The Origins of the Film Star System: Persona, Publicity and Economics in Early Cinema (International Library of the Moving Image)

Description

Drawing on a wide range of archival sources, Andrew Shail traces the emergence of film stardom in Europe and North America in the early 20th century. Modifying and supplementing Richard deCordova's account of the birth of the US star system, Shail describes the complex set of economic circumstances that led film studios and actors to consent to the adoption of a star system. He then explores the film industry's turn, from 1908, to making character-based series films. He details how these characters both prefigured and precipitated the star system, demonstrating that series characters and the 'firmament' of film stars are functionally equivalent, and shows how openly fictional characters still provide the model for 'real' film stars. Title Page Copyright Page Contents Acknowledgements Copyright Acknowledgements A Note on Referencing Acronyms Introduction Stars, Celebrities, Star Systems Film Performance Systemic Anonymity Crediting versus Publicity Impediments A Word on Structure Incentives Part 1: A New Run at the Story Chapter 1: Europe Chapter 2: North America A Baby and Some Bathwater An Industry A Campaign Chapter 3: What Happened Next? A Note on Maxing Max The Red Rooster Chapter 4: Causality Common Factors Clues Part 2 Another Run atthe Story Chapter 5: The Series Character The Character-Based Series: “A New Departure in Film Production”2 Motives for Adoption Influences Exhibition and Audiences A New Backdrop Chapter 6: The Series Character and the Star System Consistency of impersonation Individualising characteristics Comedy Stardom disguised as industrial authorship Anonymous identification A major cause Redundancy A: Functional Equivalence Redundancy B: Rendering Extraneous Chapter 7: The Ontology of Film Stardom The star persona as the descendant of the series character The star persona as cinematic fiction “just a mask you’re forced to wear” Modelling film stardom Conclusion Conclusion Works Cited Index