The relatively new field of Celebrity Studies—dismissed by some as scholarly unviable, embraced by others as a fresh intellectual breeze—is advancing in an increasingly surefooted manner to prove its academic productivity. The present volume, Starlight and Stargazers, provides ample proof for this trend. Edited by Helena Goscilo, it presents eleven essays that apply celebrity studies methods to East and West Slavic cultures.
The essays are arranged in alphabetical order by the names of their subjects, with portrayals ranging from the Polish entertainer and early sound film star Eugeniusz Bodo to Ukrainian actor and politician Volodymyr Zelensky. The majority of contributors follow the “life and work” approach. Reconstructing the ups and downs of their stars’ careers, the essays cover the period from the 1920s and 30s, as in the case of Bodo and the Soviet actress and singer Liubovʹ Orlova, to the twenty-first century. The case studies are predominantly devoted to film actors and actresses, such as the Czech Ana Geislerová and the Russian Renata Litvinova. With the dialectics of stardom and fandom in mind, the authors aim at defining their subjects’ specific source of fascination for the public, for example, the “eroticized physicality” of Polish star Daniel Olbrychski. Several essays emphasize sociopolitical aspects, such as the close involvement of the “Bondarchuk dynasty” with the Soviet and post-Soviet centers of power. The chapters also feature an aspect that goes beyond the individual case and suggests extrapolations; in many cases, the authors make cross references to other Slavic cultures. To be sure, each essay would deserve a detailed discussion of its own; alas, this review can only provide a rough survey and some suggestions.
Beginning with the introduction, the terms “star” and “celebrity” are used interchangeably, in a wide, sometimes all too wide sense. Thus, the inclusion of Czech director Jiří Menzel or Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland may raise eyebrows. While they enjoy, or enjoyed, a degree of name recognition among cineastes and can be seen as celebrities at festivals, “stardom” seems to denote a much higher degree of admiration by much larger numbers of fans. Of course, the blurredness of the terminology comes with the territory: celebrity studies both suffer and benefit from the oscillating nature of their subjects. The introduction already casts an extremely wide net forcing “celebrities” such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sylvia Plath, and Princess Diana into one text. What indeed is the subject of celebrity studies? Any person who enjoys fame, at least for a while (fifteen minutes, as a Czech-American superstar once quipped)? In the present volume, ethnic and geographical boundaries in national film industries appear as the main structural principle. The introduction provides a glittering variety of aspects that distinguish film celebrities in Russia and Ukraine, Czechia and Poland. A peculiarity of stardom, and a problem of national approaches, however, is that celebrities often transcend national boundaries, sometimes in paradoxical ways: Gojko Mitić (not covered in this volume) was a superstar in east European countries but hardly known at home. The extent to which cultures open themselves to transnationality, turning national into international stars, would certainly reward scholarly attention.
Several authors discuss theories of celebrity, especially by the British Marxist Chris Rojek, whose work is referred to in almost every chapter. Somewhat dissatisfying is the lack of differentiation between varieties of stardom or celebrity. The roots, mechanisms, and expressions of “celebrification” deserve to be researched in a sociologically precise manner, which would include an analysis of the particular groups that generate the fan base for each star at a certain time. Moreover, the distinction between lowbrow and highbrow should not be completely neglected—after all, most of the “stars” in this collection are serious artists, who, curiously, appeal to both mass and elite audiences, albeit in different kinds of cultural paradigms.
A few texts contain unfortunate inaccuracies; thus, Sergei Bondarchuk died in 1994, not 1995 (58); Anastasia Vertinskaia was cast as Liza Bolkonskaia in War and Peace, not Natasha Rostova (60). But such mistakes are rare. The book proves that a budding discipline offers an impressive range of opportunities in finding fresh thematic approaches. Overall, the volume has been researched and written thoroughly and with noticeable passion. It has been generously illustrated with a large number of black and white and color plates. Overall, Starlight and Stargazers is to be lauded for its innovative drive. It demonstrates that cultural studies can, and perhaps should, be fun.
