Althouse: Kids don't care about movie stars.

May 8, 2012

Kids don't care about movie stars.

They don't recognize them in the trailers.

9 comments:

chickelit said...: YouTube killed the video star; 5/8/12, 5:15 PM
Synova said...: As someone who has never known who any of the "stars" are without making a rather deliberate effort, not knowing the names of the celebrities are seems entirely normal.

In my mind there are two realities related to "movies".

There is the story.

There is the glamour.

I've never cared even a little bit about the glamour.; 5/8/12, 5:18 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: I'm with Synova, I could barely picture most of the "stars" mentioned in the piece.

Part of it may be actors' reluctance to be type-cast. That's really the only way to easily make an impression (see Johnny Depp).; 5/8/12, 6:00 PM
Rabel said...: Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel in the same movie?

If there's an appropriate amount of black leather and cleavage, how can it fail?

Trailer did suck though.; 5/8/12, 6:12 PM
ricpic said...: These kids are 15 year olds. Did I have an identification with movie stars at that age? Not that I recall. Movies were something you went to once a month, if that often, and they washed over you and were forgotten, almost immediately. The first movie that had any impact on me was On The Waterfront, which I saw at about age 19 and the impact of both the film and of its star, Brando, was intense. But that's because I was at least somewhat formed by then. But at 15? At 15 "caring about" a movie star is a weirdness indicator.; 5/8/12, 6:36 PM
edutcher said...: A movie star was someone whose presence could guarantee good box office.

There hasn't been anybody like that in 40 years.

Except maybe Sean Connery.; 5/8/12, 6:49 PM
cassandra lite said...: What a bullshit article. Typical, too. Unless your hometown paper in the LAT (and you have at least a working connection to Hollywood), you really can't appreciate how little Patrick Goldstein gets right.

Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel and Bryan Cranston are hardly movie "stars." They're working actors (highly paid, yes) but none of them "opens" a movie, as the saying goes.

The kids (who, by the way, either attend a tony school or live in a predominately tony area) recognized all the faces that we would expect them to recognize. (You ever hear anyone say he/she wanted to go see "the new Charlize Theron movie"? Me neither.); 5/8/12, 6:52 PM
AlanKH said...: I'm with Synova, I could barely picture most of the "stars" mentioned in the piece.

Is the author of the piece old enough to remember Reagan or disco or carburetors?; 5/9/12, 12:01 AM
prairie wind said...: I have never seen a Charlize Theron movie but I sort of know who she is because I see her in magazines. Kids don't read magazines. They are more likely to recognize the kid in the 'Charlie bit my finger' video.; 5/9/12, 8:52 AM