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The Stars in Our Eyes: The Famous, the Infamous, and Why We Care Way Too Much About Them
by Julie KlamFrom bestselling author Julie Klam comes a lively and engaging exploration of celebrity: why celebrities fascinate us, what it means to be famous today, and why celebrities are so important. “When I was young I was convinced celebrities could save me,” Julie Klam admits in The Stars in Our Eyes, her funny and personal exploration of fame and celebrity. As she did for subjects as wide-ranging as dogs, mothers, and friendship, Klam brings her infectious curiosity and crackling wit to the topic of celebrity. As she admits, “I’ve always been enamored with celebrities,” be they movie stars, baseball players, TV actors, and now Internet sensations. “They are the us we want to be.” Celebrities today have a global presence and can be, Klam writes, “some girl on Instagram who does nude yoga and has 3.5 million followers, a thirteen-year-old ‘viner,’ and a Korean rapper who posts his videos that are viewed millions of times.” In The Stars in Our Eyes, Klam examines this phenomenon. She delves deep into what makes someone a celebrity, explains why we care about celebrities more than ever, and uncovers the bargains they make with the public and the burdens they bear to sustain this status. The result is an engaging, astute, and eye-opening look into celebrity that reveals the truths about fame as it elucidates why it’s such an important part of life today.
Stars, Fans, And Consumption In The 1950s
by Sumiko HigashiAs the leading fan magazine in the postwar era, Photoplay constructed female stars as social types who embodied a romantic and leisured California lifestyle. Addressing working and lower-middle class readers who were prospering in the first mass consumption society, the magazine published not only publicity stories but also beauty secrets, fashion layouts, interior design tips, recipes, advice columns, and vacation guides. Postwar femininity was constructed in terms of access to commodities in suburban houses as the site of family togetherness. As the decade progressed, however, changing social mores regarding female identity and behavior eroded the relationship between idolized stars and worshipful fans. When the magazine adopted tabloid conventions to report sex scandals like the Debbie-Eddie-Liz affair, stars were demystified, and fans became scandalmongers. But the construction of female identity based on goods and performance that resulted in unstable, fragmented selves remains a legacy evident in postmodern culture today.
Stars and Stardom in Brazilian Cinema
by Lisa Shaw Tim Bergfelder João Luiz VieiraDespite the recent explosion of scholarly interest in "star studies," Brazilian film has received comparatively little attention. As this volume demonstrates, however, the richness of Brazilian stardom extends well beyond the ubiquitous Carmen Miranda. Among the studies assembled here are fascinating explorations of figures such as Eliane Lage (the star attraction of São Paulo's Vera Cruz studios), cult horror movie auteur Coffin Joe, and Lázaro Ramos, the most visible Afro-Brazilian actor today. At the same time, contributors interrogate the inner workings of the star system in Brazil, from the pioneering efforts of silent-era actresses to the recent advent of the non-professional movie star.
Stars and Spies: The story of Intelligence Operations…
by Christopher Andrew Julius GreenA vastly entertaining and unique history of the interaction between spying and showbiz, from the Elizabethan age to the Cold War and beyond.'A treasure trove of human ingenuity' The TimesWritten by two experts in their fields, Stars and Spies is the first history of the extraordinary connections between the intelligence services and show business.We travel back to the golden age of theatre and intelligence in the reign of Elizabeth I. We meet the writers, actors and entertainers drawn into espionage in the Restoration, the Ancien Régime and Civil War America. And we witness the entry of spying into mainstream popular culture throughout the twentieth century and beyond - from the adventures of James Bond to the thrillers of John le Carré and long-running TV series such as The Americans.'Thoroughly entertaining' Spectator'Perfect...read as you settle into James Bond on Christmas afternoon.' Daily Telegraph
Stars and Silhouettes: The History of the Cameo Role in Hollywood (Contemporary Approaches to Film and Media Series)
by Joceline AndersenStars and Silhouettes: The History of the Cameo Role in Hollywood traces the history of the cameo as it emerged in twentieth-century cinema. Although the cameo has existed in film culture for over a century, Joceline Andersen explains that this role cannot be strictly defined because it exists as a constellation of interactions between duration and recognition, dependent on who is watching and when. Even audiences of the twenty-first century who are inundated by the lives of movie stars and habituated to images of their personal friends on screens continue to find cameos surprising and engaging. Cameos reveal the links between our obsession with celebrity and our desire to participate in the powerful cultural industries within contemporary society. Chapter 1 begins with the cameo’s precedents in visual culture and the portrait in particular—from the Vitagraph executives in the 1910s to the emergence of actors as movie stars shortly after. Chapter 2 explores the fan-centric desire for behind-the-scenes visions of Hollywood that accounted for the success of cameo-laden, Hollywood-set films that autocratic studios used to make their glamorous line-up of stars as visible as possible. Chapter 3 traces the development of the cameo in comedy, where cameos began to show not only glimpses of celebrities at their best but also of celebrities at their worst. Chapter 4 examines how the television guest spot became an important way for stars and studios to market both their films and stars from other media in trades that reflected an increasingly integrated mediascape. In Chapter 5, Andersen examines auteur cameos and the cameo as a sign of authorship. Director cameos reaffirm the fan’s interest in the film not just as a stage for actors but as a forum for the visibility of the director. Cameos create a participatory space for viewers, where recognizing those singled out among extras and small roles allows fans to demonstrate their knowledge. Stars and Silhouettes belongs on the shelf of every scholar, student, and reader interested in film history and star studies.
Starring Tom Cruise (Contemporary Approaches to Film and Media Series)
by Patrick O'Neill Sean Redmond Defne Tüzün Brenda R. Weber Sasha T. Goldberg Loraine Haywood Carlos Menéndez-Otero Sorcha Ní Fhlainn Linda Wight Alex Wade Tara Lomax Adam Daniel Ruth O'Donnell Glen Donnar Justin Owen Rawlins Associate Professor Michael DeAngelisStarring Tom Cruise examines how Tom Cruise’s star image moves across genres and forms as a type of commercial product that offers viewers certain pleasures and expectations. Cruise reads as an action hero and romantic lead yet finds himself in homoerotic and homosocial relationships that unsettle and undermine these heterosexual scripts. In this volume, editor Sean Redmond shows how important star studies is not just to understanding the ideological, commercial, and cultural significance of one star but to seeing how masculinity, ethnicity, sexuality, and commodity relations function in contemporary society. The volume is divided into three parts. Part 1 explores the ways that Cruise’s star image and performances are built on a desiring gaze, nearly always complicated by perverse narrative arcs and liminal character relationships. This section also explores the complex and contradictory ways he embodies masculinity and heterosexuality. Part 2 places Cruise within the codes and conventions of genre filmmaking and the way they intersect with the star vehicle. Cruise becomes monomythical, heroic, authentic, and romantic, and at the same time, he struggles to hold these formulas and ideologies together. Part 3 views Cruise as both an ageless totemic figure of masculinity who does his own stunts, as well as an aging star—his body both the conduit for eternally youthful masculinity and a signifier of that which must ultimately fail. These readings are connected to wider discursive issues concerning his private and public life, including the familial/patriarchal roles he takes on. Scholars writing for this collection approach the Cruise star image through various vectors and frames, which are revelatory in nature. As such, they not only demonstrate the very best traditions of close "star" textual analysis but also move the approach to the star forward. Students, scholars, and readers of film, media, and celebrity studies will enjoy this deep dive into a complex Hollywood figure.
Starring Red Wing!: The Incredible Career of Lilian M. St. Cyr, the First Native American Film Star
by Linda M. WaggonerThe epic biography Starring Red Wing! brings the exciting career, dedicated activism, and noteworthy legacy of Ho-Chunk actress Lilian Margaret St. Cyr vividly to life. Known to film audiences as &“Princess Red Wing,&” St. Cyr emerged as the most popular Native American actress in the pre-Hollywood and early studio-system era in the United States. Today St. Cyr is known for her portrayal of Naturich in Cecile B. DeMille&’s The Squaw Man (1914); although DeMille claimed to have &“discovered the little Indian girl,&” the viewing public had already long adored her as a petite, daredevil Indian heroine. She befriended and worked with icons such as Mary Pickford, Jewell Carmen, Tom Mix, Max Sennett, and William Selig. Born on the Winnebago Reservation in 1884 and orphaned in 1888, she spent ten years in Indian boarding schools before graduating from the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1902. She married James Young Johnson, and in 1907 the couple reinvented themselves as the stage personas &“Princess Red Wing&” and &“Young Deer,&” performing in Wild West shows around New York and beginning their film careers. As their popularity grew, St. Cyr and Johnson decamped from the East Coast and helped establish the second motion picture company in Southern California, where Red Wing became a Native American leading lady in westerns until her career waned in 1917. After returning to the reservation to work as a housekeeper, she took her show on a two-year tour to educate the public about Native culture and lived out her life in New York, performing, educating, and crafting regalia.Starring Red Wing! is a sweeping narrative of St. Cyr&’s evolution as America&’s first Native American film star, from her childhood and performance career to her days as a respected elder of the multi-tribal New York City Indian Community.
Starring Peter and Leigh
by Susan Beth PfefferLeigh trades in her acting career to play a starring role in her own life Most people don't get to retire at age sixteen, but that's what Leigh is planning to do when she moves to Long Island to live with her mom and her new stepfather. Leigh has been acting all her life, most recently on a successful TV show, and she can't wait to be the kind of normal high school student she's only ever played on screen. For advice on playing the role of a normal teenager, Leigh turns to her new stepbrother, Peter. Peter has hemophilia, a medical condition that has kept him out of school for a while--but missing out on high school life has given him a good eye for what normal looks like. Together, they figure two outsiders can create one socially successful high school student. They might even be right. Peter is smart, wryly funny, and a good friend when he's not being a bad invalid. And Leigh knows she can do it--after all, acting is what she's good at. But the thing about acting is that at the end of the day you get to go back to being yourself, a luxury Leigh starts to think she might not have appreciated enough when she had it.
Starring Katy Duck (Katy Duck)
by Alyssa Satin Capucilli Henry ColeEveryone's favorite dancing duck is back in this Katy Duck adventure about conquering your fears. Everyone knows Katy Duck loves to dance. When Mr. Tutu tells Katy and her dance class about an upcoming recital, Katy can hardly wait! At last it's time to perform, but onstage Katy suffers from a case of stage fright! <p><p> "Tra-la-la. Gulp Gulp!" <p><p> Will Katy conquer her shyness and learn to dance in the spotlight?
Starring Jules #4: Starring Jules (third grade debut) (Starring Jules #4)
by Beth AinLights! Camera! Action! Jules is back to take center stage! Jules is a third grader at last! But so far, the reviews aren't good. Her new teacher makes her feel totally tongue-tied. Charlotte shows up on the first day wearing the one thing Jules really wants but will never get. And she already has homework-researching a famous person to become for the class wax museum project. But how will she decide who to be? Even worse, her after-school sitcom rehearsals are harder than ever-especially since the TV show is about to air for all the world to see. Jules needs to find her inner superstar if third grade is ever going to be a smash hit.
Starring Jules #4: Starring Jules (third grade debut)
by Beth AinLights! Camera! Action! Jules is back to take center stage!<P> Jules is a third grader at last! But so far, the reviews aren't good. Her new teacher makes her feel totally tongue-tied. Charlotte shows up on the first day wearing the one thing Jules really wants but will never get. And she already has homework-researching a famous person to become for the class wax museum project. But how will she decide who to be? <P> Even worse, her after-school sitcom rehearsals are harder than ever-especially since the TV show is about to air for all the world to see. Jules needs to find her inner superstar if third grade is ever going to be a smash hit.
Starring Jules #3: Starring Jules (super-secret spy girl) (Starring Jules #3)
by Beth AinLights! Camera! Action! Jules is back to take center stage!<P> School is out, and Jules is hitting the road! She's off to Montreal where she'll film her first ever movie, The Spy in the Attic. But that means no friends around on her birthday and no birthday party. And with only a hockey player and diva starlet as cast mates in a town where no one speaks her language, Jules is feeling awfully lonely. Good thing her best friend Elinor is sending super-secret spy missions to keep Jules busy. With a little stealth and a whole lot of gumption, she just might be able to turn her bummer summer into a blockbuster.
Starring Jules #2: Starring Jules (in drama-rama) (Starring Jules #2)
by Beth AinJules is back starring in another hilarious chapter book! Things I Didn't Know About Being on TV by Jules Bloom 1. Shooting a pilot does not mean what you think it means. 2. On TV, people live in mansions and have drivers! 3. You get to completely change who you are, which everyone but me thinks I can do. 4. You might have to miss the moving up play at school, which no one but me cares about. When Jules lands a role on a new TV show, she gets stuck choosing between taking part in her class moving up ceremony at school and shooting a sitcom. And that's only half the drama! With a quiet best friend who won't ever hoot and holler and an ex-best friend who may be moving to the burbs, Jules's insides are all mixed-up. She'll need a little bit of nerve and a whole lot of pizzazz if she wants to make it through the last month of second grade without turning into a drama queen!
Starring Jules #2: Starring Jules (in drama-rama)
by Beth AinJules is back starring in another hilarious chapter book!<P> Things I Didn't Know About Being on TV<P> by Jules Bloom<P> 1. Shooting a pilot does not mean what you think it means.<P> 2. On TV, people live in mansions and have drivers!<P> 3. You get to completely change who you are, which everyone but me thinks I can do.<P> 4. You might have to miss the moving up play at school, which no one but me cares about. <P> When Jules lands a role on a new TV show, she gets stuck choosing between taking part in her class moving up ceremony at school and shooting a sitcom. And that's only half the drama! <P> With a quiet best friend who won't ever hoot and holler and an ex-best friend who may be moving to the burbs, Jules's insides are all mixed-up. She'll need a little bit of nerve and a whole lot of pizzazz if she wants to make it through the last month of second grade without turning into a drama queen!
Starring Jules #1: Starring Jules (As Herself) (Starring Jules #1)
by Beth AinLights! Camera! Action! A hilarious chapter book debut from a fabulous new talent!<P> Things to Know About Me<P> by Jules Bloom<P> 1. I am a scrambled-eggs-and-chocolate-milk type person.<P> 2. I have an audition for a TV commercial (which would be great if I were a tall-icy-drink type person.)<P> 3. I am in between best friends right now.<P> 4. I am worried that the audition will be a disaster. (See #1 and #3!)<P> Jules doesn't want to ruin THE OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME, and she's willing to turn to anyone for help--even her know-it-all ex-best friend! If only that lovely new girl in class would turn out to be the new best friend of her dreams, maybe, just maybe, Jules will be ready for her close-up....
Starring Brian Linehan
by George AnthonyA behind-the-curtain look at the life and times of Canadian celebrity interviewer Brian Linehan by one of his oldest friends and intimates.Brian Linehan was one of seven children growing up in the shadow of the Dofasco steel plant where his father and brothers worked. At seven years old he fell in love with the movies and was more convinced than ever that he was not destined to carry a lunch pail. The kid from Hamilton with the broken nose would live and dream bigger than the movies of his youth.By the time he is thirty, Linehan transforms himself into a television host wooed by every major studio in Hollywood. In more than two thousand interviews for his signature show, City Lights, Brian Linehan becomes as famous as the stars he talks to. Some, like Burt Reynolds, will come to him again and again for on-camera therapy; others, like Shirley MacLaine, happily return to City Lights so he can "tell us about our lives." Viewers come back to hear what he will ask his unsuspecting guests. What secrets, what long-forgotten memories has he unearthed this time?Brian lives the high life on film studio tabs, flying everywhere first class while hanging out with the rich and famous -- house-guesting with Bea Arthur and Joan Rivers in Hollywood and New York and flying to Vegas on Paul Anka's private jet with Ann-Margret. He is entertained by hostesses in Paris, London, and Palm Beach. He becomes the quintessential dinner guest, coveted because he is witty, urbane, and well-informed -- and of course he can dish. But when fortified by vodka martinis his rapier wit becomes a force to be reckoned with.Starring Brian Linehan has it all: the wit, the struggles, the insecurity, the famous friends, the secret life behind the camera, and the ground-breaking interviews. Before ET, Access Hollywood, and STAR, there was City Lights and there was Linehan.From the Hardcover edition.
Starmaker: Life As a Hollywood Publicist with Farrah, The Rat Pack and 600 More Stars Who Fired Me
by Jay BernsteinThis memoir by the legendary publicist offers &“an intimate glimpse into the best and the worst of the golden age of Hollywood&” (Stacy Keach, Golden Globe Award–nominated actor). Jay Bernstein, an entertainment industry fixture who helped launch the careers of celebrities including Farrah Fawcett and Suzanne Somers, was famed for his sense of showmanship, his outrageous style, and the publicity stunts he engineered to get attention for his clients. Starmaker tells his story, from his childhood in Oklahoma City and his first job in a Hollywood mailroom to the ownership of his own public relations firm and his work as a television producer. In addition to a behind-the-scenes look at several generations of show business and hard-hitting insights about how the industry changed over the decades, Bernstein also describes the relationships he had with stars and his notorious techniques, such as paying women to throw hotel keys at Tom Jones, having Entertainment Tonight host Mary Hart&’s legs insured for one million dollars, and getting married underwater for an episode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. With the wisdom of experience and a sense of humor, this autobiography shares the intimate details of a fascinating Hollywood life.
Starmaker: David O. Selznick and the Production of Stars in the Hollywood Studio System
by Milan HainDavid O. Selznick (1902–1965) was one of the most prominent film producers of the Hollywood studio era, responsible for such artistic and commercial triumphs as King Kong, David Copperfield, Anna Karenina, A Star Is Born, Gone with the Wind, Rebecca, Spellbound, and The Third Man. However, film production was not his only domain. Starting in the late 1930s, he built an impressive stable of stars within his own independent company, including Ingrid Bergman, Vivien Leigh, Joan Fontaine, Jennifer Jones, and Gregory Peck. In Starmaker: David O. Selznick and the Production of Stars in the Hollywood Studio System, author Milan Hain reveals the mechanisms by which Selznick and his collaborators discovered and promoted new stars and describes how these personalities were marketed, whether for financial gain or symbolic recognition and prestige. Using a wide range of archival materials, the book significantly complements and reshapes our understanding of Selznick’s celebrated career by focusing on heretofore neglected aspects of his creative and business activities. It also sheds light on the US film industry during the Golden Age of Hollywood studios and in the postwar period when the established order began to break down. By structuring the book around Selznick and his role as a starmaker, Hain demonstrates that star production and development in the Hollywood studio system was a highly organized and systematic activity, though the respective strategies and procedures were often hidden from the public eye.
Starlet Rivals (The Bollywood Academy #1)
by Puneet BhandalTwelve-year-old Bela has always dreamed about becoming a famous Bollywood star, and now the opportunity might finally be within her grasp. When a reality TV show gives her the chance to dance in front of the nation, she knows that she is performing for a place at the most prestigious stage school in Mumbai. Can Bela win the Dance Starz competition to score a place at the Bollywood Academy and move one step closer to her dreams of stardom? And will child star Monica, the most "in" girl at school, see her as a friend or a rival? Praise for Starlet Rivals "Bela dreams of Bollywood stardom – but can a girl from her less than privileged background have a chance of winning the national Dance Starz competition, and a place at a prestigious Mumbai stage school? A deliciously readable addition to the stage-school story canon for song-and-dance fans of 7+."—The Guardian, Children's Book of the Month "What follows is everything readers could want – dream come true film opportunities, stays in the most glamorous locations, new friendships and the tiniest hint of romance. Young readers who love Ballet Shoes or The Swish of the Curtain, or who dream of stage stardom, or those who just love stories with great characters in exciting situations, they’ll all devour this new series. Applause all round!"—LoveReading4Kids “Not only is the book bursting with glamour and excitement, it also has thoughtful messages about the perils of the limelight and the importance of doing the right thing. A delightful page-turner.”—Book Trust “Boarding school, betrayal and Bollywood glamour – this book has it all. The first in Puneet Bhandal's brand new series is a riveting, rapturous read that's every bit as captivating as a show-stopping Bollywood dance. I would love to see it screened either as a movie or a Netflix series.”—Paperback Snob
Staring at Sound: The True Story of Oklahoma's Fabulous Flaming Lips
by Jim DerogatisIn July 2002, the Flaming Lips released their ambitious eleventh album entitled 'Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots' that merged elements of orchestral pop, electronic dance music and old-fashioned psychedelic rock with lyrical themes that were simultaneously poignant, philosophical and supremely silly. The album sold a million copies worldwide, introduced the Flaming Lips to a mass audience, and made them one of the best-known cult bands in recent rock history. 'Staring at Sound' is the tale of the Flaming Lips's fascinating, long career (which began in 1983) and the many colourful personalities in its orbit, particularly Wayne Coyne, the charismatic and visionary founder. Written with the complete cooperation of the band, it follows the Lips through the thriving indie-rock underground of the 1980s and the alternative rock movement of the early 90s, during which they found fans in such rock legends as Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Robert Plant, Devo, and respected peers in such acts as the White Stripes, Radiohead, and Beck. 'Staring at Sound' is an illuminating, well-researched, fast-moving and very human portrait of one of the most distinctive rock music acts of our time. The official biography of the Grammy Award-winning band Full coverage of the multiple personnel changes Exclusives on the band's musical heroes, phobias and love of sci-fi New Flaming Lips album 'At War With The Mystics' out this summer.
Stargazer: The Life, World and Films of Andy Warhol
by Stephen KochThe classic study of a man who redrew the boundaries of artAndy Warhol's work and personality changed American visual culture forever, making him an international superstar. His rise to global fame, his entanglement with the seedy New York sexual underground, and the shocking assassination attempt that almost ended his life are chronicled in Stephen Koch's indispensible classic Stargazer.In this must-read volume, Stephen Koch provides unprecedented detail on Warhol's life and work, giving particular attention to a medium that found Andy at his wildest: film. In one who made paradox into an art form, Koch finds that there was inspiration and brilliance on both sides of the public image that Warhol so meticulously crafted.
Stardust Melodies: A Biography of 12 of America's Most Popular Songs
by Will FriedwaldThis pop culture history takes 12 legendary songs and, with a staggering wealth of detail and unprecedented understanding, provides an extended history of each. The circumstances under which each was written and first performed are explained and their musical and lyric content are explored. Those who were responsible for making these songs famous and performers who have left their unique marks on them are also identified. Variations in style, classic and obscure versions, brilliantly original interpretations, and ghastly travesties in the performance lifetime of each song are discussed. Also included are revelations of facts, such as Herman Hupfeld, who wrote "As Time Goes By," had a much bigger hit with "When Yuba Plays the Rhumba on the Tuba"; Billy Strayhorn wrote about "a week in Paris" in "Lush Life" when he was a teenager and had never been to any city larger than Pittsburgh; and the first-ever public performance of "I Got Rhythm," sung by Ethel Merman, featured Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Jimmy Dorsey, and Glenn Miller.
Stardust and Shadows: Canadians in Early Hollywood
by Charles Foster"You’ll like Louis Mayer," Mary Pickford told Charles Foster in 1943. "He is from Canada, too." As Foster was soon to discover, Mayer was not alone: a great many of those who helped shape Hollywood into the movie capital of the world were Canadian. Stardust and Shadows brings together the stories of 18 Canadians who were celebrities during Hollywood’s formative years. Most of those profiled were known to Foster, and stories they told him about Hollywood’s early days, enhanced by many years of research and interviews with other living performers and directors from the silent movie era, reveal a never-before-seen look at what the movie industry was really like in those early days. This is Canadian history that has never been told, and many of the startling stories and secrets of Hollywood’s past are revealed here for the first time. Celebrities profiled: May Irwin, Al and Charles Christie, Joe and Sam De Grasse, Marie Dressler, Allan Dwan, Florence La Badie, Florence Lawrence, Del Lord, Louis B. Mayer, Sidney Olcott, Jack Pickford, Mary Pickford, Marie Prevost, Mack Sennett, Douglas Shearer, Norma Shearer.
Stardust: Cinematic Archives at the End of the World
by Hannah GoodwinAn exploration of the fundamental bond between cinema and the cosmos The advent of cinema occurred alongside pivotal developments in astronomy and astrophysics, including Albert Einstein&’s theories of relativity, all of which dramatically altered our conception of time and provided new means of envisioning the limits of our world. Tracing the many aesthetic, philosophical, and technological parallels between these fields, Stardust explores how cinema has routinely looked toward the cosmos to reflect our collective anxiety about a universe without us. Employing a &“cosmocinematic gaze,&” Hannah Goodwin uses the metaphorical frameworks from astronomy to posit new understandings of cinematic time and underscore the role of light in generating archives for an uncertain future. Surveying a broad range of works, including silent-era educational films, avant-garde experimental works, and contemporary blockbusters, she carves out a distinctive area of film analysis that extends its reach far beyond mainstream science fiction to explore films that reckon with a future in which humans are absent. This expansive study details the shared affinities between cinema and the stars in order to demonstrate how filmmakers have used cosmic imagery and themes to respond to the twentieth century&’s moments of existential dread, from World War I to the atomic age to our current moment of environmental collapse. As our outlook on the future continues to change, Stardust illuminates the promise of cinema to bear witness to humanity&’s fragile existence within the vast expanse of the universe.
Stardom in Contemporary Hindi Cinema: Celebrity and Fame in Globalized Times
by Aysha Iqbal Viswamohan Clare M. WilkinsonIn this book, film scholars, anthropologists, and critics discuss star-making in the contemporary Hindi-language film industry in India, also known as “Bollywood.” Drawing on theories of stardom, globalization, transnationalism, gender, and new media studies, the chapters explore contemporary Hindi film celebrity. With the rise of social media and India’s increased engagement in the global economy, Hindi film stars are forging their identities not just through their on-screen images and magazine and advertising appearances, but also through an array of media platforms, product endorsements, setting fashion trends, and involvement in social causes. Focusing on some of the best-known Indian stars since the late 1990s, the book discusses the multiplying avenues for forging a star identity, the strategies industry outsiders adopt to become stars, and the contradictions and conflicts that such star-making produces. It addresses questions such as: What traits of contemporary stars have contributed most to longevity and success in the industry? How has filmmaking technology and practice altered the nature of stardom? How has the manufacture of celebrity altered with the recent appearance of commodity culture in India and the rise of a hyper-connected global economy? By doing so, it describes a distinct moment in India and in the world in which stars and stardom are drawn more closely than ever into the vital events of global culture. Hindi films and their stars are part of the national and global entertainment circuits that are bigger and more competitive than ever. As such, this is a timely book creates opportunities for examining stardom in other industries and provides fruitful cross-cultural perspectives on star identities today."Grounded in rigorous scholarship as well as a palpable love of Hindi cinema, this collection of 19 essays on a dizzying array of contemporary Hindi film stars makes for an informative, thought-provoking, illuminating, and most of all, a joyful read. Pushing boundaries of not only global Star Studies but also film theory as a whole, this de-colonised and de-colonising volume is a must read for film scholars, students and cinephiles!" Dr. Sunny Singh, Senior Lecturer - Creative Writing and English Literature, Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture & Design, London Metropolitan University “A wide-ranging overview of Hindi cinema’s filmi firmament today, focussing on its most intriguing and brightest-burning stars. The variety of approaches to stardom and celebrity by both established and upcoming scholars reveals a web of interconnecting stories and concerns that provide fascinating new insights into the workings of today's Hindi film industry, while shining fresh light on contemporary India and the world we live in.” Professor Rosie Thomas, Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media (CREAM), College of Design, Creative and Digital Industries, University of Westminster