Jason Statham: The Last Action Hero

Jason Statham is a famous action film star. Born in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, he is always an athlete since childhood. He accepts physical training from his father, who was a boxer and gymnast.He played football and also share his passion in diving. He was a member of Britain's National Diving Squad and even compete in 1990 Commonwealth Game as a representative of England. He starts his career in modeling after being spotted by the agency of Sports Promotions. 

He played his first movie, Lock, Stock and Two Smocking Barrels during 1998, a crime comedy film by British director Guy Richie. It put Statham in the public eye and he continues to star in more action film including The Transporter series, Snatch, Crank, The One and much more. Due to his athlete-capability, he prefers to do his own stunt. ("People walk differently, people talk differently, and they fight differently" he explained his aversion to double in The Transporter DVD extra). He never took acting lesson yet he is able to build his star image through movie characters that he performed, a tough man with the deadliest skills, can do almost any action including car chasing and jumping from the balcony.

Rethinking star by Richard Dyer introduced "Structured polysemy" as a way to study stars.The star image appears to be multiple and gives out different but finite meanings. However, we must not forget that through the multiplicity of the star’s appearances in different  medias, the multiplicity also extends to changes in the star’s image over time.This gives rise to inconsistency and fluctuations, further suggesting that the appeal of star image is based on constant reinventions and dissolutions to contraries, embracing the opposing terms. 

The star existing in different categories there are "star as celebrity", "star as professional" and "star as performance" . Star as celebrity indicates someone whose fame is founded outside of their work and is known for their lifestyle.Star as professional is known for his/her work while the private life appears little to non-­existent. Star as performer is focusing on their work and the public domain of the star image. Private life is not their emphasis.

Through my observation, Jason Statham appeared to be in the category of star as profesional. In Jason Statham's acting career for more than a decade, the roles that he take part of were mostly action hero, he was able to do his own stunt performance and deliver realistic action scene. Even without the look of "all American men", his performance delivered a more modern, everyday man hero. He maintained stable identities as a tough action hero though his movie. Even when he take part in the comedy movie Spy, he played a chauvinistic English secret agent and make a parody of himself by bragging his absurd experience with a straight face. Jason Statham maintains his physical fitness through practicing a similar lifestyle as his on-screen image, he keeps track on his daily training and healthy diet so he can be faster and stronger. He is also a very private person, he kept his private life away from the camera very well.

Reference

1. Huber, C. (2016). Last Action Hero: Jason Statham Plays It Straight - Cinema Scope. Retrieved July 17, 2016, from http://cinema-scope.com/features/last-action-hero-jason-statham-plays-straight/ 
2. Rose, S. (2015). Jason Statham: 'Do I want to be the next James Bond? Absolutely' Retrieved July 17, 2016, from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/01/jason-statham-i-want-to-be-the-next-james-bond 

Madonna: The Queen of Pop

Introduction

Madonna is an international artist, an actress, a writer and a successful business women. She was born in a Michigan, USA during 16 August 1958 and growing up in a Catholic family. Madonna moved to New York City in 1978 and began her career as a dancer.
She released her first debut single, "Everybody" in October 1982, and another album, “Madonna”was released in the following year. Her major career breakthrough happened when she released album “Like a Virgin” during 1984. Despite the controversy on her music video, the album made a huge success and the title track of the album retained the first position on ‘Billboard Chart’ for six weeks. Madonna is known for constantly reinventing both her music and image, her rebellious attitude toward religious and traditional moral value often raise controversies to her career. She constantly enhance on women power in her music video and being supportive toward LGBT community had also made her one of the greatest icon of Feminism and LGBT rights.

Theory discuss

I would like to discuss on the star theory proposed by Richard Dyer. He suggests that Stars when viewed as a form of consumption would consider the audience as part of the phenomenon. It suggests a relationship between stars and audience, with four categories which is: emotion affinity, self-identification, imitation and projection.
Emotion affinity is when audience feels attached to the star when watching them through media, from being involved in watching the star, as part of the narrative. It is also the most common reading by the audience.Self-identification is an intensified version of the emotions audience feel when watching a film and begins to place him/herself in the situation of the star.
It follows by imitation, suggests that audience take to imitating the stars beyond the cinema, making them as role models, for example imitate how the star dress like. It usually happens among the young audience. Projection happens when audience project any form of decision making in accordance to how the star would when place in the same situation. However this rarely happens and not widespread.

Analysis

In the case of Madonna, her fashion sense and rebellious attitude bring influence to generations of American. Madonna tends to convey a story through her music, the lyric, and her music video. She is building emotion affinity with her fans as they feel attached by watching her in the music video. It also influences their self-identification, for example in music video “Papa Don’t Preach” Madonna plays a teenage girl get pregnant and decides to keep her baby. It makes the audience to place themselves in the situation and raise the social awareness on the issue about teen pregnancy.
The rebellious attitude is also performed in Madonna’s fashions sense. Her style comprised of lace tops, skirts over capri pants, fishnet stockings, jewelry bearing the crucifix, bracelets, and bleached hair. Young women who look up to her will try to imitate her fashion, as they want to be as brave and tough like Madonna.

At last, fans will start to goes beyond imitating the star in terms of clothing or hairstyle, etc. Fans might project any form of decision making in accordance to “what would Madonna do?” when they are in the same situation. Madonna is also a well known LGBT icon for always show supportive toward the LGBT community, and even featured gay kiss in her music video “Justify My Love”. By using her influence, she changed how people think of the LGBT community and eventually contributed to the development of LGBT rights.

Conclusion

In conclusion, use star as phenomena of consumption to study on Madonna's stardom had propose the source of consumption by audience. Madonna builds her emotion attachment with the audience through her music, films, and any other media. Her moral value was accepted and spread widely in the society. It brings influence to not only the American and but also the international market who consumed her music. 

Reference

1. Madonna Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved July 10, 2016, from http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/madonna-2212.php
2. Dyer, R., & McDonald, P. (1998). Stars. London: BFI Pub.