Stardom and symbolic degeneracy: Television and the transformation of the stars as public symbols
Semiotica, 1992
... Film stars approximate to singular symbols. ... of the formal markers of similarity is by def... more ... Film stars approximate to singular symbols. ... of the formal markers of similarity is by definition guided by conventional criteria, these criteria may be more or less explicit, as in the case of strongly coded symbolic systems eg, Kabuki theater or Classi-cism in the plastic arts. ...
Cultural studies and the politics of celebrity
Screen Acting: Reflections on the Day
Screen, May 1, 1986
The End of Seeming
A feature of the contemporary scene of stardom is the mutation of autography into a more intensiv... more A feature of the contemporary scene of stardom is the mutation of autography into a more intensively reductive form of writing the self. If autography pushes the limits of the relationship of ‘standing for’ to self-presentation, the new mode of writing and performance pushes the presentation of a self below the horizon of selfhood so that being private in public becomes a priority — the self of the star is there, so to speak, but hidden, inspiring a search in others for “authenticity”. In the way it is used here, steganography refers to the hiding of the “authentic” self behind an intertextual assemblage of performed identities.1 This new practice exceeds and ruptures the framework of person, personage, character, persona, in which seeming — the performer’s forte — is reduced to being or a bare nominal presence. Compared to autography, which declares, ‘Here I am’, steganography renders its subject as a trace, ambiguous and underspecified yet sufficient to maintain a media name profile. The fullest extent of this process of hiding in plain sight I identify with intimate fame or celebrity (Redmond, 2006). In such a condition of fame, the star or celebrity is reduced to a nominal presence, fleshed out by selective images and publicity per se, good or bad, becomes of paramount importance.
The Formation of Stardom
The first chapter outlined the general social and cultural conditions within which a commercial t... more The first chapter outlined the general social and cultural conditions within which a commercial theatre emerged, particularly as they provided a context for the formation of stardom. The purpose of this chapter is to give more precision to this development at the level of the labour process of acting. My basic argument is that stardom depends on an intimate and organic connection with the merchant form of capitalism.
The Hollywood star system The impact of an occupational ideology on popular hero-worship
SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DX188487 / BLDSC - British Librar... more SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DX188487 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo
Dossier: acting, on-set practices, software, and synthespians
Typical forms of stardom being set aside; concerns for both fan identification and for the credib... more Typical forms of stardom being set aside; concerns for both fan identification and for the credibility of new technological solutions to the realisation of fantasy characters made the LOTR films laboratories for new cultural and economic relations in film performance
Dossier: production and post-production
Both the epic scale of the three-film production, with its mix of technical demands, and the huge... more Both the epic scale of the three-film production, with its mix of technical demands, and the hugely inventive techniques deployed in post, made the trilogy an important site for the study of new-generation Hollywood
The concept of the ‘indigenous public sphere’ is intended to describe the highly mediated public ... more The concept of the ‘indigenous public sphere’ is intended to describe the highly mediated public ‘space’ for developing notions of Indigeneity, and putting them to work organising and governing the unpredictable immediacy of everyday events (Hartley and McKee, The Indigenous Public Sphere, 2000, p. 3) One of the major conclusions of John Hartley and Alan McKee’s study is that, in the Australian media, indigenous people are central to a drama about Australian national identity. Stars rather than victims, indigenous people are caught up in a media narrative over which ‘they have little individual control, but which is nevertheless telling their story’ (p. 7).
SINCE early in the first decade of this century, the concept of documentary—never beyond contesta... more SINCE early in the first decade of this century, the concept of documentary—never beyond contestation—has entered into a state of generic uncertainty. Reflecting on these developments, John Corner, in an influential article, dubbed the current context of production as ‘Post-documentary’ (Corner, 2002). In his view, the documentary tradition has always encompassed a range of approaches: 1. Documentary as social commentary seeking to inform audiences as citizens rather than consumers. 2. Documentary as Investigative Reporting, once the most extensive use of documentary methods on television. 3. Documentary as Radical Interrogation and Agit-Prop as found in the practices of independent cinema. 4. Documentary as popular ‘factual’ entertainment driven by ratings and box office.
THIS ISSUE of Pacific Journalism Review engages with the theme of the dynamics of fame in a small... more THIS ISSUE of Pacific Journalism Review engages with the theme of the dynamics of fame in a small country. In contrast to the dominant focus in the newly emergent field of Celebrity Studies on celebrity as a global phenomenon, the emphasis in this issue is on the interface between the global and the local; on questions of how the distinctiveness of national and local values fares when caught up in or of willingly imitating the circulation of global fame and influence. Accounts of celebrity often focus on the notion of fetishism—the complex process through which specific idols become objects of veneration on whose admirable or even infamous qualities are presented as emanating from the inner recesses of a luminous personality. The importance of this aspect of celebrity and celebrity worship is not to be denied. But there is another feature of celebrity and stardom that complements and energises the engagement of fans, the interest of the general public and the ambitions of the press ...
In general terms, biographic positioning rested on a circular relationship. The stars, as the leg... more In general terms, biographic positioning rested on a circular relationship. The stars, as the legal possessors of virtual identities, were grounded in the transpersonal space of Hollywood as the ‘home’ of motion pictures. They, in turn, provided the flesh and blood, the engines of desire and hope through which Hollywood, itself a virtual place, could be manifested as an apparent community. As such, biographic positioning was a sequestered institutional activity (Giddens, 1991).
Emergent Modes of Stellar Being
Taking Fame to Market, 2015
The genealogy of stardom now needs to be placed in the immediate context of broader structural ch... more The genealogy of stardom now needs to be placed in the immediate context of broader structural changes in the theatre as mode of production and employment. The star or the celebrity is by definition a special individual.1 But individuality, particularly in the cultural industries, needs to be set against a directly intensive, collaborative labour process. Stardom, however represented as unique, is a pattern within an organizationally constructed space, as the term star system suggests. Drawing back from the tantalizing immediacy of a star’s fame, it is necessary to consider changes in the organization of the theatre and, relatedly, changes in the technological base of performance that lead to self-commodification of the star as a determinate response.2
Orientalizing Sexism: Hye Rim Lee's TOKI
Afterimage, 2006
Art practice, whether traditional, modern, or avant-garde, is always tempted by the ideal of the ... more Art practice, whether traditional, modern, or avant-garde, is always tempted by the ideal of the singular work, of the definitive rendition. The general public, through the romantic notion of the creative genius, is similarly inclined to attribute, even to mundane works, the tag of singularity. But for works that seek to engage with, rather than deconstruct, the imagery of popular culture the prevalence of images imposes a graphic constraint. Such work--think of Jeff Koons, for example--always draws upon the sensuous qualities of its model, even in the act of political critique. Indeed even deconstructive work may be drawn into the trap of celebrating those qualities it wishes to satirize. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This would especially seem to be the case with erotic or pornographic representation. So the problem is posed: how might the critique of the stereotypical, the specified, engage in the materials of fantasy without itself becoming a source of singular fascination? This is the task that Hye Rim Lee, a Korean-born digital media artist who resides in New Zealand, has set for herself. Through the creation of a virtual surrogate, TOKI, Lee has conceived an identity space where East meets West, and code becomes body. As a virtual being, TOKI invites a range of identity positions; an avatar standing for the artist herself, a digital persona which is, in some sense, alive, an animal mimicking human identity, a machine posing as human. TOKI is all of the above, but she refuses to be a model for any one of them. Instead, she seeks to inhabit the zone of "over-idealized" bodies--the tropic of Paris Hilton and her clones. THE BODY AS CONTEXT Never has the human body--above all the female body--been so massively manipulated as today ... And yet the process of technologization, instead of materially investing the body, was aimed at the construction of a separate sphere that had practically no point of contact with it: what was technologized was not the body but its image. (1) The separation of the living body from its technologically produced image is a relationship of exploitation and domination. It is the body image, given the prestige and social penetration (supplied by the media) that sets the terms of reference for the look of the mundane body, its grooming and appearance. As studies have shown, media images influence the kind of attitude young girls and women take toward their own bodies. Television, advertising, fashion, and images of women in magazines, who are 13 percent to 19 percent below their recommended healthy body weight by size, tend to increase the dissatisfaction of young girls and women with a more size-consistent body weight--an effect much less likely to be found among men. (2) The profusion of retouched and idealized body images has been connected to the epidemic of eating disorders and more pervasively to an obsession with beauty enhancements such as plastic surgery and body toning regimes. But looking good is not the same as being healthy. A kind of somatic indifference haunts the apparent perfection of media images. In the West, the popularity of television shows such as Extreme Makeover and the influence of Hollywood's cut-and-patch celebrities has encouraged increasing numbers of women to take the surgical road to the dream self. The dream self is in itself a complex construction, part mental as a phenomenon of a wish for better self-esteem, and part an external media image that applies to every woman and no woman in particular. In the process of choosing to go under the knife, a real self and virtual self approach one another in a fantasy of re-incarnation. This fantasy seems most intense in Asia for reasons that are complexly intertwined in historical, economic, and physical realities. Historically, in this region females have been regarded as the property of men as evidenced by traditional practices such as foot binding, breast binding, covering of the face, and confinement to the domestic sphere. …
Stardom, Celebrity, and the Moral Economy of Pretending
A Companion to Celebrity, 2015
Examines the impact of digital technology on the construction of synthespians and characters
Mussolini’s Dream Factory: Film Stardom in Fascist Italy
Modern Italy, 2015
Articulating Stardom
STARDOM
Studying the event film: The lord of the rings
Choice Reviews Online, 2009
Peter Jackson's epic trilogy, the biggest film event of the 21st century, turned the best-se... more Peter Jackson's epic trilogy, the biggest film event of the 21st century, turned the best-selling book of the 20th century into a popular, critical and financial success all over again. This comprehensive collection draws together twenty-five essays on the making, the meaning and the ...
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