Do you know this face?

Or this one?

How about

this one?

Stars:•Star: Lehman & Luhr do not define the term; its usage and meaning are

context dependent; generally the “real” person playing roles

•Not all actors are stars and not all stars are actors

•John Ratzenberger for example, has “starred” in every Pixar film

•Star System: “A system of casting that privileges stars over ordinary actors. This

includes the placing of stars under contract by the major studios from the 1910s

to the 1950s and the creation of stars by means of carefully assigned film roles

and publicity campaigns” (Marlene Dietrich)

•Star Image: “A set of characteristics that has great popular appeal and

that makes an actor a known and desired quantity. Some stars maintain a fixed

image, while others are prize for the variety of roles they play.” (Clint Eastwood)

•Star Text: The accumulated media and print images accumulated over a

star’s career – their oevre. We do not “know” stars personally; we “know” a text.

Film theory: Richard Dyer, Stars (1979)

“The work of stars is always ideological.”

[Stars embody personal/political contradiction]

“The primary concern of any attention to Hollywood must

be with the dominant ideology of western society.”

[Stars emerge in specific social and historical contexts]

Three Aspects of Star Image

Stars are Texts, Commodities, and Social Phenomenon

Star as text:Carrie Fisher… Princess Leia

Mark Hamill .. Luke Skywalker

Star as commodity:Billy Dee Williams … Lando Calrissian

Mark Hamill … Luke Skywalker

Star as social phenomenon: James Earl Jones … Darth Vader

Harrison Ford … Han Solo

Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962)

(Norma Jeane Mortenson)

* 29 feature films, no major awards

Three aspects of “star image”a) Stars as Text:

Asphalt Jungle (1950)

The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Some Like it Hot (1959)

b) Stars as Commodity:

Paramount Newsreel (1953)

Marilyn: The Final Days (2001)

c) Stars as Social Phenomenon:

First Issue of Playboy (1953)

Married: James Dougherty (cop)

Joe Dimaggio (ballplayer)

Arthur Miller (playwright)

JFK Presidential B-Day (1962)Rumored affairs with:

John F Kennedy & Robert F Kennedy

Playboy Magazine: First Issue December, 1953

Woody Allen(Born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; December 1, 1935)

Established himself as a stand-up comedian in the 1960s.

Has written and/or directed more than 50 films since 1972.

Life-size statue in Oviedo, Spain.

Woody Allen as Text:Guest Host of The Tonight Show (1971)

Woody Allen as Commodity:Antz (1998)

Woody Allen as Social Phenomenon:Time Magazine Interview (2008)

Kal Penn (Born Montclair, New Jersey, 1977)- More than 40 film and television performances since 1998.

No major awards as of 2009.

Star as Text:

Harold and Kumar go to White Castle (2004)

The Namesake (Mira Nair, 2006)

Star as Industrial Product

Screen Actors Guild Awards

Jimmy Kimble Live

Star as Social PhenomenonPublic Service Ad

Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj (2006)