In 1998, Matt Damon walked the Golden Globes red carpet with a bouncy mane of frosted tips. Twenty years later, he’s unlikely to sport the same look.
Styles change, but during Hollywood’s awards show season one accessory has never seemed to fall out of fashion: the sanctimonious political opinion.
This year, awards show season is set to overlap with the entertainment industry’s ongoing reckoning over #MeToo, inconveniently blending its annual moment of self-celebration with this historic moment of total upheaval.
What’s a celebrity to do?
There is no large appetite for moral posturing from Hollywood. Victims of abuse must, of course, be encouraged to keep speaking out. But others should be advised the public is not in the mood for their sanctimony, whether it’s on President Trump or tax reform or sexual harassment. Given the vast network of enablers we know protected men like Harvey Weinstein, the entire industry’s moral credibility has been seriously damaged.
Aside from the obvious cases, we don’t yet know definitively who’s done what, and those who’ve done nothing are probably eager to signal as much.
But this is a time for Hollywood to humble itself. To reflect on its own moral failures rather than judge those of others. Even those who are truly innocent (including those who have already taken respectable steps to address the problem) should acknowledge the public’s skepticism and restrain from engaging in their usual bombast, complementing their black outfits with an equally solemn sense of discipline.
To win back favor with a disillusioned audience, restraint and self-reflection will be more fashionable on red carpets this year than banal moralizing.
But is Hollywood capable?
