Stars Exam Question

“Neither producers, nor audiences need stars anymore” How far do you agree with this statement? (40 Marks)

Throughout the history of film stars, it is far from implicit that we have seen a decline in the stars of the film actually mattering; however now it has shifted more towards to the plot of the film. Something stars once offered us, franchises can now offer us instead. Stars may have been important for the older generation of today due to the fact that they were the catalyst of entertainment moreover the fact that they grew up with watching them. Now for the younger generation, including myself, they are not so predominant.

One factor of the decline of film stars is that franchises that have a past established fan base already existing are their guaranteed audience. Regardless of who plays what in the film, the show must go on regardless of who plays which role. In the Harry Potter franchise, we saw the transition of Dumbledore’s character being played by two actors, firstly Richard Harris stared in the first two films, and for the rest Michael Gambon. The character still went onto be loved by the audience as the franchise still was a success as it made a worldwide gross of $700 million dollars. (according to the numbers.com for the Prisoner of Askaban)

Even though the decline of film stars is strong they are still being used to drive a films success. Angelina Jolie was casted as the new Disney princess, which is a guaranteed success no matter who it is. She was casted as the main character in the new franchise as she was needed to establish this new character in the film world. The character itself embodies a strong, tough and fierce independent women, something the character shares with the actress.