Concept of Star (Discussion)

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Readings

Richard Dyer

  1. Group 1: Dyer argues, "The star image is used in the construction of a character in a film in three ways." (127) What are those three ways? Pick one current movie or TV star and one film or television program. How is his/her star image used in the construction of that character? Explain.
    • Selective use
    • Perfect fit
    • Problematic fit
    • Student response: The first is selective use, where a character in a film only embodies aspects of its star's public image. An example of this is in _All the President's Men_ which makes use of Robert Redford's image as a political activist, but does not utilize his image as a romantic lead. The second is perfect fit, where a character embodies all aspects of the star's public persona. The third is problematic fit, where the character is contradictory to the star's image.
  2. All Groups: Dyer lists "signs" of character and "signs" of performance. In what sense is he using the word, "sign"? That is, what, in general terms, is a sign?
    • Signs of character (106+)
      1. Audience foreknowledge
      2. Name
      3. Appearance
      4. Objective correlatives
      5. Speech of character
      6. Speech of others
      7. Gesture
      8. Action
      9. Structure
      10. mise-en-scene
    • Signs of performance (134)
      1. Facial expression
      2. Voice
      3. Gestures
      4. Body posture
      5. Body movement
  3. Apply Dyer's 10 signs of character to one of the characters from Petrified Forest. That is, select one of the main characters (see below) and then discuss how the signs of character are used to build that character.
    • Group 2: Alan Squier (Leslie Howard)
      • Student response: The sign of appearance can be in the way that the writers of Petrified Forest used to make Alan Squier. When we first see him he is coming in out of a sand storm and walking all over the country. This isn't something that we know how however, we are told it later on as he gets to talking to the people in the restaurant. He has this rugged look about him when we first see him however as the movie goes on we come to realize that this first impression of him is mis-leading because he isn't all that rugged. His is as described by himself an "intellectual." His has this kind of pale white look about him once we get a good enough view of him. He looks as though he hasn't rested or eaten in days. He is really skinny and tall. All-in-all the first version of him that we see is rugged but as previously stated that is a mis-leading view of him. Once the movie goes on we see that he is actually an "intellectual" who is just searching for a place to fit in.
    • Group 3: Duke Mantee (Humphrey Bogart)
      • Student response: One sign of character is the speech of others. Mantee is dtalke about by other characters a long time before we actually ever see him. By then we've gotten a good idea of how the other characters are and what they value. Mantee is a folk symbol the movie has to summon to life to make the story more than a study of the characters at one fixed point in time. Mantee's arrival sees everyone's actions judged so he is naturally best developed through others' reactions to him.
  4. File:FortApache1.jpg
    John Wayne and Henry Fonda in Fort Apache
    Group 4: On pp. 145-146, Dyer discusses how John Wayne's and Henry Fonda's performances in Fort Apache use performance signs--referring specifically to a scene that is illustrated here with a frame grab and online in Quicktime format. Explain how performance signs function in this scene. How would you analyze Bogart's performance signs in this scene? (Dyer similarly discusses Bette Davis' performance in Little Foxes, frame grabs for which are available here.)
    • Student response: I think that what Dyer is saying is that the actors can use these performance signs to convey information about characters and also contrast two characters without actual saying it in the form of a line. For example, in Petrified Forest, it would be easy to contrast the characters of Duke Mantee and Alan without even knowing anything about the characters. You could tell that Duke Mantee is a tough, criminal type character just by the way he looks and carries himself, while you can tell that Alan is a somewhat effeminate intellectual mainly based on the way he talks and acts.
    • Student response: One of the first aspects Dyer notes is the posture of each character; Fonda is rigidly upright against the sky while Wayne is partially depicted in front of the sky. Wayne is also seen leaning forward in the saddle giving the audience of him being down to earth. These movements allow for evidence of social classes, character personas, and military hierarchy. When Wayne points off screen that Fonda’s idea is the wrong one because Wayne has been flowing the dust switls, we find out that he is right about the Indians position. This leads us to believe in Wayne’s understanding of nature. When Fonda carries out his decision we see how easily it is for him because of his personality. Fonda only has to turn slightly to perform his order signifying how easily it is to send his men to their deaths, whereas Wayne has to move his entire body to look in the same direction to stay with that at-home-ness in the saddle motif.


Bibliography

  1. Richard Dyer, Stars, Second Edition, Supplementary Chapter by Paul McDonald (London: British Film Institute, 1998).
Richard Dyer and Jeremy Butler, Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference, 9 March 2007.