Midterm Multimedia Assignment

Richard Dyer argues that star images are complex; they can reaffirm the values and ideologies of mainstream culture AND reveal contradictions in, anxieties about, and alternatives to those norms.  For this assignment you will work with another student to create a multimedia midterm project that addresses the many layers of a particular star’s text.  Your project will take the form of a 3-5 minute video that begins from one of the prompts below. You will also write a 2-3 page critical analysis of your piece, evaluating its success in communicating your central goals and ideas. You should post your project to the blog by noon on Friday, March 5 and turn in your critical analysis on Monday March 8.

Use one of the prompts below to explore “complexity, contradiction, and difference” in the star text of one of the following actors: Rudolph Valentino, Joan Crawford, Mary Pickford, Christian Bale, John Wayne, Julia Roberts, Cary Grant, Bette Davis, or Jane Fonda.∗ Your analysis should be done with clips found on youtube or made from DVDs, along with text and voiceover analysis.

1. Examine the relationship between the star and the characters s/he plays. Some questions to consider: How do the signs of character (name, appearance, objective correlatives, speech, gestures, action etc.) convey the characters’ and, by extension, the star’s persona and personality? How is the character/star a product of the social and cultural issues of their time? Does the star/character belong to a social type or multiple social types (e.g. all American girl, the sacrificial mother, the hero)? What qualities contribute to the idea that the character/star is a unique individual? Does the character/star reinforce social norms or offer an alternative to them or both? How does s/he model modes of masculinity, femininity or sexuality? Is the star/character’s personality coherent, or does it exhibit qualities that contradict one another? Is there a perfect fit between star and character?

2. Create a new star text for the star – one that reads them “against the grain” of their surface appearance. This requires being familiar with how the star has been promoted by motion picture producers and read by critics and audiences and then reading and representing the star in a different way. You may find that the star’s image already contains the seeds of contradiction or you may want to completely change her/his star text. To accomplish this, you should use the materials that produce the star (their films, promotional ads, interviews etc.) and remix them through editing, and adding voiceovers and/or text. [Alternative option: you could make a star out of one of the supporting players in the star’s film – e.g. creating a star text for Eve Arden’s Ida or Butterfly McQueen’s Lottie in Mildred Pierce.]

Your project should do the following:
• Draw upon the course readings.
• Utilize the ideas raised in lectures and discussions.
• Explore the star in more detail than discussed in class.
• Utilize basic design skills taught in lab.
• Represent the work of two individuals working on a common vision.
• Creatively approach the topic.