Core Response 2: On Laplace and Marketing the Female Film - Benjamin Noble

            I want to look back on the screenings we have seen in the past few weeks, Now, Voyager (Rapper, 1942) and Stagecoach (1939), particularly in relation to the readings this week. Dyer went further into the ideas of Stardom, discussing the types of Stars and stories that readers were enjoying during the early period of Stardom, while both Eckert (from Gledhill’s Stardom) and Laplace went in depth regarding how Hollywood was economizing the appeal of the stars and cornering the consumer market. In any case, there was a lot of interesting ideas, but among then, Laplace’s article was the most thought provoking and unique article to read through.

At the very beginning of the article, Laplace asserts that "Ahistorical readings often miss much of the complexity of…films’ textual and ideological operations" (138). To explain this stance, Laplace goes into detail regarding the operation that Hollywood had established via it’s story’s and its star persona’s, particularly in using them to sell products. Eckert’s article touched a lot on these ideas, talking about how “fashions, furnishings, accessories, cosmetics and other manufactured items” were all shown in TV, movies, ads, etc., as a way of getting the common consumers to buy them (Eckert, 32). However, it was only Laplace that took this a step further, connecting the desire to make money with the stories and character types that Hollywood employed. Specifically, she goes into detail about how the desire to market movies and character types to women, as “Executives were convinced that women made up the majority of the film audience" (Laplace, 138), and how they would market a sense of freedom, sexuality, and rebellion within these films, all while keeping women subverted.

A prime example is looking at Bette Davis’ character in Now, Voyager, whom transforms from an ugly, nervous spinster into a beautiful, confident woman. Laplace puts a huge emphasis on the change involving beauty, and how it is emphasized that, if women are not beautiful and sought after, then something must be wrong. Already, we can see how this subvert women and convince them that they needed to hold themselves to a specific standard. The same could be said of John Wayne in the many Western movies he starred in, including Stagecoach. The types of characters, whether the tough guy or the independent woman, were created to suggest how people should dress/act/look, thereby encouraging people to buy more into products such as make-up, fashion, furniture, etc. In any case, we see how early Hollywood used the star to capitalize on marketing and distributing consumer products that they could convince people they needed in order to be who they emulated.