Starlight and Stargazers - (Film and Media Studies) by Helena Goscilo (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Celebrification has thrived for centuries in literature, theater, music, and other cultural spheres, as vividly illustrated by Byron, Sarah Bernhardt, and Paganini. It especially effloresced in cinema after the symbolically named Lumiáere brothers pioneered movies as light-projected "moving life" to be contemplated and shared in the intimate darkness of theaters. Actors and actresses such as Valentino and Garbo acquired the status of divine beings whose life on and offscreen stimulated fascination and a passionate devotion most frequently invested in religious figures. The recent explosion in social media has only amplified immeasurably the scale and intensity of that adulation. Yearning for the seemingly transcendent, fans as mere mortals seek contact with celebrities as objects of worship that, like nocturnal stars, are simultaneously remote yet accessible. Starlight and Stargazers examines the multifaceted nature and specific manifestations of film celebrification in Czechoslovakia/the Czech Republic, Poland, Soviet Russia/Russia, and Ukraine before and after 1991"--

Book Synopsis

Celebrification has thrived for centuries in literature, theater, music, and other cultural spheres, as vividly illustrated by Byron, Sarah Bernhardt, and Paganini. It especially effloresced in cinema after the symbolically named Lumièegrave;re brothers pioneered movies as light-projected "moving life" to be contemplated and shared in the intimate darkness of theaters. Actors and actresses such as Valentino and Garbo acquired the status of divine beings whose life on and offscreen stimulated fascination and a passionate devotion most frequently invested in religious figures. The recent explosion in social media has only amplified immeasurably the scale and intensity of that adulation. Yearning for the seemingly transcendent, fans as mere mortals seek contact with celebrities as objects of worship that, like nocturnal stars, are simultaneously remote yet accessible. Starlight and Stargazers examines the multifaceted nature and specific manifestations of film celebrification in Czechoslovakia/the Czech Republic, Poland, Soviet Russia/Russia, and Ukraine before and after 1991.

Review Quotes

"The book's introduction and eleven chapters amply demonstrate that, in addition to contributing to the firmament of film greats, Slavic cultures have also generated forms of screen celebrity that challenge Hollywood's model... [T]he volume's greatest strength is the diversity and depth of the case studies in Slavic celebrity that it presents... Moreover, many of the essays in the volume open up new avenues for theorizing celebrity not only in Eastern Europe but around the globe. Readers curious about theories of stardom, fandom, and spectatorship that go beyond the 'excessively quoted [and] reductive' paradigms inspired by Hollywood cinema will find Starlight and Stargazers an invaluable resource, as will those interested in the phenomenon of celebrity outside the increasingly narrow confines of Western liberal democracy."

- Julie A. Cassiday, Russian Review

"If you think that the phenomenon of celebrities is exclusively associated with the culture of the capitalist West, then the fascinating book Starlight and Stargazers will certainly set you straight. This is the first such insightful work revealing a multi-layered picture of Slavic celebrities over the course of a century (from the 1920s to the present day). In a thrilling way, the authors explore how celebrities in Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and the Czech Republic seduced audiences; how the creation of celebrities differed under the communist system compared to the capitalist system; and whether celebrities' images were shaped by the needs of the market or by the dominant ideology. This book makes an important contribution to the development of research on Central and Eastern European cinema and culture and significantly expands knowledge in the study of celebrities. It will be of interest not only to the academic community, but also to audiences sensitive to celebrity glamor."

-- Sebastian Jagielski, Associate Professor of Film Studies, Jagiellonian University, Poland

"Starlight and Stargazers meets the daunting challenge it sets for itself: analyzing the phenomenon of celebrity across multiple Slavic cultures in order both to provide useful, compelling case studies and advance our understanding of celebrity itself. The book produces a remarkably useful form of estrangement; because of the broad geographic and cultural scope, readers will encounter celebrities they know well, and celebrities they are hearing about for the first time. If there is any justice, Starlight and Stargazers will have its own fifteen minutes of fame."

-- Eliot Borenstein, Professor of Russian & Slavic Studies, New York University

"With its focus on the image and life of Slavic screen celebrities, Starlight and Stargazers: Slavic Screen Celebrities offers a theoretically sophisticated look into the popular field of celebrity studies. Flexible in its variety of scholarly approaches, this outstanding collection of essays treats this complex phenomenon from a refreshingly new scholarly perspective. Considering celebrity culture as a national and international phenomenon, researchers in this volume highlight its standard and individual features. Conceptually ambitious, this study unlocks the extraordinary intersection between Slavic cultures that transcend national boundaries."

-- Dr. Marina Balina, Isaac Funk Professor Emerita, Professor of Russian Studies, Illinois Wesleyan University.

About the Author

Helena Goscilo's current research resides in the domains of film and queer/gay culture: namely, a monograph on current Polish women film directors, Film's Feisty Femmes: Polish Women Directors, a co-edited issue of The Polish Review devoted to Polish cinema, and a volume on Slavic queerness.