Has Social Media Killed the Movie Star?
Welcome to the latest installment of One Moore Hollywood podcast, movie star edition. The question of the episode is: do movie stars exist anymore?
Additionally, has social media changed the definition of a movie star? Have we moved on from classic Hollywood movie stars? Do actors still hold the same level of star power as they used to, or has that power declined?
Our three hosts, Chris Moore, Katie Marpe, and Dennis De Nobile, take on these questions and more.
The Rise of Social Media
Undeniably, the rise of social media has affected fame, both in how people become famous and stay famous. However, there are differing opinions on how dramatic this effect has been on fame and its resulting stardom.
At UCLA, Dr. Marpe had many conversations with her students about the shifting definition of fame due to the widespread rise of social media–platforms like Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Vine (RIP). Around then, in 2014, YouTube was a place where young influencers were finding huge success developing their brands and establishing large followings. At the time, some of Marpe's students were more familiar with YouTube stars than classic movie stars.
A Shifting Definition of Fame
According to Marpe, while the definition of fame has changed because of how people get famous and who becomes famous, she doesn't think the entire concept of a movie star has been thrown out the window. Marpe still firmly believes in star power and its ability to attract an audience. In her opinion, movie stars still exist; the path to stardom has just changed.
Moore and De Nobile feel somewhat differently than Marpe, agreeing that the definition of fame has changed but lamenting the loss of what they perceive as the death of the kind of movie star they used to know.
De Nobile doesn't believe the change is entirely due to social media, pointing out how the digitization and home integration of entertainment has meant ten times the amount of content for audiences to sift through, resulting in split attention and effectively diluting the star power of movie stars. "The influence these stars had isn't there anymore," De Nobile claims.
Thirty years back or so, Moore adds, the average hit TV show was getting 30 million people simultaneously, whereas now it’ll get 1.8 million people spread over several nights. People aren't doing the same things at the same time anymore.
In the 80s, when De Nobile was a kid, several big stars did one or two major projects every year, and everyone knew about them. They were untouchable, seen only a couple of times a year on the big screen and in fan magazines and newspapers. Social media has now pushed movie stars online, making them feel more accessible to the audience than ever before.
Many Kinds of Movie Stars
In Marpe’s eyes, there are many different types of movie stars these days. No longer reserved for just the classic, mysterious, removed, glamorous Hollywood type, some people have found fame on YouTube or TikTok and keep their followers constantly apprised of their daily lives.
Classic movie stars relied on their web of agents, managers, and studio executives to decide what their work looked like, how it was made, and how they presented themselves to the world. Now, digital content creators have complete creative control over what they release and how they release it. "Creators don't need the big committee that Hollywood brings along anymore," Moore states.
Ultimately, Marpe says, authenticity is still the key to success. What's changed isn't so much the core of fame; it's the avenue to it and who has access now. "We all need to accept we have different definitions of stars," she concludes.
Listen to the entire episode here: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or iHeartRadio.
