drawing on scholars like Bennett, Ellcessor, and Chouliaraki, we argue that the case of Ian Somerhalder demonstrates that a commitment to a celebrity may actually be connected to a commitment to a public issue. We trace the ways in which Somerhalder plays with the slippage between television celebrity and his character, arguing that such slippage merges the intimacy fans feel for Damon with the intimacy fans feel for Somerhalder and imbues Somerhalder’s environmental appeals with the values his on-screen character comes to represent in The Vampire Diaries. We argue that Somerhalder deploys themes and ideals from The Vampire Diaries in his communication with fans and in his activist appeals. Ultimately, Somerhalder’s celebrity activism demonstrates how intimacy with celebrities might function to connect fans to public issues in powerful ways.
Keywords: television; celebrity activism; social media; affect; The Vampire Diaries
“Ready for our date in Mystic Falls?” Ian Somerhalder asks, sporting a smirk and his characterDamon’s daylight ring in a Facebook post (Somerhalder, 2014a). A week later theenvironmental organization The Ian Somerhalder Foundation posted a video to“prepare you for that moment when Ian Somerhalder pulls you in and sucks yourblood” (Ian Somerhalder Foundation, 2014b). These flirtatious overtures solicitedentries to a contest to raise money for the Ian Somerhalder Foundation’s work to“execute positive change for the planet and all of its creatures” (Omaze Organization,2014). The contest’s winner was awarded a trip to The Vampire Diaries set for dinner,dancing, and the opportunity to shoot a scene with Somerhalder. In the post, Somerhalderthanked the viewer and urged them to “take the next step and join the ISF family” beforepromising “I’ll see you in Mystic Falls” (Omaze Organization, 2014). Somerhalder has runthree other fundraisers like this, raising just under one million dollars. While manycelebrities conduct sweepstakes fundraisers, the way in which these fundraisers are packagedand circulated by Somerhalder and the Foundation is notable for the unique methodin which it draws upon not only the intimacy of Somerhalder’s celebrity but also the intimacyof Damon, the character he plays on The Vampire Diaries.
Somerhalder rose to fame playing Boone on ABC’s Lost (2004–2010) and Damon onthe CW’s The Vampire Diaries (2009–2017). Somerhalder’s celebrity activism, inspiredby his experiences growing up near Louisiana’s bayous, has focused on environmentalconservation and animal rights, including oil spill clean-up and coal plant protests. Hehas testified before Congress in support of environmental conservation bills, written forThe Huffington Post, and appeared in Showtime’s Years of Living Dangerously (2014–present). However, most of his activist work has centered on The Ian Somerhalder Foundation(ISF), a non-profit organization he founded that supports environmental initiativesthrough programs like youth education, emergency medical grants for rescue animals, andits signature project, an animal sanctuary. The ISF is a global network of chapters in placesas far-reaching as Brazil, New Zealand, and Russia. For his environmental activism, Somerhalderhas been named a Huffington Post Green Game Changer and currently serves asa United Nations Environment Programme Goodwill Ambassador.
Using Somerhalder’s celebrity activism as a case study, we draw upon on recent workon celebrity and intimacy to ask: How can a celebrity invite fans to use feelings of intimacyto engage in civic action? We draw on scholars like Bennett (2014) and Chouliaraki (2012,2013) to argue that celebrity activism uses feelings for celebrities to mobilize fans in powerfulways. These intimate feelings, we argue, need not be divorced from substantive argumentsabout politics. Rather, feelings toward a celebrity can be deeply connected to publicvalues and civic appeals. Ellcessor (2016) has argued that celebrity activism can be knittedinto a celebrity persona to create a connected star text. We build on her claim that activism and celebrity personae are connected and integrated, emphasizing how this can also fusewith on-screen characters’ personae and narratives. We argue that these three elementscan be knitted together in ways that not only make a particular celebrity culturally meaningful,but in ways that can drive civic action through celebrity activism.
Our aim is to explore how a celebrity can function as a bridge to public commitments— how a commitment to a celebrity can be converted to a commitment to civic action. Inthis essay, we demonstrate that Somerhalder’s civic appeals do not rely on fans blindly participatingsimply based on their fandom for him or The Vampire Diaries with little connectionto public issues at all. Rather, we argue that Somerhalder’s celebrity activism relieson not only a commitment to a celebrity but also to an on-screen character and to a publicissue, reinforced and unified through the routinized experience of social media. Somerhalder’sappeals are grounded in values that are extended from The Vampire Diaries televisionseries and strengthened through Somerhalder’s enactment of those values in hiscelebrity persona on social media.
To demonstrate this, we blend approaches from media studies and rhetorical studies inorder to examine how Somerhalder’s activist rhetoric draws upon meaning from TheVampire Diaries television text, creating a distinctive form of celebrity activism that isintegrated with a fictional character and text. Our rhetorical approach to civic appealsexamines the way in which citizens are invited to participate in public culture, whileour textual approach to television media examines the ideology conveyed through narrativeand visual framing. We find that appeals, principles, and iconic images introduced inthe television text reinforce the civic appeals and celebrity building work done on socialmedia by both Somerhalder and the Foundation.
After examining the literature on celebrity activism and detailing our methodologicalapproach to television and social media texts, we begin our analysis by examining theways in which Somerhalder encourages slippage between his celebrity persona and hison-screen character. This, we argue, knits together Somerhalder’s off-screen activismwith the values his on-screen character embodies. The next section traces these connections.We argue that Somerhalder performs values of ‘loving relationships’ and ‘messymiddle grounds’ from The Vampire Diaries in his celebrity persona and deploys thesesame values in his environmental activism. Lastly, we examine the implications offeredby the case of Somerhalder’s celebrity activism.
Celebrity activism: feeling public issues
Celebrity activism has a long history. Since at least the development of radio and television(Turner, 2002/2014), Hollywood stars like Clint Eastwood and Jane Fonda have taken onactivist roles in social movements and electoral politics (West & Orman, 2003). Recently,celebrity activism has become remarkably common (Brockington & Henson, 2014; Thrallet al., 2008). A sample of the 100 most famous celebrities, revealed that 90% were active inadvocacy, engaging 4.16 issues on average (Thrall et al., 2008). Brockington and Henson(2014) assert “Celebrity is now part of the way that most major charities, and particularlydevelopment charities, go about raising funds, raising awareness and lobbying for theircauses” (p. 432). For the biggest stars and biggest charities, celebrity activism is par forthe course.
In many ways, feelings of intimacy are at the very center of both celebrity and celebrityactivism. Redmond (2006) says “Contemporary fame speaks and is spoken about throughthe language of intimacy: it is a word, concept, practice, sellable commodity thatsmoulders at its very core” (p. 36). Celebrities simultaneously maintain ‘social distance’as famous people we will never meet, while revealing intimate aspects of their personallives through interviews, photo shoots, press events, and unauthorized paparazzi encounters,which of course are always manufactured (Rojek, 2001, p. 12). This creates a onesidedor asymmetrical relationship between celebrities and their fan-publics. We knowintimate details of celebrities’ lives while, in theory, they know nothing about ours.However, such one-sidedness hardly dampens fans’ feelings for their beloved celebrities.Rojek (2001) explains, “One peculiar tension in celebrity is that the arousal of strongemotion is attained despite the absence of direct, personal reciprocity” (p. 12). Fanstudies scholars calls these feelings of intimacy, emotional investment, and commitment“affective identification” (Hills, 2002; Van Zoonen, 2005; Yockey, 2012). In fact, these feelingsof intimacy with the fan-object’s characters are a defining feature of fandom (Hills,2002; Van Zoonen, 2005, p. 63). When these affective ties are experienced across alength of time, a parasocial relationship develops. Some fans of celebrities respond tothe celebrity as if they were a friend even though they are not (Dibble, Hartmann, &Rosaen, 2016; Horton & Wohl, 1956).
The intimacy and familiarity at the center of contemporary celebrity culture is also atthe center of celebrity activism. Scholars argue that celebrities invite audiences to engage intheir activist and political causes through emotional connection which is cultivatedthrough intimate relationships between celebrities and fans. In an analysis of Brad Pitt’sactivist work to rebuild homes in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Fuqua (2011)argues “Pitt functions as an affective proxy through which other citizens may feel thatthey are making a difference simply by feeling” (p. 193). Chouliaraki (2012) explainsthat this kind of celebrity activism mixed with humanitarianism “prioritizes the ‘authentic’emotions of the celebrity and our own connectivity towards her” (p. 17). Through celebrities,we feel outrage at suffering on the other side of the world.
For critics, this over-reliance on feelings means that celebrity activism falls short ofbasic criteria for proper and productive civic engagement. First, celebrity activismappears to lack substance (Kellner, 2010; Wheeler, 2012). Rather than rely on any kindof policy expertise, celebrities invite audiences to engage in their activist and politicalcauses by feeling what the celebrity feels. Chouliaraki (2012) argues that any feelings ofoutrage and sadness that might have the potential to be politically powerful fail to translateto any kind of public commitment. These feelings remain tied to the celebrity instead ofthe public issue. Underlying the accusation that celebrity activism lacks substance is anassumption that fans are “brainless consumers who will buy anything associated withthe program or its cast” (Jenkins, 1992, p. 10). In this view, fans support whatever charitablecause their favorite celebrities support with little need to know anything of substanceabout that particular cause. Secondly, by prioritizing emotional connections to the celebrity,celebrity activism does a better job of strengthening fans’ ties to celebrities thanstrengthening fans’ ties to public issues (Brockington & Henson, 2014; Hawkins, 2011).Feelings are connected to celebrities rather than public issues. Indeed, celebrity activistcampaigns often appear self-serving — benefiting the celebrity, their persona, and theirbrand more than the public issue at hand.
While critics take aim at celebrity activism for its over-reliance on feelings, such feelingsmay not necessarily be counter-productive. Affect scholars have demonstrated how feelingcan be politically powerful (Ahmed, 2004/2014; Protevi, 2009). Papacharissi (2015) arguesthat publics come into being through feeling — citizens feel their way into public issues.Fan studies scholars have begun to explore how feelings toward a fan-object can be channeledinto political work (Bennett, 2012, 2014; Jenkins, Shresthova, Gamber-Thompson,Kliger-Vilenchik, & Zimmerman, 2016; Yockey, 2012). In these cases of fan activism,active audiences decode meaning and extrapolate complex moral lessons from media inways that are significant for them in their personal and civic lives (Fiske, 1989; Hall,1980; Radway, 1987). Fans think with popular culture to engage political issues (Jones,2009). For example, a love of Harry Potter led fans to call for intervention in theDarfur genocide in 2007 (Hinck, 2012). Fans were invited to be like Harry, Hermione,and Dumbledore and to do what they would do if they were here in our world. Thisappeal, in part, called for them to imagine and identify with the feelings and rage thatthese fictional characters experienced. If a celebrity can function as a fan-object, then feelingsmight be moved through a celebrity to a political issue in celebrity activism.
Methods and texts
In this essay, we analyze three types of texts: 1) seven seasons of The Vampire Diaries(2009–2016), 2) Ian Somerhalder’s Twitter and Facebook posts, and 3) the Ian SomerhalderFoundation’s Twitter and Facebook posts. Facebook and Twitter serve asprimary locations for the Ian Somerhalder Foundation’s appeals for civic action directedtowards its supporters. While seemingly discrete texts, they function as a kind of paratextualtriangle in which any textual starting point potentially leads to and shifts our understandingof the other two (Gray, 2010). The Vampire Diaries shapes our understanding ofSomerhalder and ISF’s activist logic and intensifies particular features of Somerhalder’scelebrity persona. We argue that these texts interact with one another to create a milieuin which value systems are circulated and reinforced, para-social relationships are builtand maintained, and action is invited, called for, and demanded.
We used screenshots to archive the Twitter and Facebook posts from the Ian SomerhalderFoundation and Ian Somerhalder (Ian Somerhalder Foundation, 2014a; Ian SomerhalderFoundation, 2014b; Somerhalder, 2014a; Somerhalder, 2014b). Our archivecontained 690 of Ian Somerhalder’s Facebook posts from 2012 to 2014, 754 of Ian Somerhalder’stweets in 2014, 1,189 of the Ian Somerhalder Foundation’s Facebook posts and659 of their tweets in the same periods. This archive of posts and tweets was reviewedusing an open-coding model to establish major themes. Our code list consisted of 86items for Ian Somerhalder’s posts and 90 items for the Ian Somerhalder Foundation’sposts. Our code list included categories of rhetorical moves, topical references, andlanguage patterns. Rhetorical moves include categories like calls to action, asking questions,expressions of gratitude, or compliments or invitations that reached out to fans/foundation members. Topical references included categories like environmental causes,activism, and The Vampire Diaries. We identified language patterns by looking for frequentlyrepeated terms (like the use of ‘awesome’ or ‘awe’ by the Foundation) and categoriesof language (like ‘togetherness’ words and ‘feeling’ words). After this initialqualitative coding, we then performed a closer textual analysis of posts in the commonlyoccurring categories in order to understand the patterns we were seeing in relationship tothe textual analysis of the series that was performed. Posts and tweets were analyzed inrelationship to how their elements interacted with one another, other posts and tweets,and The Vampire Diaries series itself.
Slippage between celebrities and characters
Somerhalder connects his fans’ feelings of intimacy with his activism in part by playingwith the boundaries that separate Somerhalder (as actor) and Damon (his The Vampire Diaries character). Television celebrities like Somerhalder already face the potential forslippage between actor and character. Television’s familiarity can “construct and foregroundintimacy and immediacy” (Marshall, 1997/2014, p. 355). Television is viewedwithin the familiar space of the home, utilizes a serial structure where repetition createsfamiliarity, and often focuses on emotional and interpersonal themes. Fiske (1987/2011)asserts “Classic Hollywood stars were bigger than their roles, and were remembered orpromoted by their own names not those of their characters. Television personalitiesmerge into their characters or are submerged by them” (p. 150). The structures of televisionmean that television celebrities are already imbued with familiarity and intimacy, thusmaking them more prone to be sutured to their characters.
Somerhalder takes this tendency and encourages it, at times explicitly playing with theboundaries between self and character. Somerhalder’s social media feeds regularly featureimages of him as Damon and quotes from Damon. In one instance, Somerhalder posted asDamon sharing a snapshot of Somerhalder’s on-set chair, describing it as “the other dude’s chair” (Somerhalder, 2014a). Images showing Somerhalder sporting Damon’s distincthalf-smile/smirk, particularly at red carpet events, blur the line between Damon and Somerhalder.While many actors’ personal styles strongly differs from their characters, Somerhalderfrequently wears clothing that is reminiscent of Damon’s, most notably darkT-shirts with a dark apparently leather jacket – particularly notable for an animal rightsactivist. He has even occasionally posted pictures of himself out of character wearingDamon’s well-known ring and frequently wears a similar ring of his own on the samefinger. This effect was particularly pronounced when Somerhalder was dating costarDobrev at the same time as his character dated hers on the series. Photos of them togetherwere sometimes indistinguishable from frames of the series. Taken together, this creates avisual mirror which serves to reinforce a blurring of, and slippage between, Somerhalderand Damon.
This slippage, we argue, is at the center of Somerhalder’s celebrity activism. First, itallows the intimacy fans feel for the character to bleed into and reinforce the intimacyfans feel for the actor and vice versa. Somerhalder invites fans’ intimacy with Damonto also become intimacy with Ian. Secondly, the character slippage serves to suture Somerhalder’senvironmental appeals with the values the reluctant hero Damon represents.Somerhalder’s activist identity becomes entwined with both ISF and his character,Damon, and so do his activist appeals. As the line blurs between Damon and Somerhalder,the line between their values also blurs. In the next section, we will argue that Somerhalderdeploys this slippage in specific ways as he enacts values from The Vampire Diaries text inhis communication with fans and his activist appeals.