The media "star" has become a powerful, almost unparalleled, cultural sign, even as the star system has undergone radical transformation since the era of the Hollywood studio system. Today's film industry continues to market and promote its products through actors in ways that seek to capture the often elusive quality that a "star" can embody. Using contemporary stars such as Robert De Niro, Keanu Reeves, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Dennis Hopper, this anthology of essays applies a variety of theoretical tools in its attempt to understand how we interpret stars, and how we can begin to understand their cultural significance. Likewise, the study explores how the star system has become an increasingly complex phenomenon within society at large, extending its impact beyond the cinema into music, sports, and fashion. Many of the essays collected here consider this shift and examine how personae including the director (Sam Peckinpah), the royalty (Princess Diana) and even the digital star (Lara Croft) have captured the cultural imagination and have come to attain qualities as star-like as those of the silver screen.
The media "star" has become a powerful, almost unparalleled, cultural sign, even as the star system has undergone radical transformation since the era of the Hollywood studio system. Today's film industry continues to market and promote its products through actors in ways that seek to capture the often elusive quality that a "star" can embody. Using contemporary stars such as Robert De Niro, Keanu Reeves, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Dennis Hopper, this anthology of essays applies a variety of theoretical tools in its attempt to understand how we interpret stars, and how we can begin to understand their cultural significance. Likewise, the study explores how the star system has become an increasingly complex phenomenon within society at large, extending its impact beyond the cinema into music, sports, and fashion. Many of the essays collected here consider this shift and examine how personae including the director (Sam Peckinpah), the royalty (Princess Diana) and even the digital star (Lara Croft) have captured the cultural imagination and have come to attain qualities as star-like as those of the silver screen.
Introduction by Angela Ndalianis
Individual Case Studies
The Misleading Man: Dennis Hopper by Adrian Martin
The Replicator: Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Great
Meme-Machine by Louise Krasniewicz and Michael Blitz
Choosing Silence: Robert De Niro and the Celebrity Interview by
Greg M. Smith
The Cultural Impact of Star Images
The Keanu Effect--Stardom and the Landscape of the Acting Body: Los
Angeles/Hollywood as Sight/Site by Carmel Giarratana
More Sign Than Star: Diana, Death, and the Internet by Michael
Punt
Virtually Touching the Stars--from the Moon to Heaven's Gate and
Beyond by Leonie Cooper
Directors and Characters as Stars
The Auteur as Star: Violence and Utopia in the Films of Sam
Peckinpah by Gabrielle Murray
Birth of a Hero: Rocky, Stallone, and Mythical Creation by Rikke
Schubart
Digital Stars in Our Eyes by Angela Ndalianis
Index
ANGELA NDALIANIS is a senior lecturer in Cinema Studies and New
Media at the University of Melbourne. She has contributed articles
to various journals, and has written chapters for two anthologies
of essays on media.
CHARLOTTE HENRY has taught Cinema and Media Studies at the
University of Melbourne and in the School of Studies in Creative
Arts and the Victorian College of the Arts. Currently the
Acquisitions Coordinator at the Australian Film Institute, she is
also an active member of Women in Film and Television.
?This volume tells readers a great deal about what "entertainment"
has come to mean and about the larger context of American history.
Recommended.?-Choice
"This volume tells readers a great deal about what "entertainment"
has come to mean and about the larger context of American history.
Recommended."-Choice
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