CIN105Y1 Study Guide - Final Guide: Cinema Of The United States, Golden Dreams, Jayne Mansfield
STARDOM “Stars As a Cinematic Phenomenon”
Have a function in the film industry in the creation of a “narrative image”
Stars are incomplete images outside the cinema
The star is at once ordinary and extraordinary, available for desire while unattainable
The star’s performance in a film is always greater than their existence in reality (to the
public audience)
STAR a performer in a particular medium whose figure enters in subsidiary forms of
circulation, and then feeds back into future performances
The tradition of the “star” stretches back beyond cinema, into theatre and especially opera
Cinematic stars came to be in early 1900’s, when production companies relied on selling
the complete experience of cinema
The star became a marketing strategy in American cinema, beginning in the
1920’s
Star images are paradoxical; they do not have a fixed image
The star is an INCOHERENT IMAGE; both an ordinary person and an
extraordinary person
The star is an INCOMPLETE IMAGE; offers only the face, the voice, the still
photo—whereas cinema offers the synthesis of voice, body, and motion
The star image is paradoxical and incomplete so that it functions as an invitation
to cinema, like the narrative image
However, the star image echoes, repeats, and develops a fundamental aspect of
cinema itself
“Fanzines” encourage the exponential obsession with stars throughout the movie
industry
The star image functions in two ways
1) Invitation to cinema, posing as synthesizing all the disparate and scattered
elements of the star image
2) Repeats the cinematic experience by presenting an impossible paradox—people
who are both ordinary and extraordinary
The star image involves a lot of fiction, and fantasy
The star is somewhat removed from the general public
Male stars are more often seen as having the same characteristics as many of the
characters they play on screen
Relies on the actor basically saying “Look at me. I can perform.”
“Monroe and Sexuality”
Stars matter because they act out aspects of life that matter to us; performers get to be
stars when what they act out matters to enough people
Film’s cultural and societal ideas depended on the place and time in history
In the 1950’s, there were specific ideas of what sexuality meant and it was held to matter
a lot
Marilyn Monroe acted out these specific ideas, and because they were felt to matter so
much, she was a centre of attraction who seemed to embody what was taken to be a
central feature of human existence at that time
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Document Summary
Have a function in the film industry in the creation of a narrative image . Stars are incomplete images outside the cinema. The star is at once ordinary and extraordinary, available for desire while unattainable. The star"s performance in a film is always greater than their existence in reality (to the public audience) Star a performer in a particular medium whose figure enters in subsidiary forms of circulation, and then feeds back into future performances. The tradition of the star stretches back beyond cinema, into theatre and especially opera. Cinematic stars came to be in early 1900"s, when production companies relied on selling the complete experience of cinema. The star became a marketing strategy in american cinema, beginning in the. Star images are paradoxical; they do not have a fixed image. The star is an incoherent image; both an ordinary person and an extraordinary person.
