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This research presents the processes and findings of an interdisciplinary study of mothers’ and daughters’ shared relations to film stars. Principally grounded within the cultural studies tradition of investigating the role of media in everyday life, the research explores the intergenerational transmission of film star tastes and preferences between mothers and daughters, building upon existing literature from the fields of star studies, family sociology, memory studies and audience research. It also takes a new perspective on the study of audiences for stars from the work of art anthropologist Alfred Gell, who posited the notion that the study of art should concern its ‘practical mediatory role’ within social interactions. The research was conducted by means of an empirical audience study of paired mother-daughter dyads of varying ages, class backgrounds and social circumstances, and was carried out in two phases: a preliminary online survey which recruited 92 mother-daughter pairs; and 16 follow-up telephone interviews with selected mothers and daughters. The first phase utilized quali-quantitative methods of analysis to explore various models of mother-daughter-star relations, while the second phase used a combined analytical approach that coupled an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach with elements of memory studies to further investigate those identified dyadic models. An overarching finding of the thesis is that film stars perform varying, but also evolving, functions within mother-daughter relationships depending upon the socio-demographic make-up of the dyad. Other more specific findings include: that class identifications are a key determinant in mother-daughter shared gender preferences in regard of admired stars, and that in mother-daughter relationships where there is a greater distance in their age gap, mothers specifically carve out shared times between the pair, using film stars as a common resource which provides a communicative coinage within their relations.

Linking the images of stars as contrasting as Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, and Gloria Swanson, and uniting genres like romantic comedy, film noir, and melodrama, the figure of the narcissistic woman stands as a versatile, ever-present extra- and intra-diegetic force in the dream factory of classical Hollywood. She is, in fact, the lead in what sociologist Edgar Morin conceptualizes in The Stars (1957) as a golden-age “myth of love”: Calling upon the psychic and sensory investment of her fans with her otherworldly aura and material impact, the female star emerges as both the active subject of romantic narratives and the admired on-screen partner in a love affair with the spectator. Like Ovid's original Narcissus before her, the narcissistic woman of Hollywood exists, as Morin describes it, to “focus…love's magic on [herself].” Contemporary film theory, however, has interpreted the star not as a subjective force in this dialogical “magic” between actress and spectator but rather as the product of a patriarchal system of filmmaking, one that objectifies women both on the screen and in the audience. In an effort to further analyze the questions of identity and representation evoked by the female star and her audience, this thesis will seek an alternative to the binaries that tend to characterize the traditional understanding of women in classic Hollywood (that is, spectator/star, narcissistic subject/idealized object; male/female, active/passive). Rather than read narcissism as a one-dimensional, monologic preoccupation with one's image, this research posits that classic cinematic representations of the woman's relationship to the self invite an examination of the existential complexity of a figure negotiating the registers of corporeal reality and ethereal ideality, star persona and diegetic character. In the hopes of highlighting the active engagements – between star and role; spectator, actress, and filmic form itself – inspired by these cinematic entities and their “myths of love,” this work will connect psychoanalytic concerns with Edgar Morin's cultural history of Hollywood, Laura U. Marks's theory of haptic visuality, and the phenomenological understanding of film outlined by Vivian Sobchack in an exploration of the embodied subjectivities borne by the on-screen Narcissus and her off-screen audience.

In this dissertation, I trace the contours of state control and capital in India, starting from the 1970s and see how the state’s increasingly centralizing tendencies and authoritarianism, in the service of capital, creates cultures of violence, fatalism, desperation, and ultimately, even more desire for authoritarianism. I study male stardom in Bombay cinema, beginning withAmitabh Bachchan (who was the reigning star in the 1970s and 80s), and following up with Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan (who have been successful stars from the early 90s), to understand how changing subjectivities, responding to changing socio-economic reality, were formulated and expressed through these star texts by the film industry. Through the study of these stars, I try to understand how dominant ideas of masculinities were being formulated and how misogyny came to be a prominent aspect of those formulations, because of social structures of caste and patriarchy as well as neoliberal precarity. I also study the cultures of fascist violence that have emerged in India under the rightwing Hindu nationalist BJP government in the light of increased individualization and self-commodification under neoliberalism. I contend that the socio-political system that enhances individualization and self-commodification and thus, gives rise to a heightened celebrity culture, is also responsible for the limits on the agency of the stars and celebrities through the formation of a totalitarian state. I study Indian prime minister Narendra Modi as the ultimate celebrity commodity text to understand the future of stardom itself in India.

Tom Cruise was one of the most financially successful stars of the 1980s and 1990s and remains an important Hollywood player. In his time at Paramount, he negotiated new deals which redefined how stars earned revenue from their films. Yet little substantial study has been made of him or his persona. Cruise came to prominence in the 1980s, an epoch which redefined the terms of masculinity, moving away from a particular martial ideal following American defeat in Vietnam. His persona addresses the consequent anxieties surrounding these significant social changes. In addition to this, his image can be understood within a psychoanalytic framework to be offering a 'compromise formation' to the difficulties of psychosexual development. Cruise appears to offers a challenge to the father, but in reality recedes from Oedipal threat. Chapter One examines the nascent Cruise star persona and its development across his films. The chapter provides a historical overview and contextualisation of the persona. Chapter Two explores how the persona offers a 'performative' model of masculinity based on a heroic martial ideal, as well as his positioning as an object of spectacle and the onscreen homoerotic relationships he enjoys. Chapter Three looks at the star's association with the racial 'other' and preoccupation with male friendships at the expense of heterosexual romance. Objectification through spectacle, which black characters and Cruise share in his films, indicate a symbolic shared powerlessness within the hegemony. Chapter Four argues that this lack of status is characterised by Cruise's struggle against male authority figures, which represent both corporate America and the punishing father. This relays the trauma of Oedipal struggle, which Cruise attempts to evade. Chapter Five looks in further depth at the Cruise persona's preoccupation with male bonds and lack of interest in women, both indicative of a regression from the phallic to the earlier anal/cannibalistic psycho-sexual stage, as he is unable to overcome the symbolic father . The thesis concludes by suggesting Cruise's persona is a compromise: it presents a triumphant young man who in reality is oppressed by patriarchal forces. This compromise is premised on youth and is threatened as Cruise ages, exaggerated by social changes within America. Biologically and socially, Cruise's persona is no longer tenable.

A dissertação investiga o concurso de beleza fotogênica realizado pela Fox Film no Brasil em 1926-1927, com o fim de levar um casal de atores para Hollywood. A pesquisa tem como fonte jornais e revistas de grande circulação à época e documentos do Acervo Pedro Lima. Consideramos o contexto histórico-social, relações étnicas e de gênero, a incorporação de padrões de beleza ligados à modernidade e a constância de concursos femininos, bem como o estrelismo. Ponderamos a negociação entre nossa imprensa e o star system durante o concurso. / This dissertation investigates the photogenic beauty contest held by Fox Film in Brazil in 1926-1927, in order to choose a couple to integrate the studio\'s casting in Hollywood. The research has as a source mass circulation newspapers and magazines at the time and Pedro Lima Collection documents. We consider the historical and social context, ethnic and gender relations, the incorporation of beauty standards linked to modernity and the constancy of women\'s beauty contests, as well as the stardom. We take into account the negotiation between Brazilian press and the star system during the contest

A dissertação investiga o concurso de beleza fotogênica realizado pela Fox Film no Brasil em 1926-1927, com o fim de levar um casal de atores para Hollywood. A pesquisa tem como fonte jornais e revistas de grande circulação à época e documentos do Acervo Pedro Lima. Consideramos o contexto histórico-social, relações étnicas e de gênero, a incorporação de padrões de beleza ligados à modernidade e a constância de concursos femininos, bem como o estrelismo. Ponderamos a negociação entre nossa imprensa e o star system durante o concurso. / This dissertation investigates the photogenic beauty contest held by Fox Film in Brazil in 1926-1927, in order to choose a couple to integrate the studio\'s casting in Hollywood. The research has as a source mass circulation newspapers and magazines at the time and Pedro Lima Collection documents. We consider the historical and social context, ethnic and gender relations, the incorporation of beauty standards linked to modernity and the constancy of women\'s beauty contests, as well as the stardom. We take into account the negotiation between Brazilian press and the star system during the contest

No description available.

No description available.