Brinkley finds the positive in social media
There are a lot of wonderful things about social media.
Through platforms and apps such as Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat, users are able to make friends, keep old friends and pretty much connect with anyone and everything from around the world in an instant.
But that level of openness and access also comes at a price.
From cyber bullying to livestreamed acts of violence, the very apps that connect and promote a global community can quickly devolve into arenas of isolation, abuse and hate.
These pitfalls are what made American model Christie Brinkley (yes, THAT Christie Brinkley) want to get involved with a recently released short film from Gap.
“I think for all the negative aspects of social media, it’s also a place where you can see such diversity and see people from every walk of life and every culture all responding in a similar way to various images that move us,” she says.
Brinkley says the key to overcoming the cruelty lurking in the corners of social media and the Internet is to spread a positive message.
“There is a lot of talk about being kind, extra kind right now because the world seems to be falling apart,” she says. “And it’s up to each and every one of us as individuals to keep trying to project love.
“When you project love to each other and support each other, then maybe, some of these people who feel disenfranchised ... maybe they wouldn’t feel that way. So I think that you really do see on social media a lot of opportunities for really totally diverse people to come together on certain global issues and I think that’s so beautiful.”
And “coming together” is exactly what happens in the American clothing company’s new short film, dubbed Bridging the Gap, that taps into the creative talent of editor Edward Enninful to direct, cast and style the project. In the video, a cast of celebrities — from musicians and models to activists and online personalities — sings the song Sunny by Boney M., each dressed in a simple Gap T-shirt and denim (of some kind or another).
In addition to Brinkley, the cast includes actress Priyanka Chopra; rapper Wiz Khalifa; model Casil McArthur; activist Adwoa Aboah; model Maria Borges; champion fencer Miles Chamley-Watson; actor Jonathan Groff; model Fernanda Ly; model Lineisy Montero; model Ellen Rosa; Instagram star Jasmine Sanders; actress Yara Shahidi; and model/designer Alek Wek.
The same-same-but-different appeal of the film is meant to show that despite our differences, we can all identify with one another — and therefore unite.
“I see Bridging the Gap as a statement of mutual humanity and freedom,” Brinkley says of the project. “Freedom, for me, means not being concerned what others think of or expect from me, but living my life with the intention of making the world a better place for others.”