SSC Film Studies

“Neither producers nor audience need stars anymore”

 How far do you agree with this statement?

In modern society the star like appeal has dwindled; they are seen to have less power over the audience as a mass and that’s simply because there is so much more to offer. A film star according to William Goldman is simply; “someone who can reliably open a movie at number one” meaning there casting in the film will simply affect the films success. Nowadays films can no longer be described as ‘self contained entities’ and instead are described as part of an expansive and varied universe. Back in the 80s and 90s Cinemas where driven by star power – people such as Arnold Schwarzenegger could drive an audience in as he had became typecast into certain role – the casting of such was simply to ‘help’ attract an audience and increase profits.

Films such as commando and others reflected the nature of what was happening in society currently; Arnold played the hero and single handedly took on masses of enemies – each relating to the current social situation. At the time of the film Commando’s release (1985) America was at conflict with South America; showing this is the fact that the film is set in South-America where Arnold is seen as the hero invading and reinforcing many American ideologies. Continuously playing similar roles brought each film starring Arnold success; until the star appeal dwindled and many other factors influenced films; stars couldn’t single handedly sell films anymore.

The decline of the importance for a star is impacted by the rise of franchises; they are seen to offer the audience a greater, more demanding experience due to the nature of the cinematic experience expanding outside the cinema; the film/franchise is expanded to be involved with many aspects of the audience’s life. Merchandise is produced and being the materialistic society we are its consumed by many members of the audience satisfying both the producers and consumers. An example of this would be the harry potter franchise; the majority of its audience being around the age of the casting members themselves, as it was an ongoing franchise (being seven films) the audience grew up with Harry Potter, experiencing what he went through at a similar age, making each film relatable to the audience (through themes etc) disregarding the obvious fantasy and magic. Franchises are seen to highlight certain social experiences, which are important to filmgoers, it could become a tradition to go see each consecutive film with the same group of peers/friends or even family.

There has been a decline in the need for a star, as over the years there has increasingly more ways to consume media; things such as Netflix offer countless hours of ‘series’ of which the audience can enjoy at a prolonged time and at anytime they want; giving them countless hours of enjoyment. Home entertainment has obviously been a big factor in the decline for the need for stars as things such as Netflix and video games offer the audience a much longer and complex pass time; as well as allowing the audience to become more active they both simply offer much more choice to the audience.  Similar influences could be simplistic things such as the evolution of television; shows have became more complex and intriguing, others simply being people using there phones in cinema viewings ruining the cinematic experience to an extent they would now rather watch television/series.

Franchises have two main appeals about them; they are simplistic in a way as nearly every franchise is similar with a few altercations; allowing them to continuously meet audience expectations and the fact that they can appeal to a global/international audience – the best example of this being Transformers; being filmed in China gave the film a great deal of success as it attracted many Asian/Chinese audience members. An actor with a star appeal didn’t lead the film; the simplicity and themes explored attracted many viewers; Clearly shown through the film Transformers being the top grossing film of 2014. 

 It is argued that franchises offer everything that a film star could give to the film; the factual evidence of this being the obvious rise in top grossing films all being part of a franchise with the exception of the film The Revenant casting arguably one of societies biggest film stars – Leonardo Di’Caprio topped box office sales kicking star wars of the top spot, obviously showing that the star-like appeal is somewhat relevant in extreme cases and people such as Leonardo and Jennifer Lawrence.

Christine Gledhill – stars as

More in depth of star qualities and how they reinforce ideological perspectives.

Sleeper curve theory