American Masculinity: The Marketing of Humphrey Bogart
The star system and star image was the foundation for Hollywood film making during the time of a vertically integrated Hollywood. Box office returns would determine the economic success for a studio and when a studio had a bankable star, their image was critical to selling a picture to exhibitors as well as audiences. As Tino Balio states in the book Grand Design, “At the production level, the screenplay, sets, costumes, lighting, and makeup of a picture were designed to enhance a star’s screen persona… At the distribution level, a star’s name and image dominated advertising and publicity and determined the rental price for the picture.” Certainly story and plot play a major role in the success of a film along with the director and key players involved in creating the film; but even today, how often when talking about seeing a film, have we heard or uttered a phrase similar to, “Let’s go see the new [insert star name] movie”? The reason being is that stars throughout the history of cinema have filled a …
Adam Nollen graduated OU with a BA in Creative Writing with a Specialization in Screenwriting in 2020.