The post-mortem star discourse, or, loving Adrienne Shelly
2014; Routledge; Volume: 5; Issue: 1-2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/19392397.2014.887534
ISSN1939-2400
Autores Tópico(s)Nostalgia and Consumer Behavior
ResumoThe image of the prematurely dead film star is a site for the perception of cinema’s paradox of presence, or the romantic characterisation of a reality that is not ‘there’. Repeated evocations of this kind have given rise to a veritable cult of dead stars, where single names have the power to instantly convey the affective phenomenon: Marilyn, River, Brandon, Heath, Brittany … Across a number of case studies this paper is concerned with this ‘post-mortem star discourse’ as an effect of film criticism and writing. Taking a central interest in the process by which the writing frames dead stars with an intensity that exceeds the environment of the films in which they appear, it argues that this discourse demonstrates the centrality of the spectator to a notion of cinematic ‘presence’ – as something that does not simply pre-exist performance but is produced by performance during its reception. Taking cues from Roland Barthes and Laura Mulvey, it frames this writing as a ‘lover’s discourse’ that strives to recover and convey a sense of corporeal presence in both the star body and cinema itself. The article then examines how this logic can apply to the case of indie star Adrienne Shelly, whose acting and directing work offers a site in which the post-mortem star discourse collides with the self-reflexive theorisation of performance and artifice.
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