Introduction

1 Introduction Steven Gerrard and Robert Shail In August 2018, Warner Brothers released their $130- million production The Meg . Based on Steve Alten’s bestselling book Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror (1997), and directed by Jon Turteltaub, the fi lm sees the main character – Jonas Taylor, a deep- sea diver working for the American navy – battle a 75- foot long, 20- million- year- old megalodon shark that has been revived from its deep slumber. The fi lm, a co- production between American and Chinese companies with a Jaws - meets-Jurassic Park advertising campaign, starred British fi lm actor Jason Statham. The aim of this edited collection is to introduce, survey and develop various critical analyses of Statham across not only his fi lm work but his work away from cinema and across a variety of transmedia. Film stars are often the mainstay of academic and lay dis- cussion about the latest fi lms and cinematic fads. While genres may fl uctuate in fortune, the fi lm star remains arguably the most important of all cinematic commodities. Film stars sell movies. But they don’t only do this. Over the last twenty years, and since Richard Dyer’s work in Stars ( 1998 ), the study of fi lm stars, celeb- rity and stardom has become the centre for much critical argument. According to Dyer ( 1998 : 1– 4), these critical arguments have usually taken on two perspectives: the social/ cultural con- text, and the semiotic. He argues that these two approaches, where stars are seen as a social phenomenon and that the star is important only because of the fi lm(s) that they appear in, have formed the backbone to much that has been written about movie 2 2 Steven Gerrard and Robert Shail stars. However, he does concede that while investigations can focus on either one of these approaches, and that their results can certainly comment on the nature of fi lm stardom and production modes of representation, it is of more use to combine the two: that is, the star and the fi lms remain interlocked, and by adopting this process of analysis, so the ‘overall’ construction of a fi lm star and the fi lms they appear in (and beyond those fi lms into other media) can offer richer rewards for the investigator. Interestingly, Dyer’s work here clearly assumes that stars are dealt with in terms of their signifi cation, and not as ‘real’ people, and that ‘we’ will never know the ‘real’ ‘them’. As an audience we are presented with a media- controlled image and persona, and the real person remains hidden. Even when appearing on chat shows, fi lm stars remain part and parcel of an identity construction, and although they may laugh and joke or talk about their latest fi lm promotions, they remain still the ‘fi lm star’. Therefore, this duality – both ‘real’ and ‘fake’ – does open up ideas about identity and persona. Dyer takes this idea further. He argues that fi lm stars are not only a social phenomenon, but that they refl ect ideological stances within both ‘themselves’ as stars and the work they create. For the purpose of this collection, ideology remains a key theme of each chapter. As Dyer ( 1998 : 2) states: ‘Ideology is a character- istic of all human societies, but a given ideology is specifi c to a particular culture at a particular moment in history.’ If this is the case, then fi lm stars (and their oeuvre) can be, and are, laden with ideological approaches, either found directly within the text or hidden as a subtext and found upon further investigation. Of course, there is a counter-claim to be made here. Ideologies are only (mostly) found upon investigation. The average cinemagoer does not muse on the notions that the fi lm they just watched is all about the predominant ideological stance at the time. Rather, fi lms are meant – in the main – for enjoyment and leisure. For the purpose of this collection, the chapters that are included here do offer some ideological approaches of how Statham ‘refl ects’ the contextual world around him. For example, in Parcei’s chapter, she eruditely argues that Statham’s natural ageing is both accepted and rejected by those watching The Expendables trilogy in which Statham plays a soldier- of- fortune, Lee Christmas, as a norm of the Western culture that produced it. Lewis- Vidler’s argument, that Statham’s Gallic Britishness in the Transporter franchise is a heady mix of UK, European 3 Introduction 3 and American ideological stances (Statham as ‘British’; France as a backdrop; the USA represented through its set pieces) are ‘melded’ together to produce an altogether new version of action hero clearly has ideological approaches at its heart. This ideological approach lies so fascinatingly within the ‘limits’ of Statham and his work. He is a new type of British star, both reliant on past traditions and celebrating newer ways of pro- moting his ‘brand’ through a variety of multimedia platforms. As you will see, this collection focuses on numerous aspects of Statham’s work across his career. While Dyer primarily focuses on American fi lm stars such as John Wayne and Jane Fonda, it is clear that his approach to stardom is both satisfying and infuriating. On the one hand, he sets out his stall early on, by discussing the role of the star as a ‘social phenomenon’ created by the fi lm studios, the actor and the fi lms that they appear in. Yet, there are contradictions here. The individual, and that includes the writers and readers of this tome, will look at Statham from their own particular viewpoint, and even though they may not readily accept Dyer’s views, their own views remain steadfastly important. The individual may look at Statham from contextual, sexual, political and gendered points of view. But this is the point of investigating someone like Statham: he is both old- fashioned and new. In an era of mass communication across multimedia platforms, Jason Statham remains noticeable not only through his work on- screen, or various tabloid stories that focus on his private life and views, but in an increasingly bewildering range of media forms. This forms an important part of this edited collection. Not only does Statham appear in fi lms, he has appeared in pop videos, catalogues, fashion magazines, and has branched out into the area of video gaming. This intertextuality through a panoply of media sources shows just how important he is to the idea that the ‘new’ fi lm star of the post- millennial era both harks back to the past – through the fi lms he makes – and towards the present/ future areas of video gaming, graphic novels, etc. This is where the collection highlights these areas of ‘new’ mixed with ‘old’ concepts, and the interdisciplinary nature of the book’s content, coupled with in- depth analysis of moments from Statham’s fi lms, fi lls a gap that is noticeable in the study of fi lm stars. Admittedly, the stars of the past may not have had the variety of mass media through which they could be propelled out into their demanding public’s gaze; but those fi lm stars did 4 4 Steven Gerrard and Robert Shail have magazine circulations, TV programmes and radio shows to help them. Statham has taken this further. His approach to these media- varieties has certainly not only shown a remarkable trajectory from pop video dancer to international megastar, but also that he is prepared to accede that he needs other forms of media through which to form the Statham brand. However, this does not diminish his importance as a bona fi de British fi lm star who has ‘made it’ in Britain, Hollywood and other lucrative markets. According to Dyer in his still- essential work on fi lm stardom, the fi lm star fulfi ls three roles: the fi rst is the star as a ‘construction’, whereby the ‘star’ is built through advertising, fi lms, magazines and such like; the second is where the star becomes a ‘commodity’ – that is, the monetary value of the star (as a ‘star’ and as a business); and fi nally, and arguably, as far as this book is concerned, most importantly, the ideological importance of the star. In other words, Jason Statham as a performer, actor, star , contains across his persona, his private and public life, a range of ideologies that can be ‘read’ to refl ect and comment upon the world around us. As a consequence of these ideologies, fans could dress like Statham, share similar views, and iden- tify with his constructed persona. But here lies the paradox of the notion of the ‘star’ and Statham: the traditional fi lm star must be both ‘ordinary’ and ‘extraordinary’. They must be both relatable and idolised by their audience. Likewise, they must be both ‘present’ and ‘absent’. In the case of Statham, his audience interacts with him through various media platforms, yet at the same time he remains unobtainable, and therefore ‘absent’. For Dyer, the historic construction of a star persona was particularly reliant on the intersection between key texts – fi lms – and secondary media outlets such as advertising and personal appearances. Dyer’s work focuses on the idea that the fi lms come fi rst. However, Statham is particularly interesting for the way in which this balance has been altered. Of course, the fi lms are still crucial, but in the construction of Statham’s persona via his non- fi lmic texts have taken on an increasing prominence, a feature more and more prevalent in contemporary stardom.

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