The Star

Just before our Prelim period ends, we watched another documentary entitled "The Star". It talks about the movie stars in the early years and how their control and power changed over the years. For me it was more interesting than the other documentaries that we have watched because finally we got to know better about the actors who portrayed different roles on films.

As we have discussed about the systems in the Hollywood cinema, we have known about the Star system and the Studio system they had. According to Wikipedia, the Star system is “method of creating, promoting and exploiting movie stars in Classical Hollywood cinema. Studios would select promising young actors and glamorize and create personas for them, often inventing new names and even new backgrounds.” In this method, they focus more on the image of the stars rather than their way of acting. But they are also given workshops to hone their talents.

On the other hand, the studio system is a different story. In this system, the major studios are credited in producing big celebrities. According to Wikipedia, it is “a method of film production and distribution dominated by a small number of "major" studios in Hollywood.” As go further about this topic, we learned that the studios really spent a lot of money to establish and groom those potential actors that they think has the ability to be a star. They do this because they believe that with the right training and with this whole process, these studios would regain what they have invested. 

The stars in the Classical Hollywood films were controlled by the studios they were in. They were in a strict handling. The studios were careful enough to make their stars look good in the public. I believe that stars in the early were really under pressure because they must protect their image, some were also living a hard life being a celebrity. But when these stars were in trouble, studios would protect them by covering them up, paying people off if trouble happens. This was how powerful studios were that time.

Some of the movie stars in the classical Hollywood cinema were Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland, Rock Hudson, Marilyn Monroe Grace Kelly, and a lot more.

Changes happened as time goes by. In our present generation, stars were still idolized and treated well by the public, but it was not like before, where they were really protected by the studios. Most of the movie stars in the early years were really proud of what they were, celebrities. They want all the attention they need.  But most of the stars these days want to live a normal life, they were sick and tired of the attention the media gives.

Julia Roberts is one of the stars that I'm referring to. She's just down to earth, and just want to be treated normal, just like everyone else. She's not bragging that she is a star. I hope every actors in the film industry would be like her.

"I just wanna be an actor. I don’t wanna be a movie star; certainly don’t wanna be a celebrity." - Julia Roberts