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May 1996, Week 5

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From:
knight iii a <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 30 May 1996 10:13:38 -0500
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I'll take Mike's bait, because I think the question he raises is
crucial--and should be central to much of cinema studies.  The
question:  Why are so many film viewers (or consumers of
mass/popular cultural products more generally) fascinated by
performers--figures we tend to lump under the categories "stars"
or "celebreties"?  Often there's an extra clause attached to this
question, and often it's left implicit.  Mike has made it
explicit:  ... instead of art, meaning, value [or something else-
-narrative, say]?
 
The question should be central because it opens and/or impinges
on so many other questions in film studies.  One of the questions
it raises is:  Where does (should?) film studies as a field begin
and end?  What are the borders of our inquiry?  How does
"identification" and "indentity" or "willing suspension of
disbelief" work in fiction film?  *How* does the fascination with
performers get expressed?  How do viewers "use" film?  Do any of
these concerns entail outside fiction film and how do they entail
outside the U.S. cinema and/or a U.S. reception context?  How is
this "fascination" inflected (or not) by social categories like
class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age?  (It's worth
noting here that, aside from Richard Dyer's two books focussing
on stars, *Stars* and the underappreciated *Heavenly Bodies*,
there is considerable feminist work on stars, my current favorite
being Jackie Stacey's *Star Gazing*.)
 
Personally, I think many film viewers (and I should say I speak
partly for myself here--though I find my figures of fascination
tend to be musicians more often than actors and I wonder why that
is) are fascinated by performers because that fascination is
"productive."  Having these imaginary-but-real and emphatically
"open" (when must interpretation of a star end?)
people/characters/texts (Dyer talks about the "star text") to
speculate about and use permits us, besides the (guilty?
certainly not straightforward or simple) pleasures of gossip and
scopic delight, to map out positions we might take (or imagine
taking) in life--they help us define what we mean by concepts
like (to use the Depp example) "pretentious" or "aventurous" and
give us case studies to use in conversation (whether with others
or self).
 
In this regard, Resnais' use of old film clips in *Mon Oncle d'
Amerique* strikes me as funny *and* right:  At moments of extreme
pressure in their lives, the characters in this film (at least
one of whom was played by an actor who has become an
international star:  Gerard Depardieu) seem to "see" (or is just
us?) brief flashes of their favorite stars in parallel action
(for GD it is Jean Gabin, of course).  The characters do not
apparently think, "What would X do now?" nor are any of them
shown to be "obssessed" with a star, even to the point of writing
a fan letter, nor does the film seem to claim that these images
determine in any direct way the characters' behaviors--but the
performers/stars *are* part of the mix.
 
For many film viewers (us), they are a big part of the mix (i.e.,
meaning, value, quality, attraction, art, identity).  As
scholars, I think we find this unnerving for a wide array of
reasons--performers are powerfully affective without being
clearly meaningful, the text has no end and isn't even much of a
text, etc.--but I don't think that means we should (or can) avoid
studying perfomers/stars... or the people (including us) that are
fascinated by them.  SO bring on the studies.....
 
Arthur Knight
William & Mary
 
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