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George Clooney’s op-ed: A deeper look into his unique influence on politics and Hollywood
George Clooney’s recent New York Times op-ed calling for President Biden to step down from the upcoming election has sparked a significant conversation, not just because it came from a celebrity, but because of who Clooney is and what he represents. For the political class, Clooney is more than an actor; he is a major Democratic Party donor and fundraiser. His insights on Biden’s age and manner are bolstered by his firsthand experience, having seen the President in action at a June 15 fundraiser.
The public’s perception of Clooney is equally compelling. On- and off-screen, Clooney has meticulously crafted an image that sets him apart from his A-list peers. As an actor and public figure, Clooney embodies a self-styled American conscience, a leading-man throwback who provides a guiding sensibility to the films he anchors and the causes he supports.
George Clooney: The actor and the advocate
Beyond his fundraising for the Democrats, Clooney is a plainspoken advocate for the causes he supports. He has cleverly played off the public’s expectation that actors speaking out on politics are often seen as dilettantish or out-of-touch. He flipped this notion on its head while accepting an Oscar in 2006, stating that Hollywood is out-of-touch because it is ahead of the curve: “We’re the ones who talked about AIDS when it was just being whispered, and we talked about civil rights when it wasn’t really popular.”
By 2006, AIDS activism and civil rights were broadly accepted, and Clooney was not stepping out on a limb. His campaigning for the people of Sudan’s Darfur region during a lengthy civil war, or his excoriating speech against paparazzi pursuit of public figures after Princess Diana’s 1997 death, are examples of his gift for placing new information in plain and easily comprehensible terms. His oratory skills recall faded actor Ronald Reagan’s time as a contracted speaker on behalf of General Electric, broadcasting a set of ideas through the power of charisma and self-belief.
The Clooney voice: A unique blend of authority and relatability
Clooney’s New York Times op-ed is written in that distinctive Clooney voice; one can almost imagine him reading it aloud. Perhaps the only other performer in Hollywood with similar gravitas is Tom Hanks, but Hanks, in his greatest roles, tends toward the harried everyman. Clooney, on the other hand, has an actorly authority borrowed from Old Hollywood. His piece, like all of Clooney’s public acts, drafts off the image he’s been building onscreen for 30 years, since he played the compassionate and heroic Dr. Doug Ross on “ER.”
For instance, social media memes have compared Clooney’s op-ed to his character in “Michael Clayton” exposing the villainous corporate lawyer Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton). In that film, Clooney’s character, a legal fixer, insists he’s amoral, merely cleaning up messes on his employer’s behalf. Yet, the film culminates in his exposing grand-scale wrongdoing, ending with him, exhausted, riding in a cab to nowhere, certain of nothing but that he did the right thing.
This is quintessential Clooney: He just can’t help playing the good guy, even when the morality seems murky. In the “Ocean’s” franchise, he’s a thief who steals exclusively from buffoonish thugs; in “Up in the Air,” he’s a corporate stooge who realizes the error of his ways. There’s just enough grit in his goodness to keep things interesting. When he’s had to play morally repellent characters, like in “The Ides of March,” where he plays a moral vacuum running for the Democratic nomination for president, it strains credulity. Directing himself in that film, Clooney seemed to intend to play against his own familiar image, but we simply know him too well.
The strategic public figure
Clooney is tactical with what he chooses to share, both about his life and his politics. While globally famous, he has established a sense of himself as not interested in exposure for exposure’s sake. He famously refused to attend the Oscars until he was nominated, claiming he lacked the credibility to be there. In recent years, he’s receded from view somewhat, focusing on directing films and business endeavors. He’s appeared in only two credited live-action roles so far this decade, with a third, the comedy “Wolfs,” coming in September.
Clooney’s directing career peaked with his second film, “Good Night, and Good Luck,” about heroic TV anchor Edward R. Murrow’s use of his position and pulpit to fight McCarthyism. Subsequent efforts, like “The Monuments Men,” “Suburbicon,” and “The Boys in the Boat,” have been interesting only inasmuch as they reveal Clooney’s passionate interest in American history.
When Clooney speaks, it has an impact — a greater one than it might have were he omnipresent. Perhaps the canniest aspect of his work, activism, and recent op-ed is his attempt to remove himself from the center of the narrative. His Oscars speech highlighted not his own beliefs, but the Hollywood community’s work as a group. His turn to directing has been a way to keep a toe in the industry without being the star of the show; of his last four directorial efforts, he appears in only one.
In his op-ed, Clooney presented himself not as an actor diving into political affairs with little grounding, but as a member of a party. “As Democrats,” Clooney wrote, “we collectively hold our breath or turn down the volume whenever we see the president, whom we respect, walk off Air Force One or walk back to a mic to answer an unscripted question.”
That “we,” the group Clooney is addressing and the one he is a part of, both respect President Biden and feel sorrow at his aging. It’s the Reaganite trick of bringing the audience in, using star power to convince them, for a moment, that the star is really just one of us, a reasonable person making clear and plain observations. No star but Clooney, perhaps, could have made such an appeal, not merely because he has recently seen Biden but because he’s so thoroughly convinced the public that he sees clearly.
Clooney’s op-ed is more than a political statement; it’s a reflection of his unique position in Hollywood and American culture. His ability to blend authority with relatability, to speak plainly yet profoundly, and to use his star power for causes he believes in, makes him a singular figure in the landscape of celebrity activism. Whether one agrees with his views or not, Clooney’s voice is one that resonates, and his influence is undeniable.
