Abstract
This essay focuses on the topic of celebrities, on which I decided to scrutinize Angelina Jolie. First, I will explain why Jolie is considered as an international star in particular. Following that, I will go through her ideology embodiment and how she has been utilized as a marketing and money-making commodity. Additionally, I will examine the relationship between these ideologies and her money-making functions. These analyses will be complemented by specific examples of media texts as well as the connections to relevant scholarship on celebrities and celebrity culture.
Introduction
Celebrities’ worldwide popularity indicates that practically everyone enjoys the fantasy associated with celebrities (Houran & Navik & Zerrusen 2005). The reason why we are so fascinated by these people is that somehow they have come to embody some ideologies. However, what is new today is the endeavor to commercialize that reality to an extent never seen before. It has become a sign for getting attention by having some kind of celebrity associated with (Wu 2017). Consequently, the idea of an international celebrity presence is a crucial element for business in contemporary society (Lee 2015).
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie, an outstanding American actress, has been named as Hollywood's highest-paid actress multiple times (Forbes 2019). As one of the most prominent and influential individuals in the worldwide entertainment industry, Jolie has garnered many accolades, including three Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award with numerous nominations. She participated in George Wallace and Gia, on which she received critical feedback: Jolie is strong in her portrayal, filling the part with nerve, charisma, and desperation, her performance in this film is probably the most beautiful train wreck ever filmed (Vance 2009). The performance in the drama Girl, Interrupted in 1999 gained Jolie an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Several films featuring Jolie have been released afterward, including Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, the thriller Taking Lives, action movies such as Wanted, The Tourist, Salt, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the drama A Mighty Heart, and Maleficent. She is also recognized for her voice role in the Kung Fu Panda animation film series. From 2011 to 2017, Jolie has also directed and taken part in several war dramas as a filmmaker such as Unbroken, First They Killed My Father and In the Land of Blood and Honey. The role in Changeling earned her a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 2018 (Oscar 2021).
Christine Gledhill (1992) suggested that actors become stars when their off-screen lifestyle and personalities are more or as illustrious as their acting talent. Apart from her success in the film industry, Jolie is also well-known for her humanitarian endeavors. She has received a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (Associated Press 2013) and was the first person to be honored by the Queen as Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (Sawer 2014), along with many other awards. She promotes a variety of issues, including conservation, feminism, and education, and is most famous for her role as a Special Envoy and Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
In addition, Jolie attracts many followers and fans all over the world. Although she is notoriously private and not fond of social media, her Instagram account gained nearly 12 million followers one year after she activated it in August 2020. Her first post on this platform with a powerful message to put a spotlight on Afghanistan’s situations went viral and grabbed the attention of millions of people (Khalifeh 2021), with over 4 million likes and more than 140.400 comments. Following Jolie’s adoption of an Ethiopian child, the number of US adoptions of African children increased noticeably (Favara 2015). It can be concluded that Jolie is undoubtedly a star actress with Gledhill’s suggestion and all the information presented above.
Ideology Embodiment
First, we need to understand what ideology is: a combination of values, beliefs, and feelings that together determine individuals’ view of the world and how others perceive them (O’Shaughnessy & Stadler 2016). On mentioning Jolie, a leading Hollywood actor, people will be reminded of attractiveness, wealth, and fame. However, she has also devoted decades of her life to assisting charitable organizations across the world (Devaney 2021). She first became interested in humanitarian affairs while filming in war-torn Cambodia in 2000 (Miller 2001). Jolie’s ideology embodies global charities, or humanitarianism, which consist of many smaller parts that harmoniously support each other: human rights, refugee issues, conservation, community development, and feminism. Celebrity humanitarianism, according to Ilan Kapoor (2012), suggests that celebrities increasingly have a powerful influence on such significant global issues. With such an international influence as mentioned above, Jolie has done many activities to improve those global issues and embodies herself with humanitarianism.
To start with, I would like to mention human rights, especially for the refugee community. In 2001, she donated $1 million for Afghan refugees in Pakistan, the most significant donation had ever received (UNHCR 2001). The Hollywood actress officially published the book ‘Notes from My Travels: Visits with Refugees in Africa, Cambodia, Pakistan and Ecuador’ in 2003 (Lee 2009). Jolie has also been a prominent supporter of children’s rights and education. She has co-chaired the Education Partnership for Children of Crisis since 2007, which provides policy and financial support to education programs for children living in conflict-affected zones. At the 2013 Women in the World Summit, Jolie also founded the Malala Fund and personally donated over $200,000 (ABC News 2013).
On discussing human rights, particularly children equality, Jo Littler (2008) suggested that with the high-profile adoption of various colored children from different countries, Jolie has brought in an effect of a cosmopolitan caring and globalized sensibility. She has adopted children from Vietnam, Ethiopia, and Cambodia and has done multiple interviews for transnational adoptions (Davidson 2007). She appeared in Ms. Magazine in 2015 with a hope to look into global efforts to eliminate child marriage and guarantee that all girls have a safe and promising future (Ms. Magazine 2015). Jolie is also a producer for the BBC My World program with the mission of educating youngsters to be critical about what they read and distinguish between high-quality and bad journalism (Steinberg 2020).
Following that, Jolie is a dedicated person to fighting for conservation, community development, and promoting feminism. In 2006, Jolie created Asia's first Millennium Village, a massive wildlife reserve area, in accordance with UN development goals (Green 2006). Jolie, along with Brad Pitt, in 2010, created the Shiloh Jolie-Pitt Foundation to support conservation work by the nature reserve Naankuse Wildlife Sanctuary (Naankuse Foundation 2011). Recently, in May 2021, Jolie posed for National Geographic to highlight the urgent need to protect bees from habitat loss, global warming, and climate change on World Bee Day as well as empower women through a UNESCO - Guerlain project that trains women as entrepreneurs and protectors of natural bee habitats around the world (Lakshmanan 2021).
Marketing and Money-making Functions
Jolie's long and illustrious career as an actress has contributed significantly to her net worth of $120 million as of August 2021 (Inspirationfeed 2021). She was the highest-paid celebrity in Hollywood in 2009, 2011, and 2013, according to Forbes, earning $27 million, $30 million, and $33 million, respectively. Outside of the film industry, Jolie has also earned huge paychecks from endorsement deals with numerous brands such as St. John, Shiseido, and Louis Vuitton, etc. Her endorsement arrangement with Louis Vuitton is said to have paid her $10 million (Ngo 2019).
Jolie has the capability to inspire and connect with diverse audiences internationally through a variety of media forms. Her stardom is backed up by various marketing elements including talent agencies, management, advertising, and public relations companies. As Ilan Kapoor (2012) stated, the combination of humanitarian causes with branding has resulted in the creation of a brand identity, the ‘humanitarian celebrity’, which allows agencies not just to sell products but also aspirations, values, and lifestyles.
The Relations between Ideologies and Money-making Functions
Celebrity philanthropy is marketable and worthy by generating enormous interest to both the corporate agencies and celebrities themselves. The exchange value of charity work lies in cause marketing, which is when brands use worthy causes like non-profit organizations to raise funds as well as build a positive image in the community and attract new clients at the same time (Nowak & Clarke 2003).
Her avowed and progressive commitment to global issues has embraced her career and money-making functions to some extent (Lee 2009). Jolie has deliberately tried to publicize her humanitarian work. Over the years, she accepted several magazine interviews and articles speaking about her personal goals and charity work. It seemed that Jolie can directly benefit from her embodied ideologies through corporate product endorsements, or media campaigns. For example, Jolie portrayed the main role in ‘Beyond Borders’ in 2003, which stands as the first among several projects that she has undertaken to raise awareness about the humanitarian crisis (Sims 2014). After visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, Jolie conceived the film 'In the land of Blood and Honey', which was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, to generate attention for the war and survivors (Meikle 2010). Since April 2013, all revenues from Jolie's high-end jewelry collection, Style of Jolie, have contributed to support the partnership's operations between her and the Education Partnership for Children of Crisis since September 2007 (Quan 2013).
Conclusion
Angelina Jolie is an international star, known as a leading Hollywood actress and a dedicated humanitarian activist with noticeable influence. Her ideology embodies humanitarianism, including human rights, feminism, conservation, and community development, as well as children’s migration and education. Jolie achieved this by enthusiastically participating in activities, campaigns, or projects to raise awareness globally. The majority of her net worth comes from her career as an actress and filmmaker. She also earns paychecks from endorsements deals with high-end brands. Her commitment to global issues has embraced her career and money-making functions to some extent.
