Gods Like Us: On Movie Stardom and Modern Fame [Paperback]

With 8 Pages of Black-and-White Photographs

In this captivating history of stardom,Boston Globefilm critic Ty Burr traces our obsession with fame from the dawn of cinema through the age of the Internet. Why do we obsess over the individuals we come to call stars? How has both the image of stardom and our stars' images changed over the past hundred years? What does celebrity mean if people can now become famous simply for being famous? With brilliant insight and entertaining examples, Burr reveals the blessings and the curses of celebrity for the star and the stargazer alike. From Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin, to Archie Leach (a.k.a. Cary Grant), Tom Cruise, and Julia Roberts, to such no-cal stars of today as the Kardashians and the new online celebrity,Gods Like Usis a journey through the fame game at its flashiest, most indulgent, occasionally most tragic, and ultimately it's most culturally revealing.

Praise for Ty Burr'sGods Like Us:

“A penetrating, lively cultural history of movie stardom. . . . [Burr] has a witty, readable style, but don't let that pop façade fool you.  There is substance here, as he dissects how each period in American history finds or create stars to serve its needs.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“[A] lively and provocative chronicle of the genesis of movie stars and the metamorphosis of movie stardom. . . . Any Hollywood history can describe a star’s X factor. But not many film historians can see the whole equation as Ty Burr does inGods Like Us. . . . He offers original thinking about the audience factor.”
—The New York Times

“Gods Like Usis a standout, as enjoyable as it is informative, when it comes to the astrology of public entertainment.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“Wide-ranging. . . . Superb. . . . Capacious and thought-provoklâ