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Meryl Streep mystique

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Date Issued:
2010
Summary:
This thesis employs a star study of Meryl Streep, incorporating pertinent feminist, reception and culture-studies theories, to investigate biases within the Hollywood film industry. The actress has enjoyed a resurgence as a leading lady at age 61. Streep's star persona, acting prowess and career arc are examined across three theoretical platforms - production of culture, textual analysis, and audience analysis - or clues as to why she has been singled out among her peers. This thesis posits that Streep's unique star image and surge in popularity have helped her break out of hegemonic articulations of gender and aging that privilege youthful beauty, putting female stars at a disadvantage within the capitalistic film industry. Also considered is the cultural significance of Streep's late-life success: Does she represent new openings for older actresses (and concomitantly, an increase in film representations of aging women), or is she merely an anomaly within the entrenched patriarchal system?
Title: The Meryl Streep mystique: a study of gender, aging, Hollywood and a female star.
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Name(s): Allerton, Tracy.
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Issued: 2010
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form: electronic
Extent: vii, 138 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: This thesis employs a star study of Meryl Streep, incorporating pertinent feminist, reception and culture-studies theories, to investigate biases within the Hollywood film industry. The actress has enjoyed a resurgence as a leading lady at age 61. Streep's star persona, acting prowess and career arc are examined across three theoretical platforms - production of culture, textual analysis, and audience analysis - or clues as to why she has been singled out among her peers. This thesis posits that Streep's unique star image and surge in popularity have helped her break out of hegemonic articulations of gender and aging that privilege youthful beauty, putting female stars at a disadvantage within the capitalistic film industry. Also considered is the cultural significance of Streep's late-life success: Does she represent new openings for older actresses (and concomitantly, an increase in film representations of aging women), or is she merely an anomaly within the entrenched patriarchal system?
Identifier: 697796227 (oclc), 2867329 (digitool), FADT2867329 (IID), fau:3551 (fedora)
Note(s): by Tracy Allerton.
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010.
Includes bibliography.
Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subject(s): Streep, Meryl
Sex role in motion pictures
Women in motion pictures
Middle age in motion pictures
Women in popular culture
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2867329
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU