celebrity image
With reference to a particular celebrity 'image', discuss the significance of celebrity to the production of contemporary culture.In reference to Richard Dyer and his book 'Stars' I am going to analyse the different ideologies at work in the fifties with Marilyn Monroe, to contemporary stardom with Sharon Stone. To do this I will be discussing the progress of the film industry and its 'stars' in relation to societies difference in ideologies. I am going to argue that in reference to the emergence of the 'Star system,' the film industry and its stars have evolved from the original 'pin up' to sexual exploitation where sex, ideologically, sells.Richard de Cordova acknowledged three transformations in the development of the 'Star System.' These were the 'discourse on acting' the 'Picture Personality' and 'The Star'. Before 1907 the film industry was focussed on the apparatus and technology of producing the 'real' on screen. The actors were not recognised for their acting. Hollywood's mode of production can be looked at in terms of a factory system much like that used by the Ford plant. Janet Steiger states in 'The Classical Hollywood Cinema' that Hollywood often praised its own work structure for its
''We may generalise (following Dyer) that British, like other, stars exhibit a 'structured polysemy', have meaning in regard to dominant and subordinate ideologies, reinforce ruling values, sometimes articulate oppositional meanings as they play out the cultures conceptions of individuality, masculinity and femininity'(Babbington, 2001:19 - found in 'Contemporary Hollywood Stardom, Thomas Austin & Martin Barker')As the quote states, I believe that Dyers theory still amounts for issues in Contemporary society. The star then becomes a form of capital. ' (Stars; 1979,)Jean-Louis Comolli states that we need to consider a socio-economic base and the technological significance of this base to understand the conditions of film practice existence. In Basic Instinct, Stone plays Trammel, an intelligent novelist, a career woman, sexually liberated and all too murderous, who acts out the killing scenarios in her novels. Stone performed naked for almost a decade and with significance became The Hollywood Blonde, a multimillionaires that used her sex appeal to get what she wanted. Paul McDonald refers to Richard Dyer in understanding how a star is never wholly unique. Dyer states that society in the fifties saw women's sexuality as 'wrong' and 'extraordinary' so if Monroe was to be placed as a 'pin-up' she had to be pure and ordinary too as to be seen as unthreatening to men. One contradiction used vastly is the image of Marilyn Monroe. '(Magazine reference found in Austin: (2003)Although Stone claims she was duped into baring all for the film, she also states that she agreed the shot was the best for the movie it was just the way the director went about it as she was very willing to do what it took to become the character. '(Dyer; 1979)I n the American fifties Monroe was placed in the boundaries of being both sexy and innocent at the same time.
Common topics in this essay:
Thomas Hess,
War II,
Sharon Stone,
Contemporary American,
Basic Instinct,
Richard Dyer,
Monroe Stone,
Paul Vehoevens,
Instinct Stone,
Jean-Louis Comolli,
film industry,
basic instinct,
contemporary culture,
austin 2003,
femme fatale,
sharon stone,
sex appeal,
basic instinct stone,
production distribution,
dyer argues,
personal life,
found austin 2003,
magazine reference found,
stone plays trammel,
reference found austin,
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Acceptance Essays
