In 2017, Anthony Mackie, the actor who plays The Falcon and is now Captain America in the MCU, was asked about the movie business in an interview at the MCM London Comic Con. The actor politely answered about the nuances of the film industry and how things had changed since he started in it. He essentially said that movies are no longer made focused on star power. They are made based on their profitability and ability to be franchised.
Now, let’s dial back some 40 years. There was no internet back then, and films relied on word of mouth and the occasional critical piece by Siskel and Ebert inAt the Movies. For an extensive period, not even a trailer was something accessible, since you had to go to the theater to get access to them. Posters, however, were a whole different game; a single poster featuring the movie star told you everything you needed to know about the film.
The gamble in this era was considerable, since audiences didn’t know what they were getting into when they went to watch a movie. We had to make do with as little information as we had and sort out the rest by word of mouth. So had the stars, who, for the last three decades of the 20th century, saw their profession elevated and their status increased. A movie star used to be seen as the upper echelon of society, someone to appreciate from afar and be idolized by the masses.
The Internet Broke Down the Barriers Between Stars and Fans
The internet truly changed everything. On a planet with 8 billion people, the gap for total interconnectivity is closing down, with only 2.7 billion human beings still with no access to online resources. That also means 3/4 of humanity can interact with each other regardless of distance and time zone. It wasn’t always this way, and it didn’t begin to affect the movie industry until well into the 21st century.
For most of the 2000s, movie stars still had their staying power. Big names on billboards and beautifully designed posters drove audiences to theaters. In that era, sites like Blogger or LiveJournal and multiple web-based forums were the only places where people could gather to exchange ideas. Actors were still viewed as larger-than-life figures. Then MySpace came along, and everything changed. This website was primarily focused on music artists interacting with their fans, but some movie stars wanted in on the action.
By 2008, Facebook had taken over MySpace, but just four years later, the rise of smartphones and two other platforms were closing the gap between regular people and revered movie stars: Twitter and Instagram. Both platforms offered something MySpace and Facebook didn’t back then: verified status. Now,users could interact with performerswith only a few taps on their screens and learn what their favorite movie stars were up to or when their next project would be released. It also made everyone realize how regular (and sometimes detached) entertainers really are.
Younger Actors Must Embrace Social Media to Promote Their Work
Real-time interaction on social media killed the mystery behind most movie stars' staying power. As expected, the older generation have largely kept to themselves, and they are the ones who still enjoy some degree of respect. These days, every single public figure has a presence in multiple social media accounts, either to promote their work or for advertising deals. These platforms have also been a source of judgment of their efforts, present and past, with fans using these means of communicationto call them out on past behaviorsor offensive roles.
All these elements combined have diminished the lasting impact movie stars used to have. Creatives go the same route, some even becoming confrontational on these platforms when audiences are critical of their creative output or lackluster work. The disconnection between the movie star, the creatives, and even heads of studios is a thing of the past. Today, audiences will air their grievances in real-time, letting studios know how they feel about their offerings.
This has brought a whole set of challenges as studios have been driven away from artistic endeavors and are more business-driven. Bob Igercertainly seems comfortableby affirming they are in the business of creating products that appeal to everyone. Most films made by Disney are produced with a target demographic in mind, and they are planned out to have a short shelf life, unlike most movies from the past.
The Studio System Helps Extinguish the Star Power of Actors
Trying to get universal praise with a single media piece is nearly impossible. Films are an art form, just like a painting or a piece of music. Movies are meant to be appreciated or dismissed. Gaining praise for taking risks is much more fulfilling than going the safe route over and over. Yet here we are, with the industry focused on yearly releases of sequels and big-budget films, while middle-budget films reliant on star power are going the way of the dodo.
This certainly affects the modern generation of actors. People like Chris Evans, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Chris Hemsworth, or Anthony Mackie should be the next generation of biggest stars. Yet, they are noticed mainly by the parts they play in larger franchises. Audiences can test this theory by Googling specific keywords such as “most popular modern actors.” The results are a list of performers who are well past their prime but still are the most recognizable faces in the business.
If anything, social media also breeds contempt towards actors, especially since many of them use their platform to expand on their own political views, which always opens the divisive breach between those who agree with the public figure and those who don’t. Last but not least is streaming. What seems to be the fumbling new race to win in the entertainment industry is already secured by Netflix, who had a healthy head start and has the money to ensure the ongoing production of their originals.
Netflix and other streaming services are in fierce competition to achieve supremacy, but the financial muscle of the original giant nerfs everyone in the field. However, this does have a downside as their never-ending offeringscan easily overwhelm audiences, and their unending campaigns on social media to promote the sheer amount of content they put out don’t give any room to any upcoming talent to truly shine on their merits.
Times are bound to change at some point, and it’s safe to say the current entertainment landscape is unsustainable. Studios have had a year to feel the pinch with multiple box office flops and a strike that gave them time and pause to re-organize their homes. We’ll likely see a new framework in 2024, with most studios being mindful of their expenses and profits. Maybe we’ll get a chance to see a new generation of movie stars rise on account of their talent and not the properties they are attached to, but for now, we can only hope.
