How might an actor or an actress be defined critically and/or theoretically as a ‘cult’ figure? For this essay I will be discussing what makes an actor/actress a cult figure. I will be discussing the differences between a normal star and a Cult star and what has to happen for a certain actor/actress to become Cult. There are many different ways you can become a Cult actor/actress. The main ways that an actor/actress can become cult is when they get become mainstream and if the star dies tragically (Mathijs and Sexton, 2011), which I will be discussing, in more detail later on in this piece of writing. I will be using works from Richard Dyer, Kate Egan and Sarah Thomas, Forbes, Stephen Kruger, Warren Manger and Ernest Mathijs and Jamie Sexton to strengthen my argument and supply the essay with different people’s opinions. I will be using Mark Hamill as my case study for this essay …show more content…
They did this because everyone recognises Leonardo DiCaprio as an amazing actor, so they know that the film will be good because he is in it. Along side this Richard Dyer states that there is a paradox of becoming a star, as ‘a star is both ordinary and extraordinary’ (Dyer and McDonald, 1998). This means that a star must be normal like the rest of the world but at the same time they shouldn’t. A star must be slightly eccentric to stand out from the rest of the world but not too much, the best example of this I can think of is Johnny Depp. At the Mortdecai premiere in Leicester on the 19th January 2015 a fan shouts at him ‘Johnny, you bae!’
A celebrity is not a person known for his/her talent or achievement, but an individual recognized for his/her reputation created by the media. The phase of stardom is slippery, and media may choose to represent celebrities varying from exaggerated admiration to mockery. The three texts chosen, movie "Sunset Boulevard", feature article "Over the Hilton" and television show "Celebrity Uncensored Six" are texts presenting different perception of celebrities than their usual images - either corrupted by the encircling media, overloads oneself with self-indulgence, or just mocks celebrity in a broad spectrum. Such media items empower and impresses the audience by perceiving celebrities as people who pay the price of privacy to gain well knowness, signifying the vanity of stardom from the commonly accepted images.
The casting of both Leonardo DiCaprio and fresh-faced Claire Danes influence how the film is viewed. Baz Luhrmann is smart in using young, attractive characters to make the adaptation more appealing to a more adolescent
Clurman, Harold. “Actors-The Image of Their Era.” The Tulane Drama Review 4.3 (1960): 38-44. JSTOR.
For many of us “regular folk”, we dream of visiting California and seeing celebrities or even being one. We see Hollywood as a heaven or even a holy bubble that we all want to be in. This is not true for all, but it is for most. We as a society do not generally think of the negative impacts Hollywood and fame has on an individual. Carrie Fisher, with her wit, humor, and extreme honesty, takes us inside her life and gives us her insight on Hollywood based her upbringing. After going through multiple triumphs, tragedies, and revelations Fisher writes about it all in her book, Wishful Drinking, along with three other novels she has written. Now you see why I used the term “regular folk,” because Fisher is the opposite of a “regular folk.” Even
Dick, Bernard F. Radical Innocence: A Critical Study of the Hollywood Ten. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1989.
Many people might say that stars are merely a product of the Hollywood system needing to make a profit; Hollywood manufactures a product and creates the demand for it. A star's image is processed through advertisements and promotions and has little to do with what the audience wants and needs from entertainment. There is a widespread mentality that any Average Joe can become a star with enough resources backing him up. Richard Dyer points out, however, that even movies full of stars fail, and stars can and do fall out of fashion (12). A star's economic worth is not invulnerable to audiences' opinions. The audience isn't so easily controlled.
Mathijs, Ernest, and Jamie Sexton. "Chapter 6." Cult Cinema. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. N. pag. Print.
In Shohat and Stam’s article, Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the media (2013), they discuss the issue of racism within the media and entertainment industry, such as Hollywood films. More importantly, Shohat and Stam’s discuss the assertion of racial politics in casting within the Hollywood films industry. The interesting idea to their argument is that they suggest that for a film to become financially successful, the casting of the protagonist must consist of a white star as they are seen to be ethnically universal (Shohat & Stam, 190). They further suggest that the ethnic minority have been limited to designated roles which ultimately perpetuate their ethnic stereotype (Shohat & Stam, 190). They concern this issue by critically analysing and contrasting western Hollywood films against other ethnic films.
In his article Stars as a Cinematic Phenomenon, he used the ‘photo effect’ conception of Roland Barthes to examine the present/ absent paradox of stars. He proposed influential qualitative distinctions in between stardom in films and television. He argued that ‘Stars are incomplete images outside the cinema: the performance of the film is the moment of completion of images in subsidiary circulation, in newspapers, fanzines, etc. Further, a paradox is present in these subsidiary forms. The star is at once ordinary and extraordinary, available for desire and unattainable. This paradox is repeated and intensified in cinema by the regime of presence-yet-absence that is the filmic image’(1992). Therefore, the impractical mode of ‘this is was’ on nature of stardom ‘awakens a series of psychic mechanisms which involve various impossible images’, such as ‘the narcissistic experience of the mirror phase’(1992). Ellis then continued to indicate televisual stardom, which is more current or ‘immediate’ than cinematic fame. He argued that ‘What television does present is the “personality”. The personality is someone who is famous for being famous and is famous only in so far as he or she makes frequent television appearances… In some ways, they are the opposite of stars, agreeable voids rather than sites of conflicting meanings’. Ellis’ thesis definitely points out the differences between cinema and television fame, due to the multimedia and transmedia of current era implies a much more diverse and unpredictable relationship in between stars’ images in any kind of
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, while far from being the first film to gain a cult following among a marginalized audience, it is perfectly suited for use in a discussion on mainstream adoption of the cult sensibility; while once relegated to a small but dedicated following and ignored by practically everyone else for being a film of ‘low-culture,’ Rocky Horror has reached an apex of ‘high-culture,’ being selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry and additionally transcended cult-culture to exist within the dominant popular-culture. Rocky Horror is a textbook case of the dominant society enveloping cult-culture. In order to comprehend the track a cult film travels in its journey to acceptance by mainstream society,
According to Epstein, a celebrity is something or someone who can be talented and full of achievements and yet wish to broadcast ones fame further through the careful cultivation of celebrity, while one can be the total opposite of achievements and be less talented and yet still be made seem otherwise through the mechanics and dynamics of celebrity creation (Epstein2). Celebrity culture today is epidemic; some might agree that it is sweeping up America in a harmful way, while one might argue that it is beneficial to our society. Over the last few decades, celebrity and fame has changed dramatically, from Alexander the Great to Kim Kardashian. Talent and achievements no longer play a huge role when it comes to celebrities. “Much modern celebrity seems the result of careful promotion or great good looks or something besides talent and achievement” (Epstein2) with that being said celebrity-creation has blossomed into an industry of its own.... ...
Throughout our history, cults have become a prevalent part of our society. More and more cults are forming every day. Although not all of them are dangerous, some can perform practices that are toxic to their members. Cults use fear and control to gain more and more members. Once members join a cult, they are forced to perform the practices that the cult leaders require. It is through these practices that cult leaders convince their members to stay in the cult. Through mind control and scare tactics, cults have become a very powerful and dangerous part of our society.
Lyden, J. (2003). Film as religion: myths, morals, and rituals. New York, USA: NYU Press.
In today’s day and age we live in a society obsessed with celebrity culture. This however, is not a new addiction; our society’s fascination with celebrity culture has been around for decades. Through the years, we’ve seen fandom come in various forms, shapes and sizes. From the groupies of the 60s, to the more recent digital-followers, one thing common among all fans is the pedestal on which they’ve put their favorite celebrity. Some people would argue that fans are not only the most important part of a celebrity’s life, but fans are quintessential in their success. Fans admire them, follow their every move: physical or electronic, and purchase anything and everything that might bring them in looking/feeling more like their desired celebrity. Many experts even believe that fan and fan-clubs often resemble religions. One can easily note the similarities between fans and a religious cult; from worshipping to organizing conventions and event recruiting new followers. To some it might even sound like a disorder, and Dr. Lynn McCutcheon after her intense research, was the first one to coin the term: (CWS) Celebrity Worship Syndrome. According to Psychology Today, CWS can be described as a mental-disorder where an individual becomes completely obsessed with the details of the personal life of a celebrity (Griffiths). A celebrity, as defined by Mark Griffiths, can be any person who is present in the ‘public eye’, including Politicians, authors, and journalists, but according to Dr. McCutcheon research they are more likely to be someone from the world of television, film and/or pop music. Continuing on Justin Bieber’s ad campaign, this paper examines the peculiar relationship between consumers and God-like celebrity figures. It showcase...
Movie stars. They are celebrated. They are perfect. They are larger than life. The ideas that we have formed in our minds centered on the stars that we idolize make these people seem inhuman. We know everything about them and we know nothing about them; it is this conflicting concept that leaves audiences thirsty for a drink of insight into the lifestyles of the icons that dominate movie theater screens across the nation. This fascination and desire for connection with celebrities whom we have never met stems from a concept elaborated on by Richard Dyer. He speculates about stardom in terms of appearances; those that are representations of reality, and those that are manufactured constructs. Stardom is a result of these appearances—we actually know nothing about them beyond what we see and hear from the information presented to us. The media’s construction of stars encourages us to question these appearances in terms of “really”—what is that actor really like (Dyer, 2)? This enduring query is what keeps audiences coming back for more, in an attempt to decipher which construction of a star is “real”. Is it the character he played in his most recent film? Is it the version of him that graced the latest tabloid cover? Is it a hidden self that we do not know about? Each of these varied and fluctuating presentations of stars that we are forced to analyze create different meanings and effects that frame audience’s opinions about a star and ignite cultural conversations.