Starstruck

Back in the day, during the Classical Hollywood Film period in history, many movies were judged according to the type of actors in a particular movie. People would want to go see a movie if their favorite actor or actress was the star of it. This system was called the Star System. This specific aspect of the studio system was very important, for without it, the audience of that era would not go to see movies.

According to Wikipedia.com, The Star System way a way of creating, promoting, and exploiting movie stars in Classical Hollywood Cinema. The Film studios would select young actors and actresses and basically create the character they wanted the audience to see by glamorizing them and making them the way the studio wanted them to be. This affected the kind of films the studio made because with such emphasis on the actor or actress, it had a huge reputation to uphold in its many movies.

I see this as the biggest impact of the Studio system because it was around this era that the film studios began to move from caring about the acting to caring more about the beauty and persona of the character. Once a studio had the beautiful and most appealing actor or actress, it would then train them to act and sing. Actors and Actresses had a contract to the studios so they were never allowed to leave a house without the makeup or attitude the studio wanted them to portray. This differs from today because nowadays, casting studios focus much more on the talent rather than the beauty, although beauty seems to come down the road anyways. However, this was the beginning of a studio era where new ideas were being done. With the help of the Star System, many film studios began to have faces being connected with their movies now that their films had reputations to uphold.

One cliche example of the Star System is none other than Judy Garland, who was discovered by MGM when she was just a young girl. Since then, they would create a persona for her and glamorize her as she matured into adulthood. Her stardom rose as she was greatly glamorized for her many film roles in MGM, including her biggest and most reputable role ever, “The Wizard of Oz.” With this role, it was clear just how big Judy Garland’s stardom was and how important MGM’s Star System role was to her career.

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The Star System can still be seen today, although not as direct. Disney uses it’s own type of Star System by casting children at a young age and allowing us as an audience to see them grow up Disney. Miley Cyrus is a perfect example of the Star System because everything she does has to be associated with Disney. For instance, when she took controversial photos for a magazine cover, it is Disney who had to cover for her since she is so heavily glamorized for the company. Her tie to the system shows the importance that the Star System still has on many actors and actresses today as it did back in the Classical Hollywood film era.