The reel hero vs. the real hero - Sandhya Nadadur Blog Post #2

deCordova’s reading grapples with the issue of a player or actor’s role outside of his or her work in films by asking the question: is your reel hero ever a real hero? While his essay and this question refers to the beginnings of the “star” system in the early 1900s, in my opinion, the separation – or lack thereof – between character roles and the individual who is regarded as the “star” remains relevant to our contemporary understanding of stars as well. deCorva’s response to this question in light of the early 1900 star system was that the real hero behaves just like a reel hero because the “the private life of the star was not to be in contradiction with his/ her film image” (27).  In other words, it is out of necessity that the actor have a persona outside that is just as much a performance in order to promote his or her actual performance, harkening back to the way theater actors were consumed by their roles both on and off stage. 

But, in the literal sense, the idea that reel and real hero’s are the same no longer holds; the fact that prominent film stars have political and social clout suggests that their prominence on screen translates into power off-screen. Indeed, that few days after the earthquake in Haiti Angelina Jolie was seen working beside the UNHCR in the country as a US ambassador, or Ben Affleck is consistently invited to the White House Correspondent’s dinner, supports this sentiment.

This brings to the surface a subtlety in the relationship between the star’s role on screen and his or her persona off screen. Unlike when the star system first surfaced, it seems that in the modern star system, there is more of a symbiotic relationship between the character and the persona. That is, a star may gain prominence for a role they played on screen, but in turn, the social recognition they receive as a result of this performance translates into social prominence off screen – a mutually beneficial relationship.

That the relationship between on and off screen persona is more circular, conflates the original separation film sought between character and persona. deCordova mentions how film actors felt that at the end of the day they could return home and become “normal” people again. However, the idea that Angelina Jolie or Matt Damon is still performing their role as “stars” off of the screen, be that in Haiti or at the White House Correspondent’s dinner, conflates these two roles. As a result, we cannot help but ask if our modern star system isn’t too different from the theatrical stardom it once separated itself from. At the end of the day, do Angelina Jolie and Matt Damon return home and cease to be stars? Probably not.