Building Popular Images - Marilyn Monroe v. Audrey Hepburn v. Britney Spears_ Alex Davis Core Response

STARDOM: INDUSTRY OF DESIRE

BUILDING OF POPULAR IMAGES 

Marilyn Monroe v. Audrey Hepburn v. Britney Spears

As Thomas Harris notes, Americans heavily influence the mass media of communication by allocating a disproportionate share of their time to it. The steps to creating this popular image is mechanic in its process, resembling a carefully calculated assembly line. How a star is stereotyped is important. It influences how stars interact with media and handle contradictions they may naturally posses. Harris notes three major components of this: publicity, advertising, and exploitation. I wanted to examine if this process has changed over time by examine three very different examples: Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, and Britney Spears. 

Marilyn Monroe

Audrey Hepburn

Britney Spears 

PUBLICITY: According to Harris, the publicity includes a tremendous effort on behalf to build star image before the star is even seen on the screen. With Hollywood gossip columns, fan magazines, and Hollywood television, the possibilities for this seem endless. For Britney Spears, this seems effortless. Her image is discussed and dissected now before we even see her performance. New technologies make it easier to speculate and manipulate the exhibition phase. Platforms like Youtube and TMZ allow for broad communication while controlling the image.

Marilyn Monroe - Time Magazine (1952)

Celebrities like Marilyn Monroe knew how to manipulate magazine features and reviews to reconstruct the thematic content of their individual roles. Studios could use available platforms to advertise and manipulate advertising/publicity campaigns for films. The use of Hollywood (as exemplified in Monroe's Time magazine cover) and truth are powerful tools in popular images. Today's celebrities, like Britney Spears, command attention on magazine covers. I found Monroe's command of media impressive. She found a niche to warrant "girlie" magazines (even then, beauty was heavily feminized) like Esquire and yet was considered newsworthy enough to merit a Time cover feature. She could be featured for her pinup type photos and be recognized for her success in Hollywood. 

Audrey Hepburn - Funny Face 

Harris ends his article trying to determine if an audience can accept and tolerate a celebrity going against their stereotyped roles and images. I found this part revenant for Hepburn. Her character goes from a timid book keeper to a fashion icon (and accepts it as a way to love Dick Avery). In this case, I found myself both accepting her transition while staying hesitant. For Monroe, her challenge was to cross from her sex icon image to that of an intellectual. For Britney Spears, it is going from a teen star, to a troubled Hollywood star, and now to a reborn celebrity. These contradictions are important, and further the image of the popular celebrity. For Britney Spears, everyone loves rooting for the under dog! 

Britney Spears - Product Placement

Britney Spears has found a powerful niche in manipulating her image for product placement.  By associating this type of advertising and exploitation with her image, it can attract a different type of consumer (you may not like her music, but they Hey! You can buy her perfume). All these actions carefully craft and add to a stars image. Her presence in Hollywood has also captured a new era for celebrities in media. It becomes difficult to craft a star image when tabloids capture and portray intimate/troubling (and sometimes fictitious) parts of your life.