The Image of a Star

It is interesting to think that celebrities have outside lives from their roles in movies. Although their personal lives can be ordinary, our society has become obsessed with glamorizing the most little act to make it seem important. For example, it as heard everywhere when Chris Brown physically abused Rihanna. Although physical abuse is something serious, fan magazines and other trades do not give domestic violence the same attention when it happens to a regular citizen. Based on actions like these, the ones that are displayed to the public, celebrities begin forming an image in the eye of the people. Richard Dyer mentions in his book Stars that some of the categories that influence the creation of the image include fashion, love, marriage and sex. An overarching theme within these image-constructors is consumption. If we all look at fan magazines like People we can see Lady Gaga wearing a bizarre outfit, Katie Holmes buying a new designer outfit for Suri, or the story of Paris Hilton and her infamous sex tape. From these stories/pictures we can deduce that Lady Gaga is a fashion deviant, that Katie Holmes is a loving mother, and that Paris Hilton is a social/sexual rebel. Dyer mentions that, “The general image of stardom can be seen as a version of the American Dream, organised around the themes of consumption, success and ordinariness” (35). In other words, the reason we as a society pay attention to these types of stories is because deep inside we long for we are seeing; we create this image of stardom within ourselves for the people we see on the screen because they have the potential and resources to do what we want to do or consume.

This image construction of stardom has been an ongoing process in Hollywood. In the 1940’s Joan Crawford was given the image of a loving mother, playing roles like Mildred Pierce and adopting two children. This image construction reflected what society of the time wanted, a loving and united family, especially after the war. Although Crawford was the epitome of the motherly figure, it all came tumbling down. As Dyer mentions, stardom is known to sour the lives of celebrities, as we have seen contemporarily with Britney Spears and Tiger Woods. Joan Crawford was ‘outed’ by her own daughter, Christina Crawford in the film Mommie Dearest, where she explains how Joan Crawford abused her and her sibling by being a working mother in Hollywood. This can be up to personal interpretation as to it being a bad or good thing, but the point is that regardless of what your interpretation is, it will create an image about the star.

1. If we have different images and subcategories (rebel, independent women, etc.), what among society evolves these categories? What makes then change as time pass?