‘Neither producers nor audiences need film stars anymore’ How far do you agree with this statement?

Within recent years we have noticed that film stars have lost their power in the film industry, there are many reasons for this. It doesn’t mean that they are completely irrelevant, they just don’t have the same effect on the industry as they have done in years gone.

One reason for this will be the ever-expanding industry we see today Hollywood for example is a lot larger than it used to be, producing a huge amount of films all year round. This means that many of the films are huge blockbusters in which usually huge film stars would appear yet because of the huge amount being produced not all are available. This results a lot of open spaces for actors looking to make a name for themselves to fill. This means that a huge blockbuster could star a big actor, not a huge star meaning the huge star isn’t dominating by taking the main roles in the biggest films. This has played out over the past 10 years roughly, pushing out the big name film stars, leaving them as actors or stars of the past.

We have also noticed that these actors have been given the chances they have due to the growth of franchises within the film industry, the franchises put more focus on the character rather than the actor, meaning the actor has to fit the character rather than the role. This leads to actors being tied into franchises for years and playing this one character rather than have a ‘typecast’. An example of this is Robert Downey Jr in ‘The Avengers’ and ‘Ironman’ films, since his role as Tony Stark in the first ‘Ironman’ film (2008) there has been very little roles he has played other than Tony Stark. This is because he is now known as Tony Stark, and with the expanded universes that come along with franchises; he is now the face of Tony Stark. In video games, fan fiction etc. Not only do franchises turn actors into characters, they give actors very little freedom to explore various roles in the industry, making it hard for them to make a name for themselves in certain genres and in various roles. Audiences care more about how well the character is portrayed rather than how well the actor fits the role. This is leaving stars less valuable as they may come and go but the characters are ever lasting and can be found in many different types of media text due to the expanding franchises and universes. With franchises leading the box office they are earning lots of money, the film industry being an industry production companies are looking to make money.

Another factor to support this statement is the increase and evolution of video games. Video games have become very interactive, complex and long. This meets the needs of the ever more demanding consumers of the media, audiences are becoming a lot more intelligent and require a lot more challenging and complex media texts to be involved in. Many video games today act as a substitute to film as the story lines have become extremely interactive and very drawn out. Gameplay can go up to one hundred hours plus, with gamers being able to make their own choices with various outcomes it is just like having a film you can take control of. Also with the long story lines and gameplay, bonds can be created between consumer and character and be a lot stronger than a films characters as they are restricted to at most three hours. This means that many people don’t wait all year to see their favourite star in a 2-hour film, they wait a year to interact with their favourite characters in a one hundred hour, interactive story. Again this is reinforcing the point that characters mean more to the consumer than the actor themselves.

Linking in with video games are TV series. TV series have become very popular as they have large budgets and have become very visually appealing and along with new 4K, 3D TVs audiences can get a cinematic experience at home with a TV series. An example of this is the series 'Game Of Thrones', the budget per episode is roughly $6 million. This money is very well spent as it creates a very interesting and visually stunning programme week in week out that gets a lot of views and creates a lot of revenue. This links in with video games as the bond between audience and character is built up over a long period of time, making the bonds stronger and with the intelligent audiences of today they expect and want more, so an in depth very drawn out story will appeal to an audience more. So if you put together the complex very long stories and the visuals of cinema you have a product movies cant compete with. This then makes film stars less important as the audience care more for the character and film stars are stars of film not TV.

Social Media has become a huge part of todays society, this means that audiences can follow their favourite stars everyday. This gives audiences an insight on a star's personal life, this means that audiences get to see their favourite stars when they aren't on screen or at movie premiers were they are looking glamorous. This takes away the power that they hold as they become an everyday person in the eyes of the audience, they no longer hold this super human, super star status that has been given to them in the past. Stars have just become actors, same as every other actor in the business. This means that audiences wont go to the cinema and see their favourite stars in the same way they used to, making them less likely to actually go the cinema to see the stars.

In the modern era of cinema star directors have become huge due to how complex films have become, because audiences expect more films have become a lot more complex and this means it takes a lot more talent and skill to make a successful film. This is where our star directors step in, no longer does it mean a big name actor can make a save a film, a big name director can make one. This means the audience is satisfied and the production company make profit, making them very satisfied. Big names such as Spielberg, Scorsese, Tarantino, Nolan etc. have essentially made cinema what it is today, creating visually stunning and perfect films, putting their styles onto remakes, cinematic interpretations of books etc. In the same way actors are typecast, directors are also seeing this happen to them in its own way. Audiences will be attracted to a film due to who is directing because the quality of the cinematic experience is decided by the director and if a certain directors style doesn't fit the film it isn't likely to be appealing. For example Tim Burton creating a film based on a Dr. Seuss book wouldn't exactly fit.

Due to the huge production budgets of films these days the production company will try to earn as much money from the film as possible, this means reaching out to international audiences. Franchises are helping with this a lot as they are well known and will appeal to a huge international audience. So having to appeal to international audiences means that big stars wont be known in foreign countries which deems them useless as they wont bring in a huge revenue single handedly. For example a film that stars Tom Cruise wont be very appealing in India as they wont know who he is so his star power is automatically decreased. This happens to all stars as characters will be the known ones out of the two, for example Robert Downey Jr is most likely known as Iron Man/Tony Stark in foreign countries. This means that directors wont go spending a large amount of the budget on a huge star if they wont bring in revenue based on their star power. An example of this is in the new Star Wars film, Harrison Ford is no longer a part of the franchise were as Daisy Ridley is the new star, this will save Disney roughly $12 Million in wages. Replacing stars with simple actors who resemble characters will save money and reach out to a bigger international audience.

In recent years we have seen the demise of stars within the film industry, this may have something to do with the younger audiences. With each generation film stars have become less and less powerful within the film industry. This may be due to the ever smarter audiences, with the audiences being more intelligent and expecting more, we want to see how well an actor plays a character rather than seeing a big name actor play their usual role. Also with the younger audiences there is a huge increase in the use of social media, and having stated before social media makes stars mortal and decreases their star value. Younger audiences just don't see stars in the same way generations before have. This may also link in with the ever expanding industry, with a lot more stars its hard to decide who the biggest is and who your favourite is as so many come and go so quickly.

Stars may also restrict a films success. This is linked into the point of reaching out to international audiences. Due to a stars typecast they may not be able to move across into other roles or genres. So when they do it may be seen as strange and an example of this is Will Smith playing a villain in 'Suicide Squad', it has already received mixed views across the internet. This means some audiences may not like the idea and may not go and see the film or give the film bad publicity, and having seen what bad publicity can do do a film in the case of 'Batman and Robin (1997)' and Harry Knowles' review that can be catastrophic to a films success. Also the use of certain ethnic actors can result in a small amount of success in foreign countries. For example John Boyega was taken off the poster in China so that it wouldn't restrict the amount of views it got due to his ethnicity.