Date of Award
Spring 5-2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Film Studies
First Advisor
Emily Carman, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Kia Afra, Ph.D.
Third Advisor
Erica Aguero, Ph.D.
Abstract
New Hollywood was foundationally a debatable period in the course of American film history, with distinctive characteristics of new directorial emergence and innovative film style. However, the contemporary industrial context suggested a prominent power of stardom to effectively sustain the business in the new wave of new youth and counterculture. In the inception of the period, Warner Bros., one of the major film studios since the classical Hollywood era, exemplified a star-driven marketing approach using classical glamour and the narrative of nonconformity to attract the target audience. Proven by the studio’s archival evidence, major Hollywood stars in the 1960s made extensive use of their established persona to reframe contemporary perception towards Hollywood stardom. Attributing star marketing power into New Hollywood studies not only complicates the traditional definition of New Hollywood, but also highlights its high cultural and commercial impacts on the Hollywood industry in the countercultural 1960s.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Singpatanakul, Tham. "Revitalizing Hollywood Stardom: Classical Star Power and Enduring Marketability at Warner Bros. in the Beginning of New Hollywood." Master's thesis, Chapman University, 2020. https://doi.org/10.36837/chapman.000153