Module Information
Module Identifier
FM21520
Module Title
Film Stardom and Celebrity
Academic Year
2025/2026
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 2
Reading List
Course Delivery
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Essay 2000 Words | 50% |
| Semester Assessment | Reflective Journal 2000 Words | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Essay 1 2000 Words | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Essay 2 2000 Words | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
Demonstrate an understanding of key concepts in the fields of star and celebrity studies.
Analyse a star image using key critical approaches to the study of stardom and celebrity.
Demonstrate an understanding of historical changes in star image and the fields of star and celebrity studies.
Evaluate how a star/celebrity image impacts on wider society.
Brief description
This module investigates the subject of stardom and celebrity across film, TV and media contexts.
A) Cultural and political contexts: understanding the processes by which stardom and star images are constructed within popular and public cultures and the political impact of these.
B) National: having an awareness of the different ways stars are consumed within different national and transnational contexts (both away from, and in relation to, Hollywood filmmaking).
C) Theoretical: exploring how stardom has been traditionally theorised within celebrity studies and cultural studies.
D) Historical and industrial: investigating the changing role of the star within the Hollywood industry from the early 1900s to the present day, and the star as a ‘worker’ as well as an ‘image’.
E) The multi-platform nature of celebrity, whereby the construction and maintenance of stardom is achieved via enterprises across a variety of media forms including cinema, television, the internet and print media.
This module offers a critical insight into the history of stardom within mainstream media. It will examine major theoretical discourses pertaining to stars, stardom and celebrity culture. Students will be encouraged to consider the correlation between individual stars and the range of contexts which define performers as stars via a series of case studies linking major stars with a variety of historical and critical approaches. The way in which stardom is constructed by producers and consumers through film texts, marketing discourses, multimedia platforms, national and transnational cinemas, audiences and specific historical circumstances will be analysed.
A) Cultural and political contexts: understanding the processes by which stardom and star images are constructed within popular and public cultures and the political impact of these.
B) National: having an awareness of the different ways stars are consumed within different national and transnational contexts (both away from, and in relation to, Hollywood filmmaking).
C) Theoretical: exploring how stardom has been traditionally theorised within celebrity studies and cultural studies.
D) Historical and industrial: investigating the changing role of the star within the Hollywood industry from the early 1900s to the present day, and the star as a ‘worker’ as well as an ‘image’.
E) The multi-platform nature of celebrity, whereby the construction and maintenance of stardom is achieved via enterprises across a variety of media forms including cinema, television, the internet and print media.
This module offers a critical insight into the history of stardom within mainstream media. It will examine major theoretical discourses pertaining to stars, stardom and celebrity culture. Students will be encouraged to consider the correlation between individual stars and the range of contexts which define performers as stars via a series of case studies linking major stars with a variety of historical and critical approaches. The way in which stardom is constructed by producers and consumers through film texts, marketing discourses, multimedia platforms, national and transnational cinemas, audiences and specific historical circumstances will be analysed.
Content
This is the indicative content of a number of topics that will be studied on this module:
• The history of film stardom
• The construction of star images and their meanings
• Stardom and gender
• Audiences responses to stardom and celebrity
• Marketing and publicity
• 'Authenticity' and Celebrity
• The Wrestler as a hybrid celebrity
• Television stardom
• Stardom, media personalities and celebrity culture
• Celebrity labour
• Celebrity and Social Media.
• The history of film stardom
• The construction of star images and their meanings
• Stardom and gender
• Audiences responses to stardom and celebrity
• Marketing and publicity
• 'Authenticity' and Celebrity
• The Wrestler as a hybrid celebrity
• Television stardom
• Stardom, media personalities and celebrity culture
• Celebrity labour
• Celebrity and Social Media.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | Students will be given the opportunity to reflect upon basic statistical data (primarily presented in percentages), through encouraging key research studies in the field |
| Communication | Lecture discussion and feedback, as well as written work |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Lecture discussion, assessment and feedback |
| Information Technology | Extensive use of Blackboard |
| Personal Development and Career planning | Communication (written and oral), teamwork, IT |
| Problem solving | Lecture discussion, written assignments and acting on feedback |
| Research skills | Requirement for assignments |
| Subject Specific Skills | Knowledge of stardom and celebrity studies |
| Team work | Lecture discussion – in small teams |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 5