Heavenly Bodies

More words and less sense have been written about stars than about any other aspect of the cinema. Among all the outpourings of the fan magazines and the ghosted autobiographies, there has been remarkably little writing of any worth about either the nature of performance in film or the meaning which audiences carry away from such performances. Richard Dyer, in his careful studies of three major stars, opens up new avenues of approach. Through subtle and detailed readings of the films of Marilyn Monroe, Paul Robeson and Judy Garland, combined with a wealth of material on these personalities from other sources, he shows just hoe the screen image of each star was constructed. Dyer then goes on to plot the development of each star's image against the attitudes and experience of particular social groups. Marilyn Monroe is placed in the context of ideas about sexuality in the fifties. Paul Robeson is discussed in relation to black and white definition of black identity. And Judy Garland is read in the light of her special place in gay male culture.