ABSTRACT
Gamson and Meyer noted in 1995 that, nowadays, finding a “celebrity without a cause” would almost be an anomaly.1 Indeed, nothing seems more common for a personality of the arts and entertainment industries than lending his/her name in support of a humanitarian or civic issue. Nevertheless, taking an overtly political stand against the American intervention in Iraq was not such an easy move in 2002-2003. Yet, some public figures in what the press was soon calling an “anti-war movement of artists” rapidly rose and they sometimes became emblematic incarnations, attaching their names and faces to the anti-war cause. Some successful arts professionals, sometimes known for prior political involvements, have thus been changed into anti-war spokespeople: Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, Martin Sheen, Michael Moore, visual and graphic artists like Dread Scott in New York or Robbie Conal in Los Angeles, theatre professionals like Kathleen Chalfant, some singers and music bands (typically, the country music band, The Dixie Chicks), and a number of “newcomers” in activism or usually less (directly) politically active people, like Viggo Mortensen or even Sean Penn, have become symbols of the protest, condensing and expressing social and emotional meanings regarding the situation in Iraq.
