Hollywood's Biggest Stars
Where do Hollywood’s biggest stars come from? Why do we consider them to be the top of the many actors and actresses that show up in movies every month? Is their success and popularity the public’s doing, or does it stem from somewhere else, somewhere like Hollywood itself? I‘d say the latter is as probable as the former.
Let us take Julia Roberts for example. Certainly not the most beautiful of all of Hollywood’s actresses, what makes Julia Roberts so special in the minds of Americans? Is it her humongous mouth, her toothy grin, or those “Pretty Woman” legs of hers, which by the way were not her own in the movie? No. It is a certain image that Hollywood and its circle of cooperating tabloids and media
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This is exactly what Hollywood wants people to do. By creating a semblance of great gossip and hype about an actor, and exploiting the curious nature of humans, the film industry jump-starts a real social craze and a heightened regard for one of its money-producing minions who could very well have been just another face in the crowd the previous month. It is not the public that “discovers” great performers, but rather the industry that packages its plain gray stones into shimmering nuggets of “gold”.
In other words, those who fall under Hollywood’s advertisement spell are analogous to the emperor who fell prey to the trick played on him by the fake, thieving tailors: “A beautiful and majestic set of robes we are weaving and creating for you, your majesty. Only a fool would not be able to see the breathtaking colors of the special fabric we are producing on this loom for your brilliant costume! By the way, please bring us more gold and silver so that we may purchase additional dyes and threads to continue making the cloth.” Like the emperor, we supply the funds for making bigger “stars”, and when a new star is introduced, not enough people want to go against the seemingly popular opinion to overturn the pre-created Hollywood façade. Eventually, as time wears on, and as more and more people buy into the image that has been created for the new face in
First, Hollywood’s star system can be effective promoting of the studio. The studio has a stable number of audiences which were the fans of studio’s movie stars. Star system is a way that sustains successful movie star’s popularity. These studios tried to give similar roles to those movie stars and suit their public image. For an example, Don Lockwood, who was a male main character in the Singin’ in the Rain, was a successful silent movie star in the film. He acted as a handsome, charming and young star who was dreamboat of the female audiences. Don’s studio always gives a similar role to him such as a hero who saves a princess in The Dueling Cavalier. And the fans were following
Hollywood is a very powerful modern day institution, where a star's image can characterize, shape and circulate societal myths and ideologies. The construction of a star's image as a commodity of their societal myths and ideologies has the extraordinary power to exert messages so that even the smallest details become significant yet not overtly obvious. How a star's image is produced and then consumed can justify a society's relationship with that image and therefore aid in explaining the social construction of what society deems as their 'reality'. A star's image is created through a range of representations churned out by Hollywood. Capitalism from the commercialization of these images has made Hollywood the dominant force it is
The Revolutionary war, sparked by the colonist's anger towards taxation without representation, was a conflict between the United States and its mother country Great Britain. This event had been considered the most significant event in the American history. It separated the thirteen colonies from the tyrannical ruling of King George. The revolutionary war was not a big war, "The military conflict was, by the standards of later wars, a relatively modest one. Battle deaths on the American side totaled fewer than 5,000"1. However, the war proved that the thirteen colonies were capable of defeating the powerful Great Britain. Over the years there were many Hollywood films made based on the revolutionary
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” is a question that children get asked quite frequently. Most of the time, a child aims big and chooses an extravagant career, like an astronaut, a police officer, or a doctor. Obviously, it is impossible for a child to obtain one of those jobs at such a young age. However, acting in Hollywood is a possible career for a child. If a child is talented enough to be a star, then why not let them pursue their passion? While the life of being an actor in Hollywood seems like a dream to most children, fame comes with many terrible obstacles for some stars. Over the years, there has been a large debate on whether or not acting in Hollywood as a child is as picture-perfect as it seems. Hollywood is filled with tons of secrets. Why should a child be put into such an untrustworthy environment? Acting in Hollywood is in no way safe for children.
Even though a vast majority of us wish that it was possible to turn back the hands of time and change or rewrite history. However, the truth of the matter is that we simply cannot. Everything happens for a reason, and we should learn to accept it. Accept it for what it is, rather than what we would like it to be.
Film makers use many historical events to spark up and idea for a movie. One historical event that is commonly used is war. One advantage a film maker has when using war as a movie plot is that there is already a lot of drama in war. This may seem like a good advantage for the film maker, however focusing on all of the drama of war leaves much of the actual info. When watching a war movie, you may feel like you have an understanding about the war, but when you really compare a war movie to an actual war you find that there is a lot of factual information left out. One may ask why would directors and film makers leave out the facts of war and focus on the drama? After reading The Faces of Battle by John Keegan and reviewing war movies
She breaks all the images of American standard of beauty such as being physically pretty. She
The Golden Age of Hollywood was a time when Hollywood hit its peak successfully and economically, starting with the late 1920s, and met its decline due to corruption in the late 1950s. One would ask the question: “Where did the name Hollywood come from?” The name came from Harvey Henderson Wilcox and his wife, Daeida, who were owners of a small ranch west of Los Angeles. According to u-s-history.com, “Daeida, who, while on a train trip east met a woman that described her country home in Ohio, that had been named for the Dutch settlement of Hollywood. Liking the name, Daeida christened their ranch 'Hollywood,' upon her return.” (History of Hollywood, California) Movies during this time period became a vital form of entertainment for all Americans during this time period. By the 1910s, Hollywood was combined into its neighboring city Los Angeles, and many motion-picture studios began to open. Moviemakers rushed to Hollywood, and competition started to become widespread between directors and producers. By 1910, the first motion picture was made in Hollywood, titled In Old California, and soon enough, Los Angeles became second to New York in producing films also because of it’s quintessential weather for movies to be made in all year long during this time. As Hollywood began to industrialize, filmmakers began to work on the image of a “star”; they would continuously use these highly-paid actors in order to achieve a form of comfort for the general audience of the movies. Seeing
A celebrity is not a person known for his/her talent or achievement, but an individual recognized for his/her reputation created by the media. The phase of stardom is slippery, and media may choose to represent celebrities varying from exaggerated admiration to mockery. The three texts chosen, movie "Sunset Boulevard", feature article "Over the Hilton" and television show "Celebrity Uncensored Six" are texts presenting different perception of celebrities than their usual images - either corrupted by the encircling media, overloads oneself with self-indulgence, or just mocks celebrity in a broad spectrum. Such media items empower and impresses the audience by perceiving celebrities as people who pay the price of privacy to gain well
According to Richard Maltby (2003) commercial aesthetic is used to describe Hollywood’s aesthetics system, driven as it is by the existence of entertainment as a commercial commodity. From this perspective, Hollywood’s most profound significance lies in its ability to turn pleasure into a product we can buy. An understanding of Hollywood’s commercial aesthetic requires a consideration of both the formal conventions of Hollywood movies and the external social and cultural pressures that regulate movies as products of a system of mass production and distribution (pp. 580-581). Each Hollywood movie is best implicated as an 'opportunist ' congregation of unalike 'elements ' as reasoned out by Maltby. In order to best mollify the (perceived) market-place at a particular point in time these rudiments are transported together by producers and production companies.
“I really started dreaming... and broke out of my shyness when I got to Howard University. My first acting class was an Intro to Acting class with Professor Bay, who really broke me out of my shell, encouraged me to follow my dreams and make them a reality” (Gross). I’m going to talk about how to open the door of show business into Hollywood and show you how to potentially reach success. Many talented actors don’t succeed in show business because they forget the first rule: show business is a business. So what I’m going to tell you here briefly covers the business details behind the world of film, television, and theatre. In order to better understand your role in the larger scheme of show business, you need to understand the wants and needs of the wealthiest people in the industry. The business of acting is simple. You help others make money, and they’ll help you make money. But first, you need to figure out how show business really works.
As the need for entertainment grows, so does the vice of stardom. We have seen the wreck some stars have made of their lives, addicted to the attention Hollywood brings. And from it came also such classics as Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, and Juno. One thing is for certain; Hollywood studios is the name that carried the movie industry from the drawing board to a the big
A state in which the mind is elevated above the reach of ordinary impressions, unconscious of sensible objects, and under the influence of overpowering emotions celebrities find irresistible and enticing. Celebrities distinguish themselves in such ways that others admire and want to emulate. Celebrities are worthy of imitation; "everyone needs a role model". The immense amount of drug usage that celebrities, athletes, professionals, and politicians take part in has improved society in countless ways and will continue to do so if everyone emulates these social icons.
Hollywood has influenced American history since it began. It boosted and shaped the morale of a nation for almost a century. But Hollywood has not only been the influencing American society, it has been influenced by American society. In the 1920s, American society was booming; people were getting rich, spending and borrowing money, and they thought life was looking good. Then in October of 1929 the stock market crashed. Many people lost all they owned. People had invested all their money into the banks before the Crash. After the Crash, the banks had nothing. People were destitute. They had no money to pay for their houses, electrical bills, and food. It became the Great Depression. Likewise, Hollywood was impacted by the Great
A star’s image is a concept carefully molded by the celebrity himself or herself with the aid of many factors such as audience reception and current ideological trends. Star image, by definition, given by O’Shaughnessy and Stadler, is “the qualities, ideals, and values that a star represents, based on their films and other performances, and on media information circulated about them” (430). A change of star image encompasses the sum of everything we, as in the audience, affiliate with that star. That means changing the star’s body of work, promotion, publicity, and audience practices. These factors put together is also known as star text (Professor Josh Jackson, September 8, 2016, University of California, Berkeley). Jennifer Lawrence had a particular star text before she took on the role of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games and was instead known for her role of Ree Dolly in Winter’s Bone. This new role launched Lawrence into a different star text she was previously known for. Though it seemed like the change is solely based on her landing an already popular role, the change in her star text is still calculated in order for her to maintain a certain image that landed her at the top of the celebrity social ladder. This careful manipulation of a celebrity’s image as she takes on a role that guaranteed a big impact on her acting career demonstrates how a star’s image is important when it comes to maintaining what the celebrity, and everyone who is working with that