Overview
Please follow the instruction carefully, there are 4 Question you need to answer.
Q1: What are the central ideas that we have been considering for the course? Refer to the list of readings below to identify each week’s topic and reflect on what you learned that week.
Weekly Readings
- Stardom Before Hollywood
- McArthur, “The Theatrical Structure” and “Hollywood’s Wooing” from Actors in American Culture
- DeCordova, “The Emergence of the Star System in America” from Picture Personalities
- Stardom in the Silent Era
- Susman, “Personality and Twentieth-Century Culture”
- DeCordova, “The Star” and “Star Scandals” from Picture Personalities
- Anderson, Wallace Reid from Twilight of the Idols
- Theorizing Stardom
- Ellis, “Stars as a Cinematic Phenomenon”
- Dyer, introduction to Heavenly Bodies
- Dyer, “A Star is Born and the Construction of Authenticity”
- Marilyn Monroe
- Dyer, Marilyn Monroe from Heavenly Bodies
- Contemporary Stardom
- McDonald, “Rethinking the System” from The Star System
- McDonald, “Star-as-Brand”
- Geraghty, “Reexamining Stardom”
Q2: True/False
Before taking the quiz, be sure you know the definitions of the following terms:
Identify which four of the following statements are true. I’m not trying to trick you with statements that are 90% true and have one false element. Rather, the main ideas in four of these statements are true.
1. Paul McDonald describes how the shift from the block booking system to the package unit system has affected stars. Whereas previously, stars signed long-term contracts and had little control over their careers, today stars are freelance and depend on talent agents to negotiate their careers. As a result, whereas stars’ salaries rise more rapidly under the current system, their careers are often shorter lived.
2. Paul McDonald argues that stars have become superfluous to the film industry. Today, rather than relying on big stars to sell films, distributors need only develop a successful marketing campaign. For this reason, rather than introducing stability to the film industry, stars now represent instability.
3. Paul McDonald argues that stars should not be compared to brands. Branding works to sell products, like soda or soap, whereas stars are people. Unless something goes terribly wrong, products don’t change. People, however, are unpredictable, especially when they become rich and famous.
4. Paul McDonald points to promotional materials from PR firms like Rogers & Cowan and LCO to demonstrate that branding plays an important role in promoting stars. According to LCO, for example, audiences won’t see a star interviewed on television or on the red carpet until they have worked with the PR firm to craft their brand identity.
5. Christine Geraghty argues that women are more likely to succeed as celebrities than as professionals because we associate the domestic sphere with femininity, whereas it is relatively rare for Hollywood to develop a franchise around a female character.
6. Paul McDonald and Christine Geraghty differ in their approach to understanding stars. Whereas McDonald seeks to understand how stars function within the context of the film industry, Geraghty is interested in defining the different types of stardom. For this reason, they both look at similar phenomena in different ways. For example, McDonald understands the consistency of a star’s image across roles and over time in terms of branding; he would describe Dwayne Johnson’s success at presenting a consistent image in multiple films as an example of successful branding. Geraghty, on the other hand, would argue that Dwayne Johnson represents a specific type of star, what she calls the “star as professional.”
Q3: Multiple choice.
When Reece Witherspoon’s career as an actress began to flounder, rather than accept the fact that Hollywood has few roles for women over 35, she started her own production company and a book club that rivals Oprah’s. As an avid reader, she knew which books to option and successfully packaged films and television shows featuring women. McDonald would define this as an example of which type of brand extension?:
A. Artistic
B. Functional
C. Media
D. Business
Q4: Short Answer.
If you were an actor, would you rather have worked in the studio system or would you prefer working in the package unit system? Why?
If you were a star, would you rather be what Geraghty describes as the “star as celebrity,” the “star as professional,” or the “star as performer”? Why?