Gods like us: on movie stardom and modern fame 9780307907424, 0307907422, 9781299048751, 1299048757
"How--and why--do we focus on those individuals we come to call stars? How does stardom both reflect and mask the p
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English Pages (xxiv, 413 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations Year 2012
Table of contents :
The faces in the mirror --
The star is born : from Edison's blobs to Florence Lawrence --
The first goddesses : Mary Pickford, Norma Talmadge, flappers, and virgins --
The matinee idols : Charlie, Doug, Rudy, and more --
Sodom : the silent star scandals --
Judgment Day : the movies speak --
The stars who talked : the great singularities of the studio era --
The factory : how stars were made --
Monsters, scarlett women, and other characters --
The afternoon shift : postwar studio stardom --
Barbarians at the gates : Brando changes everything --
The new machine : small screen, small gods --
Vinyl : the new rock celebrities and the Warhol factory --
Free at last : the long voyage of the African American star --
Dig in the new breed : mensches, hippies, and fame in new Hollywood --
The glamour backlash : the 1980s --
Machines and macho men : cable, VHS, and Arnold rewrite the rules --
The kids are all right : brat packers and the new teen idols --
MTV and its discontents : Michael Jackson, Madonna, and the rise of the meta-star --
The corporate star : the 1990s and beyond --
Pixel personal : stardom in the Internet age --
Star death.
