(Group B) Stars
Deadline for Registrations for existing students: To be confirmed
Deadline for Applications for new students: Not applicable - new students please see modules for Group A
Delivery: Distance Learning (Online)
This module will investigate how Stars become iconic, that is, how they are signs of the indigenous cultural codes, as well as embodiments either as reflections of or as resistance to ideological institutions - including the institutional framework of the film industry. We shall examine how spectators impose their own expectations on Stars who act as mediators between the real and the imaginary. So, on the one hand, we shall be discussing in what way do Stars reflect national preoccupations and, on the other, in what way do we derive pleasure from their performance.
The module is delivered in two parts. Part One consists of five units of study material, which familiarise students with ‘Star Theory’; how we talk about stars, how we analyse performance, and how we come to understand what they represent within national cultures. In Part Two each student will choose a European film star, or émigré star to Hollywood (e.g. Sean Connery, Catherine Deneuve, Greta Garbo, Audrey Hepburn, Gerard Depardieu, etc), and prepare a case-study about them, while discussing their findings with each other online. Each student will submit their case-study (preferably illustrated) to their tutor. This work will then act as the basis for the student’s assessed essay.
Module overview
How to apply
Course preparation
Syllabus Plan
- Star Theory. How stars become iconic, why we watch stars, how they are signs of the indigenous cultural codes and reflect national preoccupations.
- Star Construction And Gender Fixity. How does an industry sell its star commodity and what is it that it is selling? Who gazes at the star? How authentic can stars be or can they only be constructed in excess? Is there any room for subversion, if so how?
- Case study of Simone Signoret. This will provide students with an idea of to how to prepare their own mini-profile and subsequent essay.
- Looking At Stars And Reading Their Signs. A look at the French star Jean Gabin as an icon of French masculinity; and the international Swedish star Ingrid Bergman.
- Gender And The Gaze. A look at how theories on the spectator-screen relationship have moved on since Laura Mulvey’s seminal 1974 essay ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’.
- Questions Of The Grotesque. An investigation of the applicability of Bakhtin’s notion of the carnavalesque body and the fascism of beauty to Star Studies.
Learning / Teaching Methods
At the start of the course, a module reader of supplementary materials will be issued to students by post, but the course itself is delivered via the internet using an online educational environment called WebCT. Students will be given a username and password to log in, and a 'unit' of course material will be released every week for the first five weeks, for students to work through. Class discussions on the material will then take place in the online forum. During weeks six to eight, each student will work on an individual case study of a star, discussing their findings with tutors and each other online. In the final two weeks, students begin work on their final assessment.
Class discussions are asynchronous - i.e. students do not need to be online at a 'set' time - they can leave and collect messages from the online discussion environment at a time suitable for them.
A chat room facility is also available. This is entirely optional, but students can arrange a mutually convenient time to communicate with each other 'instantly', by means of this facility, if they would like more immediate contact with others studying this subject.
Assessment
To gain credits for this module, students must successfully complete one essay of 5000 words. The essay is worth 100% of the module mark.
Intended Outcomes
Completing the module should provide students with:
- The skills to read 'star performance' within a certain set of theoretical and sociological frameworks.
- The ability to exploit archival material correctly.
Reading List
The following texts are required reading for the course:
- Stars
Richard Dyer and Paul McDonald, BFI (British Film Institute) Publishing, 1997.
ISBN: 0851706436 - Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society
Richard Dyer, Routledge, 2003.
ISBN: 041531027X - Stardom: Industry of Desire
Christine Gledhill, Routledge, 1991.
ISBN: 0415052181 - Cinema and Spectatorship
Judith Mayne, Routledge, 1993.
ISBN: 0415034167 - Star Gazing: Hollywood Cinema and Female Spectatorship
Jackie Stacey, Routledge, 1993.
ISBN: 0415091799 - Spectacular Bodies: Gender and Genre and the Action Cinema
Yvonne Tasker, Routledge, 1993.
ISBN: 0415092248
Key Films
UK-based students will be sent a study tape or dvd to accompany the course. Besides this, there are no compulsory films that students must view for this module but students will need to view films on the star they choose for their case-study.
Due to copyright restrictions we are unfortunately unable to issue a study tape or dvd to students outside the UK. Students overseas are therefore advised that they will benefit from acquiring - or being very familiar with - the following films:
- Casque d’Or (Becker, 1952)
- Pépé-le-moko (Duvivier, 1936)
- Et Dieu créa la femme (1956)
- La Grande illusion (Renoir, 1937)
- Les Diaboliques (Clouzot, 1955)
- Dédée d’Anvers (Allégret, 1947)
- La Veuve Couderc (Granier-Deferre, 1971)
- L’Etoile du Nord (Granier-Deferre, 1982)
- Casablanca, Curtiz (1942)
- Gaslight, Cukor (1944)
- Notorious, Hitchcock (1946)
- Stromboli,Rossellini (1950)
These films are not studied in depth on the module, only short clips from each are discussed, and so students may prefer to rent rather than purchase these titles.
Additional Reading
There are no additional recommended texts for this course, but students will need to exploit archives in their location as well as those of the Bill Douglas Centre Website.
