The cultural politics of Jennifer Lawrence as star, actor, celebrity

Abstract

ABSTRACT Jennifer Lawrence emerged as a major star of American cinema following the collapse of the economy in 2008. This article will argue that her image in the initial phase of her fame (2010–16) is reflective of mainstream culture’s response to the crisis of neoliberalism and the endemic economic insecurity it has precipitated. Rising to prominence in the Great Recession through indie hit Winter’s Bone (2010), in which Lawrence played Ree Dolly, an impoverished young girl trying to save her family from destitution, on to her zeitgeist-capturing turns as reluctant revolutionary Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games (2012–15) series, and through her role as successful entrepreneur and single mom Joy Mangano in Joy (2015), she played to a particular ‘type’: ‘white trash with too much responsibility’. Indeed, the initial phase of Lawrence’s film career (2010–16) performed essential cultural work in the aftermath of the recession, attempting to critique the consequences of neoliberalism’s crisis, but ultimately coming to reinforce some of its fundamental ideological tenets. This article argues that Lawrence’s image, performances, and acting style have addressed the effects of the crisis of neoliberalism and, more often than not, offered a fantastical vision of how one might escape it.