FILM

STARDOM

• What is star?

• What does it mean to study film

stardom critically?

What is the difference between an actor and

a star?

Stars develop a

recognizable and

memorable

screen persona.

“The star phenomenon depends upon

collapsing the distinction between the star-

as-person and the star-as-performer.”

- Richard Dyer, Stars (1979)

Where do we get information

about stars?

• Films

• Promotion

• Publicity

• Commentary (Criticism & Fandom)

Stars as Types

Social type: an idealized concept of how

people are expected to be or act

The Good Guy

The Tough Guy

The Independent Woman

The Glamour Girl

Stars as Specific Images

“Stars embody social types, but star

images are always more complex

and specific than types. Types, are,

as it were, the ground on which a

particular star’s image is

constructed.”

- Richard Dyer, Stars

What is involved in studying a film in

terms of a star and the character she or

he plays?

1. Selective use of star image

The film brings out certain features of a

star’s image and ignores others.

• Which features of the star’s image does

the film bring out?

• How does it bring them out?

• Which features does it ignore?

Tom Hanks in Road to Perdition (Sam Mendes, 2002)

2. Perfect fit

All aspects of a star’s image fit with all traits

of a character.

Vince Vaughan in Wedding Crashers (2005)

3. Problematic fit

The star’s powerful, already present persona

creates problems for the construction of

character.

John Wayne as Ghengis Khan in

The Conqueror (1956)