Wishing On A Star – Hollywood’s Star System

With the growth of film audiences throughout the twentieth century, came the creation of the Hollywood star system and the transformation of actors and actresses into identifiable role models both on and off the screen.

Improved technologies as well as the increasing public fascination with Hollywood’s stars meant that publicity surrounding films and film stars rose dramatically. People were intrigued to learn more about the stars – their fashions and their personalities.

Hollywood transformed film stars, creating new looks as well as new personas and, to a large extent, lives. Every aspect of Hollywood focused on creating a public image for the stars that people could relate to and appropriate. Whilst this had arguably the largest effect on the consumer and commercial worlds, it also contributed to the significant social transformations that were to occur, particularly in the 1930s and 1950s. As Richard Dyer suggests, “contradictory ideas were resolved for the audience within a star’s image”. People looked towards the stars to answer their questions and concerns about fashion as well as their place in society and their qualities as a person.

…and of course, the same star system applies to the celebrities of today. The Hollywood stars we are now familiar with portray certain images – rags to riches, the girl next door, the self made man, the hero. Creating and publicising a celebrity with a certain story of transformation and growth behind them, gives people either something to relate to or something to aspire to be.

Going back to the 1930s we see the rise in the fascination with female power in Hollywood. Known as the ‘woman’s picture era’, the costumes of the 30s served to parody, invert and denaturalise social distinctions. Take Marlene Dietrich for example. Never before had Hollywood seen a woman gender bend quite so much as she did in Morocco. Women looked to stars like Dietrich to define their social identity through dress and performance. With her top hat and pant suit, Dietrich became a symbol of the new power and social status women had within society, having taken on many preciously male dominated jobs during the First World War and the depression. Female stars today still embody a feminine social power through their fashions and styles. Actresses take on a more masculine style in order to break down ideas of women as objects. Women are seen as equal to men in the workforce, unlike they were in the past, so why not be equal to them in fashion as well?

Morocco star, Marlene Dietrich (left) expresses the new freedom of women in the 1930s. Actresses such as Anne Hathaway (right) continue this trend in today’s society and expresses the social status of women through her fashion.

The 1950s saw the rise of female stars, each with their own style and personality. Within the star system these actresses represented a variety of different social ideas and trends. After World War Two, women became increasingly liberated, both on and off the screen. In differentiating the stars of the 1950s we cannot escape the styles and popularity of both Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. Both women, whilst displaying very different personas on the screen, impacted on the social role of women during their time. Monroe allowed women to aspire to glamour and a liberated sexuality. Hepburn provided society with a more sophisticated, elegant and intelligent woman.

Above Compare the sensuality of Marilyn Monroe (left) with the sophistication of Audrey Hepburn (right).

Today the same theory applies. The difference is, however, that today’s female stars are more individual and may be ambassadors for a style or idea they believe in, rather than one Hollywood dictates for them. In a sense this star system is more influential off the screen than on. Actresses such as Gwyneth Paltrow become influential and iconic not only though their films but through the creation of their own brands and product lines.  In recent years, Paltrow has essentially moved away from the silver screen to focus on her new TV show, lifestyle Web site, cosmetics contract and a gym. Actresses such as Cate Blanchet, however, remain in Hollywood films whilst still influencing social change through campaigning against climate change and promoting the introduction of the carbon tax. Women not only look to these women as stylistic icons, but also as powerful social figures that promote ideas to impact life decisions and beliefs.