Cinema's Melodramatic Celebrity: Film, Fame, and Personal Worth

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Challenging the study of both celebrity and the cinema, Mandy Merck argues that modern fame and film melodrama are part of the same worldview, one that cannot resolve the relation of personal worth to social esteem. Tracing the history of this conundrum back to the philosophy of the 17th century and the theatre of the 18th, she demonstrates its convergence in stage melodrama and its intensification in the Hollywood star system. Are todays celebrities worth our attention In that demand for judgement and the hope for its visual guidance, the melodramatic imagination survives permeating not only fiction film, but documentary, the artists film, and our self-exhibition on social media. Examining a range of classical and contemporary films from Charlie Chaplin's City Lights (1931) to Laura Poitrass Citizenfour (2014) , the many remakes of A Star Is Born, the compulsory exhibitionism of political celebrity and the unmasking of whistle-blowers, Merck illustrates the ways in which the cinema constantly restages the moral evaluation of prominent individuals, whether they are actors, artists, politicians or activists.

Reviews

It was an exhilarating read, in its hugely impressive range of references, the unexpected connections it made, and the wide range of films it considered. This is a major study which advances the theorization of melodrama, celebrity culture, and the relationship between the two. -- Sue Thornham, Professor of Media and Film Studies , University of Sussex, UK
Here is one of the most astute uses of melodrama theory to analyze popular fiction film, documentary, and television as well as events in popular circulation to have been produced in recent years. It is a work of subtle wit and sharp insight that carries over a tradition at the same time that it supplements it significantly. -- Jane Gaines, Professor of Film, University of Columbia, USA
Mandy Mercks exploration of the charms and pitfalls of a self-worth to be gained through the public attention celebrity affords in our media saturated culture is truly an eye-opener. Witty yet scrupulous in its analysis of texts ranging from Rousseaus theatrical melodrama Pygmalion to Dreisers stardom novel Sister Carrie, from the renown tramp in Chaplins City Lights to royal prestige in Frears The Queen, and culminating in the news notoriety of former congressman Anthony Weiner and whistleblower Edward Snowden, it dissects the long cultural history that has made fame such an interesting thing on the page, the stage, the screen and in politics. -- Elisabeth Bronfen, author of Crossmappings. On Visual Culture

Author Bio

Mandy Merck is Professor Emerita of Media Arts at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. She has edited the film and television journal Screen and the Channel 4 television series Out on Tuesday. Her books include Perversions: Deviant Readings, In Your Face: Nine Sexual Studies, The Art of Tracey Emin (co-edited with Chris Townsend), Hollywoods American Tragedies and The British Monarchy on Screen.