Core Post: Femininity and the Fifties

Reading over William A. Brown's article, "Audrey Hepburn: Film Star as an Event," it never occurred to me the unique factors that all apply in which stars are able to market themselves and their personal brand. It was interesting to me to read about all the major factors that impacts a star's image, for example there is the manipulation of fashion and clothes as we see fashion becoming a whole new genre in it's relation to rising stardom. This is something I see evident because the 1950s had stars like Marilyn Monroe who were essentially viewed by the public as these large sex symbols. Marilyn's use of her sexuality and her appeal to her fashion look all helped project her into further stardom. Her iconic Hollywood moment with her white "flying dress" is a monumental moment in pop culture and set to complete her look and brand as America began to tentatively become more open minded about sexuality at that time. This also not only applies to Marilyn Monroe but Audrey Hepburn as well with her "ambiguous gender" and "ambiguous nationality" as mentioned by Brown (Brown, 134). In Hepburn's case she was the stark opposite to a figure like that of Monroe with her versatile and ambiguous look and how she is able to "embody not one thing or the other, but both or all things at once" (Brown, 141). These are just all small factors that contributed to the rise in her celebrity status as Brown rules her rise to stardom as an "event." As is the same with most other stars who generally find themselves at the pinnacle of stardom with not one single happening taking them there but an "event" as a whole.  

A modern day example to detail the idea of rising stardom as an "event" would have to have been the rise of the celebrity and movie star, Jennifer Lawrence. Her rise to fame seemingly looked like it came out of nowhere as we began to see her name consistently pop up in every major blockbuster that came out in 2015/2016. Jennifer Lawrence was able to reach stardom so quickly because she had a different personality that made her appear more down to earth and more of a real normal human being than this larger than life movie star. This is also an actress with a versatile look as we see her play various roles on the spectrum much like that of Hepburn's androgynous look. Although there is a debate as to whether her quirks are genuine, the media and fans were obsessed for quite some time in much relation to how Brown talks of Audrey Hepburn's "impossible face" and how they are unique in "showing the perfection of imperfection" (Brown, 146). Lawrence was able to rise to such a welcoming fan base because her look and her brand was unique and made her seem like a breathe of fresh air compared to the stereotypical Hollywood stars. It was her unique qualities that helped draw the public towards her and propelled her towards fame.