Jonathan Romney's Access All Areas

A celebrity is not a person known for his/her talent or achievement, but an individual recognized for his/her reputation created by the media. The phase of stardom is slippery, and media may choose to represent celebrities varying from exaggerated admiration to mockery. The three texts chosen, movie "Sunset Boulevard", feature article "Over the Hilton" and television show "Celebrity Uncensored Six" are texts presenting different perception of celebrities than their usual images - either corrupted by the encircling media, overloads oneself with self-indulgence, or just mocks celebrity in a broad spectrum. Such media items empower and impresses the audience by perceiving celebrities as people who pay the price of privacy to gain well

Through revealing that actors had in fact portrayed Polley’s family, the film sets out to emphasise the reliability and truthfulness of the documentary as well as the recounts. Without notifying the audience that such archival footage was fake and placing this revelation at the end of the film allows the audience to really consider what the “truth” is. When asked about the making of the film, Harry Gulkin, Polley’s biological father, states that the truth is a subjective narrative, that these “narratives are shaped in part by their relationship to the person who told it to them, and by the events” (Stories We Tell 2012). Additionally, Polley states, “the way her mother’s story changed depended on who was going the telling” (Vulture, 2013). This point is what resonates from the film and its purpose – that the there are different sides to the truth; one truth to one person is false to another.

Firstly, it is important to understand how the documentary form is best suited to illustrate the film’s theme. In order to do this, one must have an overview of the documentary style of filmmaking. Documentaries concern themselves with the “exploration of

Documentarians often want to get as close to their subject matter as possible. Some documentarians have an insider perspective which ignites a spark to create a piece that illuminates a specific topic or area of study. There are also documentarians that have no affiliation with said subject matter, but want to explore the topic in question. Finally, there are documentarians that have a foot in both worlds. Insider/outsider is a theory in which a documentarian can be close to a subject, but also possess characteristics or traits that make them distant from the topic in question (Coles, 1998). Such is the case with the directors of both Stranger with a Camera and The House I Live In. Due to their own location, both Eugene Jarecki and Elizabeth Barret exhibit characteristics that make them fall into the insider/outsider roles as directors. Robert Coles defines location by stating, “We notice what we notice because of who we are” (Coles, 1998, p. 7). Included in this is, a person’s education, race, class, and gender. Both directors realize they are outsiders and utilize a lens into a world in which they are not otherwise a part of. Jarecki’s lens comes in the form of Nanny Jeter, his family’s nanny from when he was a child. Barret’s lens for her documentary is the community that she shared with Ison. The two directors enter into a world that they are not a part of because of their location, but forge a connection to the subject matter through means of a lens.

As consumers in today’s entertainment business, we don’t really think and evaluate about how a person or item captures our attention. Critics use media literacy to effectively evaluate how a celebrity can take hold of a consumer's time and energy. PartyNextDoor is one of many celebrities who manage to take some of the music business’ audience for himself. In order for a consumer to understand how he has done this, they must use the five tools of media literacy which is description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement.

As the title fades onto the screen a piece of percussive blues music is played to introduce the viewer to the type of raw music that this documentary would be covering. After a short clip from a Charles Kuralt interview, the director informs us about his deep admiration for Alan Lomax and gives reason as to why he is making the documentary. The first section of the film focuses on Lomax’s travels through Britain, interviewing the folksong collector that helped him with his work in the British Isles as well as a few of the singers he recorded. Tweed Waulking songs are used as a transition to the subject of work songs and Alan’s fascination with them. Film recordings of inmates singing penitentiary songs whilst they work are shown, as Alan recounts how he fell in love with this specific type of folk song.

Director Greg Whiteley is an admirer of Mitt Romney's father George.[1] He was further interested in filming Romney when he heard that Romney had attended a screening of his film New York Doll and was planning to run for president.[2] Whiteley then approached Tagg Romney about making a documentary about his father's presidential bid.[1] Mitt Romney was at first resistant to the idea of a documentary, but his wife Ann liked the idea. Although Whiteley had initially planned to only cover the 2008 election, he eventually ended up filming over a period of six

Rock ‘n’ roll presented us with the emergence of a cultural phenomenon, which the book lays out for us. Altschuler sees rock as a “metaphor for integration, as the focal point for anxiety that cultural life in the U.S. had become “sexualized”, a catalyst

However, when Kathy questions this established perspective of Don Lockwood in the following scene, it shatters his self-confidence. Disparaging acting in silent films, Kathy claims that performing on stage requires much more talent. With the true background of Lockwood, the implied audience better understands the effect of this statement. Despite Lockwood’s modest beginnings, Kathy may consider his vaudevillian past the most impressive point of his career, rendering his current status mute and unrefined. After their conversation, Lockwood ruminates on whether he more closely resembles the popular reverence he has grown accustomed to or a pompous and overpaid mime.

When the documentary was produced, media exposure was limited to private and expensive mediums such as television, movies and radio. These outlets were plagued with marketing agendas designed to sell products under the guise of authentic music and entertainment. Formerly non-existent cultural archetypes such as the

This picture is a perfect portrayal of celebrity culture in today’s era. The desire to be virtually ‘connected’ and share everything in one’s life is the new trend. And this has resulted from the constant competition from the new community of ‘microcelebrities’, which is based on achieving fame through broadcasting oneself through media. One of the demeaning aspect of the picture is the lack of genuineness and enforcement of stylish lifestyle on the audience which makes it loose the emotional quotient.

Hollywood is a very powerful modern day institution, where a star's image can characterize, shape and circulate societal myths and ideologies. The construction of a star's image as a commodity of their societal myths and ideologies has the extraordinary power to exert messages so that even the smallest details become significant yet not overtly obvious. How a star's image is produced and then consumed can justify a society's relationship with that image and therefore aid in explaining the social construction of what society deems as their 'reality'. A star's image is created through a range of representations churned out by Hollywood. Capitalism from the commercialization of these images has made Hollywood the dominant force it is

“My Appearance”, written by David Foster Wallace, revolves around a 40 year old female actress, Edilyn, who has made notable achievements in her acting career- including an Emmy nomination- and has been invited to David Letterman’s late night show. Her second husband is against this as he is worried that her appearance on the show could be problematic and terminate her career in the film industry. He believes that the sole purpose of Letterman’s show is to ridicule people and thus wants Edilyn to ridicule herself before Letterman has the chance to do it. Along with his friend Ron, they prepare Edilyn for the show and provide her with an earplug so that they can control how the show goes. They both believe that such a television appearance can either make you or break you depending on how well one handles David Letterman. At first the show is a disaster as things do not go as planned, but once Edilyn sets aside the acting and becomes her true self, the show ends up being a success. However, her husband still believes that she was acting and insists on the idea that no one is as they appear to be. In the end, despite her husband’s objection, Edilyn is convinced that Letterman is a sweet guy misunderstood by her husband and his friend.

A star’s image is a concept carefully molded by the celebrity himself or herself with the aid of many factors such as audience reception and current ideological trends. Star image, by definition, given by O’Shaughnessy and Stadler, is “the qualities, ideals, and values that a star represents, based on their films and other performances, and on media information circulated about them” (430). A change of star image encompasses the sum of everything we, as in the audience, affiliate with that star. That means changing the star’s body of work, promotion, publicity, and audience practices. These factors put together is also known as star text (Professor Josh Jackson, September 8, 2016, University of California, Berkeley). Jennifer Lawrence had a particular star text before she took on the role of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games and was instead known for her role of Ree Dolly in Winter’s Bone. This new role launched Lawrence into a different star text she was previously known for. Though it seemed like the change is solely based on her landing an already popular role, the change in her star text is still calculated in order for her to maintain a certain image that landed her at the top of the celebrity social ladder. This careful manipulation of a celebrity’s image as she takes on a role that guaranteed a big impact on her acting career demonstrates how a star’s image is important when it comes to maintaining what the celebrity, and everyone who is working with that

A musical film is a genre of movie where songs sung by characters are added into the storyline, occasionally complemented by choreography. The musical numbers in these films do not always develop the plot and characters, but they do give the films a more exciting quality. The primary difference between musical theatre and film musicals is the use of extravagant scenery that would be extraordinarily unreasonable for a stage performance. While making movies, the individuals involved have the luxury of being able to shoot multiple takes and have the time to move backgrounds around or change their entire location. Stage performances, on the other hand, must have scenery that can be easily and efficiently moved on and offstage when it is needed. In order to be able to thoroughly comprehend this relatively recent- in the grand scheme of things- form of entertainment, one should understand the history behind these musical films, be aware of some of the “big names” that are well-known, and recognize major titles that revolutionized musical film forever (Scaruffi, P., 2005).