Description
Book SynopsisSince the movie industry’s earliest days, Hollywood has mythologized itself through stories of stardom. In the first book to focus exclusively on these modern fairy tales, Karen McNally traces the history of this genre from silent cinema to contemporary film and television to show its significance to both Hollywood and broader American culture.
Trade ReviewThe Stardom Film is a lively and insightful introductory account of this genre from its early days to the present. In following that history, Karen McNally offers original and well-researched readings of familiar and rarely studied works. Recommended reading for anyone interested in stardom and the many complex ways Hollywood has treated it on film. -- Steven Cohan, author of
Hollywood by Hollywood: The Backstudio Picture and the Mystique of Making MoviesThe Stardom Film is an engaging, lucid, and comprehensive study of a narrative mode that continues to exert fascination not only in U.S. cinema but around the world, both in the past and the present. McNally convincingly argues for the significance of several previously neglected films and makes the book a valuable resource for anyone interested in the tropes by which celebrity and stardom remain intertwined with our social and professional identities. -- Adrienne McLean, author of
Being Rita Hayworth: Labor, Identity, and Hollywood StardomTable of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction
1. Core Stardom Narratives
2. Genre and Hybridity
3. Character, Star, and Myth
Afterword
Notes
Bibliography
Index
