Stars

“Films stars are not important to audiences or producers anymore.”

In modern cinema and television, it would seem as though stars are becoming less and less significant. There are several reasons that contribute towards this decline in importance;

The first, and possibly most profound, is the recent boom in popularity of film franchises. The majority of the top 10 highest grossing films (domestic box office) of 2015 were all parts of franchises – producers are creating more sequels than ever before. This is mostly because audiences are able to indulge in a pre-existing universe, and to involve themselves in the canon of the story; this kind of narrative exploration would not be possible with stand alone films, and certainly not stand alone films that rely on stars as a selling point. Another reason franchises are increasingly popular is because they tend to be the safest option – audiences were more likely to watch a film based on a pre-existing universe than to watch a story from a brand new one as it was more familiar. To that end, Robert Downey Jr, famous for playing the role of Tony Stark in the Iron Man franchise, has become a ‘star’ in his own respect – he is renown for playing Tony Stark, or Iron Man, and is now typecast to that role. What stars used to offer, be it ideological affirmation or other needs, is now offered by franchises.

Additionally, audiences have now become more interested in characters over the star that plays the role. Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the highest grossing film of 2015, and the second highest grossing film globally, cast an actress who had never acted in cinema before – Daisy Ridley. This in itself proves that stars are not a selling point to audiences, much like they used to be, and that, instead, good character development is much more significant.

Furthermore, the generation gap lends a hand to the decline in star power. Stars were far more important in the pre-1990’s, and this was because films were much newer and weren’t as interactive (so to speak) as they are nowadays. Films, upon their origin, relied very heavily on film stars, and well known actors and actresses would be cast for certain types of films (a prime example of this would be Charlie Chaplin.) Audiences were drawn to these films as the familiarity aspect, in addition to the reputation that had been built around these stars, were great selling points.

This sort of attitude continued even into more recent films, with action stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger (Arnie) and Sylvester Stallone selling to audiences a great deal. However, this attitude soon plummeted when the gimmick of having familiar actors ran dry. This is why star driven films will tend to sell more towards older generations; not only are the newer generations far more cynical than the latter, but older generation was brought up in a time when film stars were something that drove films into Number 1. This, obviously, is no longer the case.

Another important reason to address would be the lack of privacy that stars now have, thanks to the increase in popularity of social media and paparazzi. It is much easier to access the personal lives of stars now than it used to be because of sites such as Twitter and Facebook. As cynical as it is, this sense of personality and identity that is added to the stars removes a part of their uniqueness – it makes audiences see them as a person rather than an item to be idolised. This sort of accessibility was not available to audiences when films were more of a modern concept, and so it is evident that there is a correlation/causation between the increase of social media and decline in star power.

On the note of paparazzi, however, it can be proven that knowing more about the star is both a negative for audiences and producers alike. For example, when word was released about Arnie’s affair, or of Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitism, their popularity completely declined. This is supported by the fact that Mel Gibson, in widely popular films such as Braveheart and Lethal Weapon, is scarcely seen in film anymore. Access to star’s personal lives could be argued to be partially responsible for the decline in star power.

Outside of this, however, there are several additional reasons in the decline of star importance. One of these reasons is home entertainment; since the late 90’s, television dramas and other mediums have completely evolved to form a new, complex alternative to films. Shows like Game Of Thrones offer hundreds of hours of entertainment in comparison to the equivalent of two or three hours in a cinematic experience in film. For this reason, films have to compete with television shows, and star power alone cannot surpass this sort of complex narrative.

-Video Games

-Alternative home entertainment

-Star Directors; Interstellar (Christopher Nolan)

-Angelina Jolie – Malifecent

-Expendables

-The Revenant