Movie Stars: Gender and Acting as Avenue for Upward Mobility
Movie stars are members of a genuinely democratic elite because they are ultimately chosen by the large public, not by peers or professional sponsors (as in science).
Movie Stars: Is It Possible to Manufacture Stars?
I never had any promotions or big studio built-up,” Eastwood boasts, “There are stars who are produced by the press. I am not one of them–Clint Eastwood
Movie Stars: America’s Democratic Elite
Using a socio-historical perspective, The Democratic Elite: America’s Movie Stars differs from other discussions of stardom in its orientation, methods, and data. Its chief goal is to assess the significance of movie stardom as a persistent, long-enduring cultural phenomenon by analyzing the multiple functions and power of movie stars, in the film industry and outside, […]
Movie Stardom: Theory and Research–Sociological Definitions
Orin Klapp has constructed a typology of stars in terms of their relationships with society’s norms, distinguishing among stars who reinforce social norms, stars who seduce, and those who transcend them.
Dreamboat (1952): Minor Comedy Starring Clifton Webb and Ginger Rogers
This minor comedy stars British actor Clifton Webb as a college professor with a hidden past, who becomes engaged in a peculiar romance with Ginger Rogers. The respectable lives of Professor of English literature Thornton Sayre (Webb) and his daughter Carol (Anne Francis) are disrupted when it is revealed that he was once a matinee […]
Swift, Taylor: Crying during Groping Trial
Taylor Swift cried during Monday’s closing arguments as the trial ab0ut the 2013 incident in which she claims Denver DJ groped her went to the jury shortly after noon local time. The eight-member jury will decide whether the DJ, David Mueller, intentionally grabbed Swift’s butt, and whether her mother and a member of her management team […]
Auteurism: Criticism of the Perspective
There are some pitfalls of the auteur theory in general: First, the tendency to downplay and underplay collaboration between the director and actor, director and writer, director and cinematographer Second, the tendency to emphasize intentionality at the expense of the socio-political and economic contexts in which films are made. Thus, auteurists discuss Jewish émigré directors […]
Movie Audience: Perception by Directors–Hitchcock
I enjoy playing the audience like a piano–Hitchcok
Anti-Matter: Keir Burrow’s Sci-fi Noir
Writer-director Keir Burrow’s sci-fi noir hits theaters and VOD this September from Uncork’d Entertainment
Movie Stars: The Role’s the Thing? Social Determinants of Movie Stardom.
There are diverse, controversial views about the crucial determinants for achieving stardom because the issue has not been studied systematically. I propose to distinguish analytically among four attributes: physical appearance, youth, acting talent, and screen image. Is it possible to characterize America’s movie stars in terms of physical looks? How important are attractive looks for […]