The star machine jeanine basinger6/2/2023 ![]() ![]() They plucked their eyebrows, trimmed their waistlines, shaved their hairlines, kept their secrets and tried to protect this human capital at all costs. The studios taught their stars how to walk, how to talk, how to dance, sing, fence and ride a horse without sliding off the saddle. ![]() “The importance of stardom has diminished over time,” she writes in this big, sprawling book, adding, “The stars of silent film and of the great studio system were gods and goddesses.” They had faces then, along with glamour and impeccable grooming. Jeanine Basinger, whose book “The Star Machine” examines how the old Hollywood studio system once manufactured stars as if they were widgets, thinks they don’t make ’em like they used to (stars, that is). In the new global meritocracy, anyone can be a star. Information dissemination is cheap thanks to the Internet, and now so is fame, which has become the virtual-reality birthright of every Tom, Dick and Lonelygirl15 itching to go viral. stardom, you don’t need God or Goldwyn to grab your 15 minutes you need only a Webcam and the minor technological wherewithal to upload your own fabulousness. “It’s up to producers to find them.” In this era of D.I.Y. ![]() ![]() “God makes stars,” the pioneering movie producer Samuel Goldwyn once said. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |