The audience and the star: Genre as the interface and expectation-fulfillment as the catalyst of their relationship

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between a film audience and a film star. It assumes that the genre is a common ground or interface where an actor – who then becomes the star, and an audience meet together and afterward the expectations of that audience become the key player to push forward the relationship between them. In forging the relationship between two parties, the genre takes the responsibility of constructing an actor’s star-personality and of shaping the spectator’s size of a distinct kind. To substantiate the argument, the essay discusses audiences’ inscribed entity and construction of a star under the title ‘the star – a construction of the negotiations’; the dynamics of their relationship under the title ‘audience expectation and their relationship with the Star’ and finally, in conclusion, it highlights the genre’s intermediary contribution to the relationship. The author has taken the critical/theoretical approach; therefore heavily relied on existing literature and theories (e.g. psychoanalysis, star theory). Primary data has also been used in support of the arguments. Survey questionnaires and in-depth interviews have been used as methods of primary data collection.