Fashion and Glamourbe achieved through the construction of an appearance that contained no
outsider traits. Given the American ethic of success and social mobility, the
upper-class look of those whom Veblen described as the ‘leisure class’ stood
as the maximum aspiration.^22
A second, connected, reason for the sumptuousness of Hollywood films
concerns the rapid development of consumerism in America in the 1920s. In
this decade, the Ewens argue, consumption became central to Americanism.^23
The message was communicated particularly strongly to immigrants that by
purchasing goods they could transform themselves and become fully-fledged
citizens. As Hollywood was developing and becoming a national and
international industry at precisely this time, it naturally evolved in tandem
with the consumer society. Indeed, even more than advertisements, the movies
offered a compelling, enticing image of capitalism. Hollywood’s linkages to
consumerism were numerous but perhaps the most striking involved the stars.
Because the stars were conceived as marketing devices for films, they could
also be used to market a range of other products, and these secondary
advertisements or endorsements could drum up further business for given
films. In an important essay, Charles Eckert examined how tie-ins became a
key part of the way stars were presented to the public.^24 Industry found that
sex appeal generated excitement which could assist in the sale even of the
most demure products.
Stars were the perfect consumers. They were new men and women who
were upwardly mobile and rich. They, more than anyone else, were obliged
to consume and to display their wealth in order to prove their status; their
lifestyles acted as a focus for the aspirations of the masses. However, their
explicit association with the material culture of consumerism was not felt by
all to be positive. Producer David O. Selznick, for example, thought that tie-
ins undermined the mystique that the studios had built up. He also dis-
approved the free endorsements that actresses gave to Max Factor and Lux
soap. Morin, by contrast, sees no contradiction between the star as goddess
(star-déese) and the star as product (star-merchandise). It may be suggested
that the growing links between the film industry and consumerism did in
fact herald a change in the nature of stars. As Morin himself notes, stars of
the sound era were less exotic and exceptional and more projections of
the typical. In this context they became themselves industrial products,
- Veblen, Thorstein, Theory of the Leisure Class, New York: A.M. Kelley, 1899.
- Ewen, Stuart and Ewen, Elizabeth, Channels of Desire: Mass Images and the Shaping
of American Consciousness, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1992, chapter three. - Eckert, Charles, ‘The Carol Lombard in Macy’s Window’ in Christine Gledhill (ed.),
Stardom: Industry of Desire, London: Routledge, 1991.