The Star System Response No. 1

Reading the “Seeing Stars” article by Janet Staiger in Stardom: Industry of Desire, it was really interesting to see how the studios, at first only the independents, created the star system as we now know it today. The star system was developed to generate larger revenues for the films that were being produced. I began to think about why this was, and as I went through the reading it became quite clear. Audiences watch a film and begin to identify with the main character. The main character is usually created to strike a chord with the audience and allows the audience to suspend all disbelief and get lost in the story. If the audience likes this particular character and the accompanying traits, then the audience will most likely begin to associate these traits with the actor who portrays this character. This was a big move for the studios as they could now feature someone the audience liked in one film, to help sell a new movie and a new story. Audiences would believe that this actor plays good characters in good movies, and ultimately decide that if they were in new movie, then it must be good too. It was interesting seeing Mary Pickford star in the shorts that were screened in class. You could totally see the conscious effort on the studio’s part of making the short films star vehicles for her. She was cute, innocent, and an all-around good ol’ American girl. She was someone who was vulnerable, one you can empathize with, and someone that you wanted to succeed. These are important qualities for a star, and the studio definitely found films that highlighted these qualities. Ever since Carl Laemmle promoted Florence Lawrence which led to the formation of the star system, there has been this obsession with stars that has gone beyond the stratosphere of the movie industry.

Questions

Why do you think public recognition would amount to star demands of bigger salaries?

In modern culture, is the star more important than the movies/television shows they star in?

What would the movie industry look like today without the star system?