How important are 'Stars' to Audiences and Producers?

How important are 'Stars' to Audiences and Producers?

In this essay I will be writing about how stars are important to audiences and producers.

The idea of stars is important to audiences, especially the concept of 'Star Appeal'. This is the idea that film stars are the main selling point of a film. For example, fans of Leonardo DiCaprio would be attracted to any picture he would be starring in. They would go and watch the film despite hearing any bad reviews because of their reverence for DiCaprio. This shows the importance of stars because they determine what films the audience would pay to watch.

Stars are also important to the audience because of their images. We as an audience are fascinated by their lives, especially when they go wrong. Celebrities such as Charlie Sheen have gain infamy from their wild and hedonistic behavior, filled with alcohol consumption, drug use and various women.  The more the media report about their love of living excessively and how they flaunt their opulent lifestyles make them more renowned and adds to our interests.

To audiences, stars also are important. We are jealous and enamored by their rich images. We will consume many media texts to lap up their construct of lavish money. This is because we use them as an escape from our mundane lives filled with normality. Stars are furthermore incredibly important as we cannot go anywhere without seeing them endorsing products, from cosmetics to kitchen appliances. We as consumers feel compelled, linking in to Star Appeal, to buy products our favorite star promotes. This shows how stars use their importance to dictate the choices their audiences make when they but things.

Producers view stars as important for many things. One example is that casting a credited star in your feature creates security. This is financially important as if a reliable star with a respected reputation people would have trust in it and be more likely to see it. Producers also view stars as importance because of the publicity they bring to films they feature in. For example when Christian Bale verbally assaulted a crewmember on the set of Terminator: Salvation, the case attracted a vast amount of media attention. This brought more notoriety to the film, which in turn made more people go and see it, creating large box office revenue. Stars are also important to producers because of their already established fan base. This allows producers to almost exploit their star’s appeal for commercial gain.

In conclusion, stars and celebrities are important to both producers and audiences. This can be either because of business and personal reason, but without them cinema wouldn’t have the same impact on our lives.