The star has always been an idea that is more than just the performance that is projected on screen, Dyer constructs the view that ‘star images are always more complex and specific’, with the ‘image found across a range of media texts’ (Dyer, 1979/1998:60). Therefore, looking into these constructions of star images, I will analyse how the contemporary crossover between music and film may result in these stars having to ‘adapt their star image, constructed from the nature of their music… to film narratives’ (Wright, 2019:4). Also, I will study the theories surrounding the idea that these crossover stars offer more than just acting, with the stars being able to ‘guarantee the movie access to the market and guarantee that the public will be attracted to the cinema’ (Cucco, 2009:226) through their wider appeal. Using these theories stated above and the case study of Will Smith I will argue that the cross over star does offer a large appeal and many benefits to the industry, however, it can result in not being sustainable if major changes aren’t put into effect.
Literature Review -
When looking to define what a crossover star entails, I found that it was easier to define the word “crossover”, which is the movement ‘to reach a broader audience by a change of medium or style’ (Merriam-Webster, 2021). It is also important to note that this is it not a new process created at the start of the contemporary period due to technology changes, but in fact thrived in the studio era with McCarthy (2021) stating that ‘the original crossover star, Bing Crosby forged the path for so many singers-turned-actors’ (McCarthy,2021) , Frank Sinatra being ‘completely reborn when the musician-turned-actor won an Academy Award for his supporting role in From Here to Eternity’ (CinemaBlend, no date), and ‘less than a year after she released… Like A Virgin, Madonna delivered one of her most iconic film roles’ (Vogue, 2018). However, a change between the old and new studio eras that may affect the success of this transition of stardom comes from the popularity of Hollywood musicals, which allowed the musicians of the studio era to show off their talent, offering something that the regular actor couldn’t. This has changed more recently with Wright (2019) stating that new ‘music stars have rarely appeared in musical films, signalling the genre’s decline in popularity… but, also, how crossover stardom has altered from the classical Hollywood era to today’ (Wright, 2019:3).
Due to decline in Hollywood musicals within the contemporary era, it wouldn’t be wrong to assume that the musician’s time as an actor were all but over. However, due to a ‘profound change in on-line use’ (Marshall, 2010:38), with musicians who would normally just be a voice becoming celebrity faces. Both musicians and film industries saw the mutual benefits of the crossover between industries. Thompson (1995) perfectly summarises this by stating that the ‘[b]ig pop names will… supply both charisma and crowds, and films offer them the chance to appear multi-faceted at the same time as prolonging their working lives beyond the whim of teen allegiance’ (Thompson, 1995:33). Richard Dyer (1979/1995) also comments on this connection in a more cynical manner, identifying two oppositional views, with the first being that the ‘perspective stars are to be seen in terms of their function on the economy of Hollywood, including, crucially, their role in the manipulation of Hollywood’s market, the audience’ and the second accounting for ‘the star phenomenon in terms either of some intrinsic property of the film medium or else the special magic of the stars themselves’ (Dyer, 1979/1995:10). These ideas of the crossover star creating a crowd and functioning in the economy of Hollywood, links to the theories of stars being “Bankable”.
When defining a “bankable” star, Frankel (1999) defines it as an actor that is ‘most capable of guaranteeing box-office success simply by showing up in a movie’ (Frankel,1999). This idea of bankability is not only quantified through box office success, but Shingler (2012) suggests that ‘stars are used to secure funding for films due to the belief that they make a significant contribution’ (Shingler, 2012:8), resulting in these crossover stars being seen as a ‘form of capital, constituting a significant investment’ (ibid,95). Putting this theory of the bankable star into that of crossover stardom shows how valuable these stars were to the film industry, with them not only possibly carrying a recently forged film fanbase, but also having a large fanbase from their previous form of media. Therefore, with this need to guarantee success, crossover over stars are seen as highly desirable. However, this can result in the stars forming a certain “type” of role and their films becoming that of star vehicles.
Star Vehicles are the idea that studios are involved in the ‘matching of star and premise’ (McDonald, 2013:87) and the providing of ‘a character type… a situation, setting or generic context associated with the star’ (Dyer, 1979/1995:62). This idea therefore requires a ‘delicate balance between novelty (originality) and familiarity (repetition)’ (Shingler, 2012:112). This consistency within the type of roles portrayed also links to the theories presented in Christine Geraghty’s work into the star-as-professional, where she states that ‘for the star-as-professional a stable star image is of crucial importance. Too much difference from established star image may lead to disappointment’ (Geraghty, 2000:189). This disappointment of fans links to the idea of a delicate balance when it comes to using star vehicles, as the film needs to be different enough from their last to fool audiences.
Therefore, from this analysis of the academic research into the benefits of crossover stardom for both the star and industries, as well as the common career path into become the vehicle for films due to their “bankable” appeal. My next step will be to introduce the case study of Will Smith and start to analyse his crossover career. Looking into the benefits of his past and whether Will Smith was able to be successful in his transition, fail in his transition or unable to maintain his transition between medias.
Case Study: Will Smith (1986-Present)-
‘A combination of success in blockbuster films and multi-million-selling records has, in some cases, made [Will Smith] an embodiment of corporate synergy’ (King,2003:62) and one of the most successful stars in contemporary Hollywood. Therefore, making him the perfect case study when looking into the appeal of the crossover star. Will Smith started his career as a rapper, teaming up ‘with Jeff Townes to form DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince’ (Vann,2019), going on to produce an album which ‘won the first-ever Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance’ (Biography,2021). In 1990, he signed a contract with NBC with saw ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air built around him’ and ‘proved itself to be a huge breakthrough in Smith’s career’ (FreshPrince.Fandom, no date). Only five years later, saw Smith land his first major role in Bad Boys (1995), with McDonald stating that by ‘transferring the popularity he accomplished in music and television [he] launch[ed] his big-screen career’ (McDonald, 2013:no page number).
His second major co-starring role in Men in Black (1997) ‘established him as a global Hollywood and music star’ (Wright, 2019:117), with the film making a ‘worldwide box office of $587,790,539’ (TheNumbers, no date). When looking into these early big-screen roles, Wright also suggests that they ‘further extend the trajectory of Smith’s music and TV stardom by presenting him as an action hero, but also prolong his association with a childlike image’ (Wright, 2019:123), this can be seen through his constant comedic moments and is the first sign of the construction of a star image. McDonald adds to this theory by stating that ‘across music, television and film, Smith cultivated a core set of qualities that formed his branded personality… regardless of the individual character, Smith always conveyed qualities of amiability, pleasantness and politeness’ (McDonald, 2013:no page number). There is also evidence that when Will Smith moves away from this star image the roles fail, with Seven Pounds (2008) bombing, resulting in only ‘$169,748,929 worldwide’ (BoxOfficeMojo, no date). This therefore, can be seen to match the theories of Geraghty (2000) stated above, where she says that a changing in the ‘established star image may lead to disappointment’ (Geraghty, 2000:189). However, as much as Smith may want to avoid this image, for Men in Black, Will Smith’s star image allowed for them to create a role which catered a ‘“perfect fit” for his star image… but also a corporate “perfect fit”, exploiting his music stardom to benefit of the film product’ (Wright, 2019:132).
When focusing on Men in Black we are able to identify a perfect example of the appeal of crossover stars, with ‘the film and Smith’s stardom coincid[ing] to create his most commercially successful period in his career, but also a perfect moment of synergy for the corporations involved with the film and music soundtrack’ (ibid, 124). This synergy came in the form of Smith producing a song entitled Men in Black (1997) to coincide with the release of the film. The song didn’t just help market the film but also ‘won a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance’ (Songfacts,2021) and topped the UK and American charts. This ability to create commercial success between medias resulted in Will Smith becoming largely “Bankable” and ‘the only person to receive a perfect score of 10’ (Forbes, 2009) on Forbes 2009 most valuable actors list. Many in this era of Will Smith dominance went as far to state that ‘[b]ankable was an understatement; bulletproof is more applicable’ (Tharpe, 2015). However, not long after this dominance, a series of bad career decisions put his guarantee of success on the line.
To maintain a star image as a crossover actor many ‘go through a process of adaptation between music and film’ (Wright, 2019:145), choosing whether to alter the new image from their music stardom or being forced to change to continue their career. However, when it comes to Will Smith, Wright (2019) argues that he was ‘unable to unify his music and television stardom with his later position as a “bankable” Hollywood property’ (ibid, 145). This resulted in Smith leaving his music for ten years to focus on acting, however, failed to solve the issue with almost two back-to-back disasters in Seven Pounds and After Earth (2013), being Smiths ‘self-proclaimed “most painful failure” of his career’ (Tharpe, 2015) and the start of the cracks appearing in his “bankability”.
To expose ‘Smith’s unstable position in contemporary Hollywood’ (Wright, 2019:139), it is important to note that this downfall could be seen coming with his career fitting the star-as-performer model almost too closely. Using Independence Day (1996) we will see that many of his most popular roles fit the same structure, with Magill (2009) stating that ‘he teams up with a white man to defeat a menacing villain… stars a semi-tough, big-eared, endlessly charismatic rapping matinee idol who can be relied upon to avenge the nation’s capital or save the universe with sarcasm, irony and corniness’ (Magill, 2009:129). After studying his filmography, I found that between 1995 and 2020, 15 out of 29 of his films, including his biggest hits, follow the premise identified above. Another interesting insight into Smith’s career is his constant return to his “safe” blockbuster hits, with White (2020) arguing that he has a ‘increasingly eager tendency to crawl back into the womb of his earliest blockbusters’ (White,2020). This constant return to his early work could be considered one of the main reasons for he being unable to get rid of his star image, as audiences are unable to forget his old roles as he is constantly returning to them.
The final part of his downfall I want to discuss is his constant misjudgement of film roles, with the most obvious misjudgement coming in the form of turning down the role of Django (Jamie Foxx) in Django Unchained (2012) because ‘the actor was not being asked to play the “lead role”’ (Dhar, 2020). This role ended up going to Jamie Foxx, who could be seen as the perfect reflection of Will Smith’s career, starting as a ‘regular on television, appearing on the comedy-sketch show In Living Color (1990-2006) and staring in his own self-titled sitcom’ (NotableBiographies, 2021). He also broke into the music industry with multiple chart hits, as well as feature of Kanye West’s Gold Digger (2005). However, whereas Will Smith’s career stalled and started to fall, Foxx has continued, earning himself an Oscar win and a sustainable star image.
Although, struggling to break his star image with the film industry, Will Smith has managed to make another crossover into that of YouTube, where he is embracing his past. Heritage (2018) states that it came ‘just in the nick of time. If any celebrity needed to have an active online presence, it was Will Smith’ (Heritage,2018). Wright (2019) also states that a ‘lack of domestic box office success [can be] especially damaging for a star whose stardom is built on capital’ (Wright, 2019:140). Therefore, moving to YouTube allows him to maintain his capital while not being as successful in the film industry. This idea of maintaining capital also links to the ideas of ‘maximum publicity becoming a personal brand’ (Cook, 2012:141) and that of ‘exploit[ing] the status of being famous across the whole range of entertainment formats’ (Geraghty, 2000:188). Therefore, we can see Smith moving away from the star-as-professional typing and towards that of a star-as-celebrity due to the ‘emphasis on the private sphere and the interaction with other forms of fame’ and that ‘star[s] can continue to command attention as a celebrity despite failures at the box office’ (ibid, 189).
In Conclusion, this description of a star-as-celebrity perfectly summarises Will Smith’s current position as a crossover star. Initial success can be seen in crossing over into film in the 1990’s, with his fame engulfing that of his past career as a musician. However, when it came to his pedigree and longevity as an actor, the level of success can be argued. This is due to his concrete star image and departure from music leaving him as a star-as-professional and no longer an active crossover star. This has therefore seen Smith fall too deep into the category of the star-as-celebrity, with him unable to disappear into a role due to his level of fame outside of film.
When look into the future of academic study on the crossover star and considering new stars entering the film industry from other professions, I believe that the case of Will Smith has a high possibility of being replicated multiple times. This is due the rapid rise of celebrity cultures and the large interest into celebrity’s personal life’s, resulting in stars struggling to lose this pre-constructed star image. Therefore, following Will Smith’s career path and leading to a new area of study for academics.
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