For Tuesday:Read Newman and Levine, pp 1-18, 30-37

Watch Mad Men “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”

Watch Breaking Bad “Pilot”

Reading/Screening Prompts have been sent out. Go over those before doing the readings and screenings. Answer the prompts, come to class ready to talk about them.

Exam #2 Extra Credit and Exam #2 Appeals due at beginning of class

Stars

Ideology Dominant/Preferred Subversive/Alternative (Garland fans)

Cultural Studies

Identity

Discourse

Stars

Stars are ideological

We understand stars through the discourse that surround them.

Stars are supposed to represent ideal identities

What characteristics are often posed as ideal?

Alternative interpretations

Stars

Historical Background

Hollywood Star System

Why do Hollywood stars exist?

Stars

Richard deCordova:

“Star discourse thus worked to extend the contact between the spectator/consumer and the cinema at large…this discourse extended the boundaries of the cinema as institution so that it could more fully occupy people’s lives” (113).

Stars

Richard deCordova:

“…star discourse involved people in the cinema outside of the movie theaters…star discourse worked to lead the reader back to the theater and into the economic exchange that was central to the functioning of the cinema as business and as institution” (114).

What kind of control do studios have over stars, according to Orgeron?

What is the state of the Hollywood film industry when Clara Bow arrives in the mid 1920s?

How do the studio publicity departments and the fan magazines overlap in their star-related businesses?