What makes a star? It was a shorter discussion in cinema studies this week, as it was my group’s turn to conduct our presentation on the importance of Shrek to the popular cinema canon. We then turned our attention to this week’s film, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, as the basis for a discussion of stardom.

Because of course, if gentlemen prefer blondes, there is none greater than Marilyn Monroe, the star of the film. We spent most of the seminar looking at her in great detail as the exemplary ‘star’.

We started the discussion with ‘what is the difference between an actor and a star?’ Our answers all seemed to circle around the concept that a star is known outside of their roles, as their own name and, particularly, their own personality. This was our way into talking about Marilyn Monroe, and her persona.

Through the roles that she played, Monroe became known not just as a woman who played femme fatale, blonde bombshell characters, but a woman who was a femme fatale and blonde bombshell herself. That in turn fueled the roles that she was given.

But was she really like that? We watched a few short clips in class about Marilyn; one of her discussing her sexuality, and one of former husband Arthur Miller reflecting on her life. Both seemed to suggest that she was a far more complex, serious character than her public persona would allow for.

And therein lies the key problem with the concept of stardom. As was emphasised in the readings and in class, everything we know of a star comes from mediated messages; movie promotions, TV appearances, even so-called ‘candid’ interviews are edited and moulded to suit a certain agenda. What we know of a star can be very untrue; and yet it’s that image that influences their role in popular cinema.