Joceline Andersen: Stars and Silhouettes: the History of the Cameo Role in Hollywood 2021
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Repositorium für die Medienwissenschaft Drew Bassett Joceline Andersen: Stars and Silhouettes: The History of the Cameo Role in Hollywood 2021 https://doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/16298 Veröffentlichungsversion / published version Rezension / review Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Bassett, Drew: Joceline Andersen: Stars and Silhouettes: The History of the Cameo Role in Hollywood. In: MEDIENwissenschaft: Rezensionen | Reviews, Jg. 38 (2021), Nr. 2, S. 203– 204. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/16298. Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer Creative Commons - This document is made available under a creative commons - Namensnennung 3.0/ Lizenz zur Verfügung gestellt. Nähere Attribution 3.0/ License. For more information see: Auskünfte zu dieser Lizenz finden Sie hier: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Fotografi e und Film 203 Joceline Andersen: Stars and Silhouettes: The History of the Cameo Role in Hollywood Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2020, 291 S., ISBN 9780814346914, USD 34,99 e ability to recognise cameos no increased and actors became famous, matter how brief or obscure is one of ‘stars’ became the most visible aspect of the main currencies of fandom. What the marketing of fi lms. ese cameos Andersen does excellently in this well- were fi rst used to illustrate who the stu- researched and informative book is dio owned, but as studios lost control chart how fi lm studios, TV channels of their stars, it was a way for actors to and film stars have harnessed the assert their independence by choosing cameo in diff erent ways over the years in which cameos they participated. to engage and enthuse the consumers of And “not only current stars were used their products. in marketing, nostalgic cameos engi- “Cameos create a space in a movie, a neered for recognition became more and break in the narrative, that is fi lled with more popular”(p.64). the audience's extra-textual knowledge” By the 1930s, audiences through (p.2) creating a moment of documen- fan magazines had become informed tary space, but it is up to the viewer to about the workings of the studio system recognise it. e cameo exists at the and were slowly becoming sceptical intersection of celebrity culture and about the use of cameos. Additio- participative audience practices (p.5). nally, Hollywood was going through a Whether a celebrity is playing themself, period of transition with respect to its or a role they are known for, or a non- relationship with its stars. Many stars actor appearing as a celebrated fi gure in were working in non-exclusive con- the real world, “recognition and brevity tracts, and in the 1940s were setting up are the clearest criteria for identifying a their own production companies and cameo” (p.5). Hence, most cameos are were less amenable to being used in celebrity cameos from which audiences movies other than their own. feel they can glean information about Because of the narrative disruption the person behind a star persona. a cameo can bring, its natural home Andersen then illustrates the histo- is in comedy. Bob Hope and Bing rical changes and diff erent uses of the Crosby in the 1940s and 50s and ! e cameo appearance in fi lm and tv. In the Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Dean Mar- early days of Hollywood, for example, tin, Sammy Davis Jr.) in the 1960s actors weren't even identifi ed. ey established and sustained themselves were known by their roles or associa- by repeated self-referential cameos in ted with the studio they worked for. In each other’s productions. e fourth the 1920s, as fan interest in the actors wall was often broken and the stars 204 MEDIEN wissenschaft 02/2021 presence explained as friends doing a youth-oriented musical act into the favours for friends. conservative mise-en-scène of the sitcom, Simultaneously, independent pro- such as Harry Nilson in ! e Ghost and ducers such as Mike Todd ( Around Mrs. Muir (1968-70), could be jarring. the World in 80 Days (1956)), who were e most famous proponent of the trying to entice viewers away from tele- celebratory or an authorial cameo is, of vision, were populating their fi lms with course, Alfred Hitchcock. His cameos contemporary and nostalgic cameos. became his signature of authorial con- But by the mid-60s, nostalgic cameos trol. But by over-exposure of himself in were becoming increasingly seen as a the promotion of his fi lms and his TV cheap marketing ploy. Television and series, Hitchcock's image eventually talk shows “had over-taken the cameo's outlived its associations with mastery. claims to reveal to the audience the Finally, Andersen points out that celebrity as he really was” (p.132). cameos have found a new prominence e cameo in a fi ctional television in the endless replay culture of the digi- series, mostly in sitcoms, has been tal media. “ e disruptive elements that used by artists from John Wayne in I make themselves ideal for cult recep- love Lucy (1951-57) to Bruce Willis in tion” (p.206) also lend themselves to Friends (1994-2004) wanting to pro- repurposing in Top 10 lists. mote a new fi lm or album. “Celebrities Stars and Silhouettes is a fascinating were welcomed as stars and ambassa- but not exhaustive study of the indus- dors from another medium rather than trial imperatives that have infl uenced characters” (p.134). Television could the cameo from the birth of the star depict the star in the real-life situation system, through the decline of the stu- of the sitcom countering the perceived dio system to access on demand and the out-of-touchness of movie stars and pre- repeat viewing enabled by the internet. senting another side of the stars persona for inspection. However, shoehorning Drew Bassett (Köln).