The Star vs. The Individual - Sandhya Nadadur Response #1

Richard Dyer emphasizes how stars are models of consumption – their physical body, values and habits can almost be seen as blank slates for consumer marketing.

Indeed, the development of Eve’s character in All About Eve – from the awe-struck fan to the sought-after star – is only possible because she ‘consumes’ everything about Bette Davis’ character, from the way she dresses to the way she bows on stage after a performance. This successful transformation of her character speaks to the power of stars, both in terms of the economic potential they have as marketing tools, but also in terms of the social prowess they have over their consumers.

Yet, the thought that stars are merely living and breathing advertisements is an unsettling one, especially when we take into account that they, too, are people. Therefore, I think it is crucial to distinguish star from person. While the former is a construct, the latter is a human. Dyer emphasizes that a character is a constructed representation of a person, implicitly suggesting that being a star, as a result of the character you play, is at least somewhat artificial. As consumers, we do not have a complete picture of the person who the star represents; instead, what is made publicly visible is strung together to create a whole that is not necessarily an accurate depiction of the individual.

However, this distinction is not often made clear (and is maybe even intentionally conflated), problematizing our ability as consumers to separate the star from the person. In turn, this suggests that crucial to becoming a star is not only being carefully constructed but also in maintaining an aura of unattainability. Indeed, Eve’s rise to stardom is very constructed: she lies about her life story and her internal workings are veiled in obscurity. At any given moment, we do not understand Eve’s true motivations, while those of Margo Channing are more transparent. In the same vein, Margo Channing’s fall from stardom can be attributed in part to the fact that as members of the audience, we increasingly see more about what her actual life is like: her internal, and very human, relationship conflicts with Bill Simpson, for example.

Thus, the mistaken idea that the part – being a sensationalized star – comes to represent the whole person, contributes to the creation of a hierarchy between the star and his or her consumer. The constant battle to bridge this gap, not just to model oneself after the star, but to actually become the star, may be what sustains the practice of stardom in our culture. Perhaps disturbingly, All About Eve is a testament to the success of the Dyer’s model: Eve openly models herself, her actions and her appearance after her idol, Margo Channing. In turn, and as the movie comes to a close, it is clear that she is now the sought-after “star” model for young girls, perpetuating the practice.

I find it very interesting that the practice of recreating stars has sustained itself for this long and wonder how our perception and creation of stars will adapt with the rising popularity of social media and platforms like youtube since, in these cases, it is widely accepted that anybody can create content, collapsing the traditional hierarchy between star and consumer.