The star system was the method of creating, promoting and
exploiting
movie stars in
Classical Hollywood cinema.
Studios would select promising young
actors
and
glamorise and create
personas
for them, often inventing new names and even new backgrounds. Examples
of stars who went through the star system include
Cary Grant (born Archie Leach),
Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur), and
Rock Hudson (born Roy Harold Scherer, Jr.)
The star system put an emphasis on the image rather than the acting,
although discreet acting, voice, and dancing lessons were a common part
of the regimen. Women were expected to behave like ladies, and were
never to leave the house without makeup and stylish clothes. Men were
expected to be seen in public as gentlemen. Morality clauses were a
common part of actors' studio contracts.
Just as studio executives, public relations staffs, and agents worked
together with the actor to create a star persona, so they would work
together to cover up incidents or lifestyles that would damage the
star's public image. It was common, for example, to arrange sham dates
between single (male) stars and starlets to generate publicity.
Tabloids and
gossip columnists would be tipped off, and photographers would
appear to capture the romantic moment. At the same time, a star's
drug use (such as
Robert Mitchum's arrest for
marijuana possession),
drinking problems,
divorce,
or
adultery would be covered up with
hush money for witnesses or promises of
exclusive stories (or the withholding of future stories) to gossip
columnists.
Beginnings of the star system
In the early years of the cinema (1890s–1900s), performers were not
identified in films. There are two main reasons for this.
- Stage performers were embarrassed to be in film.
Silent film was only considered pantomime. One of actors' main
skills was their voice. They were afraid that appearing in films
would ruin their reputation. Moguls such as Adolph Zuckor, founder
of Famous Players in 1912, brought theater actresses such as Sarah
Bernhardt into the movies however audiences wanted movie stars.[1]
Early film was also designed for the working class. Film was seen as
only a step above carnivals and freak shows.
- Producers feared that actors would gain more prestige and power
and demand more money.
Thomas Edison and the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC)
forced filmmakers to use their equipment and follow their rules, since
they owned the patents of much of the motion picture equipment. The MPPC
frowned on star promotion, although, according to research done by
Janet Staiger, the MPPC did promote some stars around this time.
The main catalyst for change was the public's desire to know the
actors' names. Film audiences repeatedly recognized certain performers
in movies that they liked. Since they did not know the performers' names
they gave them nicknames (such as "the Biograph Girl,"
Florence Lawrence, who was featured in
Biograph movies).
Producer
Carl Laemmle promoted the first
movie star. He was independent of the MPPC and used star promotion
to fight the MPPC's control. Laemmle acquired Lawrence from Biograph. He
spread a rumor that she had been killed in a
streetcar accident. Then he combated this rumor by saying that she
was doing fine and would be starring in an up-coming movie produced by
his company, the
Independent Moving Pictures Company (IMP).
The development of film fan magazines gave fans knowledge about the
actors outside of their film roles.
Motion Picture Story Magazine (1911–) and
Photoplay. They were initially focused on movies' stories, but
soon found that more copies could be sold if they focused on the actors.
The creator of the star system in any form of entertainment was
P. T. Barnum in the mid 19th century, a system of promotion he
developed for his Museum of Freaks and later his Greatest Show on
Earth circus. Barnum's biggest stars were
Jenny Lind,
Tom Thumb and
Jumbo.
Also, precedents set by legitimate theater encouraged film to emulate
the star system of the Broadway stage. Broadway stars in the late 19th
century were treated much like film stars came to be treated by the
middle of the 20th century. The main practitioner of the star system on
Broadway was
Charles Frohman, a man whom
Zukor,
Laemmle,
Mayer,
Fox and the
Warner Brothers emulated and who later perished in the
Lusitania sinking.
Star
system in American cinema
The cinema operates from three eyes: the eyes of the director and the
cameraman, the eyes of the protagonists, and finally, the eyes of the
audience. The secret of the star system comes with the second one.[2]
In movies, the most efficient way to show the emotions of a certain
character is by inserting a shot of him reacting to a specific action
(generally, the action is placed just before or after). This is what is
called a
reaction shot[3]
The reaction shot is a substitution; a mimetic transfer of the
spectator's feelings that brings him to identify himself in the star. It
is like a mirror or a double, but with a sublimated image.
Marilyn Monroe is a great example of the use of the reaction shot.
In many of her films, the audience can appreciate many long close ups of
her face reacting. At this point, the spectator has a privileged
relationship with her; something even better than being her friend or a
member of her family: for a moment, the viewer is Marilyn Monroe. In the
Hollywood system, an actor can never really become a character: he is a
star, no matter the quality of his performance.[4][ambiguous]
Myths
and dreams of a society
Another important aspect of the
Hollywood star system is the stars' ability to convey the myths and
dreams of their society, such as the myth of the "self made man", which
for many viewers represents the belief that everyone has a chance of
happiness in America. For a consumer of the star system, looking at
these stars is a way to continue believing that anything is possible,
regardless of class or money. Thus, the star system creates hopes and
preserves the ideals of a still young country. The film industry is more
than aware of this, and puts all of its power into the stars.[5]
Decline of
the star system
From the 1930s to the 1960s, it was somewhat regular for studios to
arrange the contractual exchange of talent (directors, actors) for
prestige pictures. Stars would sometimes pursue these swaps themselves.
Stars were becoming selective. Although punished and frowned upon by
studio heads, several strong-willed stars received studio censure &
publicity for refusing certain parts, on the belief that they knew
better than the studio heads about the parts that were right for them.
In one instance,
Jane Greer negotiated her contract out of Howard Hawks' hands over
the limp roles he had been foisting on her.
Olivia de Havilland and
Bette Davis both sued their studios to be free of their gag orders
(Davis lost, de Havilland won). After completing
The Seven Year Itch,
Marilyn Monroe walked out on
20th Century Fox and only returned when they acquiesced to her
contract demands. The publicity accompanying these incidents fostered a
growing suspicion among actors that a system more like being a free
agent would be more personally beneficial to them than the fussy,
suffocating star system. The studio-system instrument
Photoplay gave way to the scandal-mongering
Confidential. In 1959
Shirley MacLaine would sue famed producer
Hal Wallis over a contractual dispute. This suit was another nail in
the coffin.[6]
By the 1960s the days of the star system were numbered.
The conspiratorial aspect of the studio system manipulating images
and reality, eventually began to falter as the world and the news media
began to accept the dismantling of social boundaries and the
manufactured virtue and wholesomeness of stars began to be questioned;
taboos began to fall. By the 60s and 70s a new, more natural style of
acting ("the
Stanislavski Method") had emerged, been mythologized and enshrined;
and individuality had been transformed into a treasured personal
quality. With competition from TV, and entire studios changing hands,
the star system faltered and did not recover. The studio system could no
longer resist the changes occurring in entertainment, culture, labor,
and news and it was completely gone by 1970.
Contemporary
stardom
The phenomenon of stardom has remained essential to Hollywood because
of its ability to lure spectators into the theater. Following the demise
of the studio system in the 1950s and 60s, the star system became the
most important stabilizing feature of the movie industry. This is
because stars provide film makers with built in audiences who regularly
watch films in which their favorite actors and actresses appear.[7]
Contemporary Hollywood talent agencies must now be licensed under the
California Labor Code, which defines an agent as any "person or
corporation who engages in the occupation of procuring, offering,
promising, or attempting to procure employment for artist or artists."
[8] Talent agencies such as William Morris Agency (WMA),
International Creative Management (ICM), Creative Artists Agency (CAA)
and many more started to arise in the mid-1970s. CAA represented the
modern agency, with new ways of marketing talent by packaging actors,
agencies are able to influence production schedules, budgeting of the
film, and which talent will be playing each particular character.
Packaging gained notoriety in the 1980s and 1990s with films such
Ghost Busters, Tootsie, Stripes, and A League of
Their Own. This practice continues to be prominent in films today
such as Big Daddy, Happy Gilmore, Waterboy, and
Billy Madison. The ease of selling a packaged group of actors to a
particular film insures that certain fan groups will see that movie,
reducing risk of failure and increasing profits.[9]
See also
References
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Basinger, Jeanine (2007). The Star Machine. NY: Alfred A.
Knopf. p. 18.
ISBN 978-1-4000-4130-5.
-
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Warren, Paul. "Le secret du star
system américain", L'Hexagone, 2002, p. 11.
-
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Warren 2002, p. 12.
-
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Warren 2002, p. 19.
-
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Lévi-Strauss, "L'analyse
structurale du mythe", Plon, Paris, 1958
-
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Hanrihan v. Parker, 19 Misc.
2d 467, 469 (N.Y. Misc. 1959)
-
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Belton,
John (2008-11-10).
American cinema/American culture. McGraw-Hill.
p. 120.
ISBN 978-0-07-338615-7.
-
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McDonald, Paul, and Janet Wasko.
The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry. Malden, MA: Blackwell
Pub., 2008. Print.p.167
-
Jump up ^
McDonald, Paul, and Janet Wasko.
The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry. Malden, MA: Blackwell
Pub., 2008. Print. p. 167–180