Lana Turner as Star (Discussion)

From Screenpedia
Revision as of 15:37, 29 April 2009 by Jeremy Butler (talk | contribs) (student responses)
Jump to navigationJump to search

"Four Films of Lana Turner"

Ava Gardner and Lana Turner "embrace".
"Authentic" emotion in The Bad and the Beautiful.


A production still of Turner wearing haute couture in Imitation of Life — in a scene in which Lora meets David Edwards (Dan O'Herlihy).
Frame grab from Imitation of Life, in color.


  1. Group 3: Dyer contends that "Turner illustrates three of the ways that stars function cinematically (that is, within the total signifying practice of the cinema industry situated within society as a whole)".
    • What does Dyer mean by "signifying practice"?
    • List those three ways that stars function.
      • Student response: The three ways that Lana Turner illustrates how a star functions cinematically are; 1. Lana's career is marked by an unusually, even spectacularly, high degree of interpenetration between her publicly available private life and her films. 2. In the earlier films, Turner's image exemplifies one of the major forms of relationship between a star and her/his social content. 3.In her later films, the process of manufacture - the production of the image - are increasingly evident until they become an integral part of the image.
  2. Group 4: What, according to Dyer, is the relationship between glamor and ordinariness?
    • How does the photograph of Ava Gardener and Turner "embracing" illustrate this contrast?
      • Student response: Dyer references a photo of Lana Turner with Ava Gardner. The photo juxtaposes glamor and ordinariness. While Turner wears a detailed, low-cut gown with layered jewelry and an updo, Gardner wears a simple and modest blouse, pearls, and casual hair that falls around her ears. Though both women have a pleasant facial expression, Turner's is complex -- as if she has multiple things on her mind, while Gardner's is a traditional smile with no hesitation. As a result of the quality of their appearances, Turner illustrates glamor and Gardner ordinariness.
    • How is it expressed in The Bad and the Beautiful?
  3. Group 1: In general terms, what does haute couture (pronounce "oht koo-toor") connote? How is this specifically embodied in Turner's image—as Dyer argues regarding the Imitation of Life scene in which she meets David Edwards (Dan O'Herlihy)?
    • Student response: Haute couture is associated with the wealthiest classes who do not need practical clothes because they do not work, and who can afford to show off and distinguish themselves from others. In the scene from Imitation of Life where she meets David Edwards, her outfit is a shiny, synthetic-looking pink combination of pants and dress, which Dyer notes would be very unusual to find outside of a movie, and establish her character (and tie in with her public image) as being polished, pampered, and above average people.
  4. Group 2: How was Turner’s sexy-ordinary contradiction "crystallized" in four "moments" in her early career?
    • Student response: Her first role in THEY WON'T FORGET (1937), her sweater girl pin-ups, her marriage to Artie Shaw, and her starlet roles taken as a whole.
  5. All Groups: What characterizes Turner’s acting style? How is it disrupted by emotions presented as more "authentic" in Imitation of Life and The B & the B?
    • How does Dyer make the case for the "hysterics in the car" scene as "authentic"?
  6. All Groups: What role does the father play in The B & the B, according to Dyer? How does this relate to the off-screen representation of Turner and her father?

Bibliography

  1. Richard Dyer, "Four Films of Lana Turner," Movie 25: 30-52.