Jinghan's core post #1 Some thoughts on SID reading

        DeCordova's essay The Emergence of the star system in America argues that three significant transformations affect the star system: 1. The discourse on acting 2. The picture personality and 3. the star. I found the second point-- the picture personality really interesting because this feature, which has appeared by 1909, still applies for today's star system. I think DeCordova makes a very important statement in general, that star system is an industry--an economic reality. Hollywood create stars because of the economic benefit the stars could bring to Hollywood. A very obvious feature to identify if the person has became a star is to see if the audiences have remember his/ her name, so Hollywood kind of have to circulate the stars' names. But by what means? One quick way is to create the identification of an actor in a specific film with a name. We can also see this method today. When we talk about the Batman, we think of Christian Bale; when we talk about the Iron Man, we think of Robert Downey... Audiences always remember a star's name by his/ her most well-known figure in motion pictures. This applies to Rudoph Valentino as well. When his name come up, the pubic (especially female) always put an equal sign to his name and masculine feature. Only by first characterize the star with the thoroughgoing articulation of his/ her picture personality could the public later on recognize the star's existence outside his/ her work in films. Thus, I found De Cordova's second point is very persuasive to me.
        In Hansen's essay, he points out that "Increasingly, women spectators were perceived as a socially and economically significant group and films were explicitly addressed to a female spectator, regardless of the actual composition of the audience. As Hollywood manufactured the Valentino legend, promoting the fusion of real life and screen persona that makes a star, Valentino’s female admirers in effect became part of that legend" (p. 262). I have two comments agreeing with Hansen's statement. First of all, women spectators being seen as the significant group is still valid for today. For example, I have watched the all five films of Twilight Saga in cinema. According to my observation, the house is always full-seated and almost all the audiences are female. Even there were some male audiences most of them were there to keep their girlfriends accompanied. Hollywood manufactures figures such as vampires and werewolves to gain female admirers, by doing so they can create their stars and gain box offices. My second point is that today's male superstars who are able to draw the most attention from the public are without exception those who can gain most admiration from female fans. Hollywood have shaped Valentino, as well as today's male superstars in a very masculine figure in both films and their real lives.