Movie star
Movie studios employed performers under long-term contracts. But he cannot, in this same sense, make himself famous, any more than he can make himself loved.” Madow goes on to point out “fame is often conferred or withheld, just as love is, for reasons and on grounds other than ‘merit’.” According to Sofia Johansson the “canonical texts on stardom” include articles by Boorstin (1971), Alberoni (1972) and Dyer (1979) that examined the “representations of stars and on aspects of the Hollywood star system”.Johansson notes “more recent analyses within media and cultural studies (e.g. “Star vehicles” were filmed to display the particular talents and appeal of the most popular movie stars of the studio. With the loss of Katharine Hepburn, Bob Hope and Gregory Peck in 2003, and Deborah Kerr and Van Johnson in 2007 and 2008 respectively, there are very few of the Hollywood Greats still alive.
Someone who has risen above to the big screen! In the early days of silent movies the names of the actors and actresses appearing in movies were not publicized or credited as they are now. As the movie-going public became more interested in the performers who attracted their attention, however, the curiosity to know more about them made the movie studios and producers rethink their policy.
A movie star (cine star or film star) is a celebrity who is well-known, or famous, for his or her starring, or leading, roles in motion pictures. For instance, in Asian film industries, many movies often run on the weight of the star s crowd pulling power more than any other intrinsic aspect of film making. The Indian film industry has its own set of rules in this aspect and there are often superstars in this region, who often command premium pay commensurate with their box office appeal.
The French actress Michele Morgan also was contracted to RKO and Warner Brothers during the WWII years, but returned to her home country France after hostilities ended in 1945. Movie stars in other regions too have their own star value. The development of this “star system” made “fame…something that could be fabricated purposely, by the masters of the new ‘machinery of glory’.” According to Madow, “fame is a ‘relational’ phenomenon, something that is conferred by others.
Some of these performers had to help build the sets, clean up and perform other chores around the studio. Publicists thus “created” the “enduring images” and public perceptions of screen legends such as Rock Hudson, Marilyn Monroe, and Grace Kelly.
Among them, Rajinikanth has proven to become the second highest paid actor in Asia (after Jackie Chan) as of 2007. Chinese movie stars well-known in the West include Gong Li, Bai Ling, Joan Chen, Maggie Cheung, and the late Bruce Lee, who are also some of the most popular movie stars in Eastern Asia. . By the 1920s, Hollywood film company promoters had developed a “massive industrial enterprise” that “…peddled a new intangible—fame.” Hollywood “image makers” and promotional agents planted rumors, selectively released real or fictitious biographical information to the press, and used other “gimmicks” to create glamorous personas for actors.
Gamson 1994; Marshall 1997; Giles 2000; Turner, Marshall and Bonner 2000; Rojek 2001; Turner 2004) have instead dealt with the idea of a pervasive, contemporary, ‘celebrity culture’.” In the analysis of the celebrity culture, “fame and its constituencies are conceived of as a broader social process, connected to widespread economic, political, technological and cultural developments.” In the 1980s and 1990s, entertainment companies began using stars for a range of publicity tactics including press releases, movie junkets, and community activities. These promotional efforts are targeted and designed using market research, to increase the predictability of success of their media ventures.
Among them, Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan,Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth, Aishwarya Rai, Hrithik Roshan, Kamal Hassan, Chiranjeevi, Dr.Raj Kumar, Vishnuvardhan, Mohanlal and Mammootty are arguably the most popular movie stars in Southern Asia. A person can, within the limits of his natural talents, make himself strong or swift or learned.
Dorothy Janis, Barbara Kent, and Mickey Rooney are the last surviving stars from the silent era, Gloria Stuart, Maureen O Hara, Joan Fontaine and sister Olivia De Havilland are the last main 1930s actresses, and Lauren Bacall, Jane Russell, Esther Williams, Jennifer Jones , Lizabeth Scott, Doris Day, Elizabeth Taylor, Kirk Douglas and Kathryn Grayson are some of the last from the 1940s. They developed a star system as a means of promoting and selling their movies.
As the demand increased, they began publicizing the names of their leading women and men, and bill them in the credits of their movies, such as (in the USA) Florence Lawrence, referred to as the “first movie star”, who was previously known only as the “Biograph Girl”, because she worked for Biograph Studios, and the “IMP Girl” because she worked for the Independent Moving Pictures Company, and Mary Pickford, who was previously known as “Little Mary”. By 1909, IMP began promoting their “picture personalities”, such as Florence Lawrence and King Baggot, by giving them billing/credits and a marquee. Promotion in advertising led to the release of stories about these personalities to newspapers and fan magazines as part of a strategy to build “brand loyalty” for their company s actors and films.
A movie star is someone who is involved in the industry of entertainment. The most widely known, prominent or successful actors are sometimes called “superstars” by writers and journalists.
In some cases, publicity agents may create “provocative advertisements” or make an outrageous public statement to trigger public controversy and thereby generate “free” news coverage. The term may also apply to an actor or actress who is recognized as a marketable commodity and whose name is used to promote a movie in trailers and posters.
