A study of Richard Dyer’s
work on STARS
A consideration of Richard Dyer’s
work on stars and star status
Richard Dyer -STARS
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“stars do not exist outside of
such texts [films]”
social phenomenon
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Stars as a social phenomenon- how stars
are understood as fulfilling a social and
cultural function
Consider Stallone’s roles in the Rambo films. Was he winning the
war in Hollywood which the USA lost?
images
 Stars
as images
 uses semiotics
 and cultural studies
 to ask about the social meanings of
stardom in general and specific stars in
particular
 and how these meanings are produced or
constructed.
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How do stars acquire social meanings, not only
through their films but also through other
agencies involved in the production of a star’s
image
studio promotion,
fan magazines,
publicity in newspapers
popular journals,
film reviews
critical articles?
signs
 Stars
as signs is about the problems
associated with a star and a particular
representation of a character in a film and
how the two interact.
 E.g. Arnold Schwarzenegger in
Kindergarten Cop or Clint Eastwood
performing with an orang-utan
Construction
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Dyer starts by establishing the basic principles of
constructedness
and places this in an analysis of its place within
the
relations of production and consumption
this allows us to move forward to the analysis
proper of star images
and the cultural specificity of their
meanings/effects
we can then use this knowledge of the stars in
the analysis of films in which they appear.
Construction 2
The Star Paradigm
Social values
Film industry
Agents of film studios
STAR
actor
audiences
Are there conflicting aims or do they
all coalesce in the production of a
star?
Stars as constructions
 …a
star is
 an image (not a real person)
 that is constructed (as any other aspect of
fiction is)
 out of a range of materials (e.g.
advertising, magazines, etc. as well as
films)
Marlon Brando
If we look at these Marlon Brando publicity shots,
we can perhaps establish what star ‘image’ was being
perpetuated
Marlon Brando
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One-eyed Jacks, 1961
Marlon Brando
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The Wild One, 1954
The
Wild One, 1954
Marlon Brando
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On the Waterfront, 1954
Marlon Brando
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Guys and Dolls, 1955
Marlon Brando
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On the Waterfront, 1954
Real?
 Not
one of these images is the ‘truth’
 there is a gap between
 what is constructed as the star image
 and what other possibilities in reportage
about the star which somehow never get
to be a real emphasis in the image.
Examples of star construction
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study background information on the business of
creating a star looking at the institutional factors
the role of the agent in placing his/her clients and
casting agencies
the studio’s promotion department in
establishing/promoting the star image
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this department would work through direct promotion,
especially the photography department producing pin-ups for
fan magazines, gossip columnists and the press
the search for ‘vehicles’ for the furtherance of the star
the analysis of box office receipts, opinion polls and
critics’ reviews in order to determine the direction of
the star image
Ursula Andress
 Dr.
No (1962)
The impact of Ursula Andress’
first appearance, emerging from
the sea with her conch, basically
set her star image.
Fun people
The
publicity
photos for
Dr. No set
Connery
and
Andress up
as ‘fun
people’.
Or…
Collect a range of materials or ‘media texts’
through which star image is established to
demonstrate where those ‘images’ are produced
for public consumption.
 These materials would include
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studio promotion and publicity stills,
fan magazine articles and pin-ups,
newspaper reports,
features and reviews,
and stills from the stars’ films
and a couple of extracts from the films themselves.
Arnie
Let’s use Schwarzenegger as a
modern example of this collection
process
Roger Ebert review of T2
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Schwarzenegger's genius as a movie star is to
find roles that build on, rather than undermine,
his physical and vocal characteristics. Here he
becomes the straight man in a human drama and in a human comedy, too, as the kid tells him
to lighten up and stop talking like a computer.
After the kid's mother is freed from the mental
home, the threesome work together to defeat T1000, while at the same time creating an unlikely
but effective family unit.
Rolling Stone review of T2 (extract)
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Schwarzenegger has fun saying things like "Chill
out, dickwad" and "Hasta la vista, baby." But the
star's quips are predictable, the stock in trade of
an icon for hire. It's Cameron's show; he's the
reigning king of movie pow, with dark wit and a
poet's eye for mayhem. T2 cost a reported $100
million, and you can actually see where the
money went. The visual and makeup effects are
state-of-the-art, making Terminator 2 the bigdaddy action entertainment of the summer.
Business Data for T2 (IMDB)
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Business Data for
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
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Opening Weekend
$52.306m (3 July 1991) (USA)
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Gross
$310m (Non-USA)
£18.179m (UK)
$204.843m (USA)
$514.8m (worldwide)
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Admissions
3,773,320 (Spain)
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Theatrical Rentals
£8.948m (UK)
$112.5m (USA)
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Filming Dates
October 1990 - April 1991
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Copyright Holder
Carolco Pictures Inc. - Carolco International N.V.
Budget
$100m (USA)
Biography for
Arnold Schwarzenegger
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Birth Name
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger
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Nickname
Arnie
Austrian Oak
Conan the Republican
Styrian Oak
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Height
6' 2"
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Mini biography
Growing up in a small, isolated village in Austria, he turned to bodybuilding as his ticket to a better life. After
conquering the world as the greatest bodybuilder who ever lived, he went to America to make his name in motion
pictures. Hampered by his impossible name and thick accent, success eluded him for many years. It wasn't until
he found the tailor- made role of Conan that he truly came into his own as a performer. A succession of over-thetop action films made him an international box office star. By alternating violent action films with lighter, comedic
fare, he has solidified his position as one of the most popular--if not the most popular--movie stars in the world.
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Work
 Who
is Arnold Schwarzenegger?
 How is he a star?
 Who constructed him?
 What does he mean?
 Trailer for T3
Stars in Relation to Industry and
Audience
 stars
are:
 commodities
 produced and consumed on the strength
of their meanings
Commodities
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a) capital. Stars represented a form of capital possessed by the
studios.
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Robert A. Brady sees this as part of the `monopolistic' character of the
Hollywood industry: `...each star is to some extent a holder of a
monopoly, and the owner of contracts for the services of a star is the
owner of a monopoly product. The majors dominate the employment of
this individual monopoly talent.'
b) investment. Stars were a guarantee, or a promise, against loss
on investment and even of profit on it.
c) the market. Stars were used to sell films, to organise the market.
Alexander Walker talks of `the use of a star to stabilise audience
response'.
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Alice Evans Field writes: `Star names on the theatre marquee, above
the title of the picture, draw' great audiences not only because of their
personal magnetism but also because they are symbols of certain types
of entertainment and because they assure production efforts far above
average.' This suggests how stars both organise the market and act
back upon the 'quality' of the films they are in.
Labour
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Bourgeois economics normally considers capital
as wealth, but labour is important too
 So a star is produced not only through the
labour of the studios but through the efforts of
the star him/herself.
 In other words, there is the labour of producing
the image, which, once produced, is then in turn
raw material to be further transformed by labour.
A model for work in this area might
propose that:
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a star is
a raw material (a living person)
who through labour (their own and others) is transformed into an
image. This image is a product which is both
a form of capital (owned by the studio, or else by the `person' who
performs the image of the star)
and a form of raw material ('concealed labour') which through further
labour produces products (films) that are sold (in the market, to an
audience)
for a profit (which is the difference between the cost of capital + raw
material (itself a form of labour) + labour (without which the product
has no value) and box-office receipts
Phew!
Meanings
 Although
stars and films are commodities,
their only `value' (i.e. what people use
them for) resides in what meanings and
effects they have. Stars/films sell
meanings/effects.
 stars embody
 social values
 that need, or are felt to need assertion
or re-assertion
'embody'
 Stars
seem actually to possess or even to
be the values in question;
 they seem not to be cinematic
constructions or representations of those
values.
 (Here the confusion over the star-asimage and the star-as-person has a crucial
role).
`social value'
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That is, widespread and shared values, attitudes, ideas about life,
including social types, stereotypes, sex roles, etc.
A key issue here, always, is whether these values merely represent
what most people happen to think ('consensus') or whether they are
values that support the particular world-view of a socially dominant
group but are made to appear what most people happen to think
('hegemony').
It is in sorting through this issue that one engages with the
production-consumption/ industry-audience relation, not just as
something confined to a particular form of aesthetic commodity
production but as a fully social practice.
In other words, it is not just a question of working out the relationship
between cinema and society, but rather of understanding cinema as
a social practice that is a full part of the way that society itself is
formed.
`need, or felt to need'
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The reason for saying 'need or felt to need' is
that there is always a danger in asserting that
something is simply spontaneously `needed'; the
mass media also stimulate and define needs,
and these needs may have the effect of serving
specific interests (e.g. of class or gender) rather
than expressing general wants.
 E.g. Spike Lee films produce ‘stars’ who speak
for their audience’s needs,
 Or even James Bond films
`assertion, or re-assertion'
 The
star might reaffirm society’s views or
 serve the need to give expression to
alternative or oppositional values
(possibly, but not always, to discredit or
`recuperate' them), e.g. 'rebel' stars such
as Brando or Dean
 The independent woman like Hepburn or
Stanwyck might merely reaffirm traditional
values
Social Values
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what social values are embodied?
with what kind of emphasis?
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what does the expression of these social values with this kind of
emphasis seem to speak to in the values of the society in which we
live'?
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(e.g. does the image invoke notions of traction and 'time-honoured'
values, or does it offer itself as something new or 'radical'?
Is it confused as to values, or clearly asserting one set of values over
against others?)
(e.g. how far are the values in question ones that everyone gives assent
to'?
How far are they only relevant to one section of society?
Have these values been at issue in the media or in everyday
conversation in the past year or so?)