Consumerism, Advertising, and the Female Star - Sheridan Pierce Core Post #1

In Maria LaPlace’s article “Producing and Consuming the Woman’s Film: Discursive Struggle in Now, Voyager,”I was surprised to learn about the gender differentiated surveys studios had audiences participate in.  It’s interesting to consider that many aspects of films were, in fact, formulaic, from the stars selected for the roles to the characters themselves.  I still think that there is some consideration of what Hollywood assumes the female audience “wants.”  Usually, it seems that studios today think they will get women into the theater for an action movie by throwing in a weak romantic subplot as an afterthought.

Eckert’s article “The Carole Lombard in Macy’s Window” discusses the complex relationship between Hollywood, advertising, and consumerism.  I thought it was interesting how Eckert points out that fan magazines would feature famous actresses like Bette Davis and Joan Crawford posed like “mannequins modeling clothes, fur, hats and accessories that they would wear in forthcoming films” (Eckert 35).  This is definitely a practice that has remained (if not expanded) in present day Hollywood.  Audiences still want to know what a star is wearing.  That’s why the red carpet has become an event in itself.  Simply arriving to an award show takes hours on end because photographers need to get photos for magazines, not to mention interviewers need to find out “who” the star is wearing.

Additionally, I saw an interesting correlation between the two articles in that both studios and advertisers were trying desperately to figure out the female market/audience and what they “wanted.”  However, LaPlace also notes that early advertising for cosmetics relied on telling women that they needed cosmetics to attain a better life and get a husband.  And that ideology certainly translated into Now, Voyager.  As LaPlace suggests, when Davis is portrayed as the “dowdy” Charlotte, she relies on others to speak or act on her behalf.  It is only when she is made-over into the “beautiful” Charlotte that she gains confidence and is able to pursue another romantic relationship.  At the same time, Charlotte does not always feel truly herself, as exemplified when she runs out of the cruise’s dining room because a tag was left on her coat.  As LaPlace mentions, the important thing is that Jerry loves her since “she cannot gain her sanity without clear-cut male approval” (LaPlace 145).  I got the sense that other characters projected their ideas of who Charlotte “should” be, which is self-reflexive of what the studios were doing with actresses at the time.