In times of crisis such as this pandemic of Covid -19 which has severely disrupted the way of life, what people need to hear is a message of hope that has been well wrapped with love and care. Such a message needs to be conveyed to people in a manner that they can relate to and adequately have comfort in it. This is true especially when the message comes from celebrity artists who are viewed as role models by society. Recently, one of the celebrated actresses from the famous “Wonder Woman” with her fellow famed friends came up with the cover of the song Imagine by John Lennon to spread hope to people staying at home trying to tell the world that “we are all together in this.” Although many people expected to receive a message a hope, their spirits were crushed even more.
Celebrities are usually seen by the public as the epitome of inspiration and success. Therefore, the public expects the entire artist’s work to challenge them to think in a certain positive way. In her opening statement, (ex: 0.02 – 0.59), Gadot spends a lot of time telling the viewers about her day six of self-isolation and how that has made her feel philosophical. She further went on to say how the virus has affected everyone regardless of who they are. To the public, this is common knowledge, she should have therefore focused on talking about the challenges the common people are facing and even stepping up to donate something. By so doing, the public would appreciate that she shares in their predicaments.
After watching the three minutes video, the public should have come out rejuvenated with a changed perspective of how they view the current situation. However, this cover does not present this opportunity to the viewers. Though most of the people involve are ‘stars’, they have presented themselves in a manner suggesting that they don’t care about what is going on and they only participated because their “star’ friend requested them to. This is evident from the participants from 1:23 – 2:01 who keep on biting on the lyrics as if they taste terrible clearly showing their non-interest to what’s going on. None of the participants seemed prepared to make that video, they were just ambushed and decided to do it anyway, a clear disregard to their worthy viewers.
It is fair to say what the artists did was blatant brutality to the song, it is even hard to pick the worst section because most if not all are destabilizing then when watching it one would have to keep on pausing just to ponder at the madness displayed. The only part that can be accommodated is when Chris O’Dowd and his wife sing the line (“I wonder if you can”) humbly as if asking for forgiveness showing their understanding of the predicament (ex: 2:23 – 2:26).
Amid a crisis, what people need is a message of hope, something that they can well relate to. Artists full aware of their massive following and the impact they have on people should desist from bundling mediocrity and feeding it to the world hoping that people will heal.