Core Response 2 - Joyce Chun

In “The Emergence of the Star System in America”, Richard deCordova talks about the star system and its emergence from the picture personality. Picture personality appeared around 1909 and was “considered the beginning of the star system” which is also seen as a big difference from the star, according to deCordova. Not quite as exactly as today, player’s names were concealed from the audience because the “players did not want to risk their reputations by being discovered in films”. The Star, on the other hand, was not just known for his or her role in film, instead, his personal life was also involved. “The private lives of the stars emerged as a new site of knowledge and truth”. While reading this, the first thing that popped up in my head was The Kardashians. This mega family is the perfect illustration of The Star and how The Star is defined with the personal lives of “actors”; this family name is recognizable by almost everyone in the nation because of the stardom that was built behind it. With the audience’s constant interest towards these family members and the lives they live, the family was turned into “The Star” that Richard deCordova was talking about in this article. “The private life of the star was not to be in contradiction with his/her film image – at least not in terms of its moral tenor. The two would rather support each other”. Despite the Kardashians not being actors, this quote reflects their situation where the private lives of these stars support their image, not in films, but on whatever else they are involved in, whether it be endorsing a company, making a speech; the image drawn from their private lives is reflected by the other works they are occupied with.