Analyze the career and star persona of a contemporary movie star Essay

Analyze the career and star persona of a contemporary movie star - Essay Example At the age of three Lohan began to audition for modeling roles, landing an early job with Ford Models. From this start she gained worked for kids advertising, working for Calvin Klein and Abercrombie and Fitch (Boone). In addition to these print advertisements, as a child Lohan became involved in television commercials. It’s been noted that Lohan participated in as many as one hundred television commercials for major corporate entities during these formative years. As her career progressed Lohan eventually gained acting roles, eventually finding a spot as Alli Fowler in the soap opera Another World (Marcovitz). While it’s somewhat sinister to characterize the young Lohan as having a persona during these formative years, it’s clear that there was a great deal of production and thought put in to the young starlet’s image. In these regards, it appears that the main intent was to present an image of middle class understanding and purity. Lohan became a child w ith whom parents and children could identify with as being typically American easily relatable, just like a child from the neighborhood. As Lohan’s good girl image had been established, she extended her stardom to include films. In 1998 she landed a starring role in the Disney comedy the Parent Trap. In this comedy Lohan continued her appealing and pure star persona, being presented as the typical middle class child. Her stardom grew considerably as a direct result of this film, as critics and outside individuals indicated that her role in the production was one of significant importance (Marshall). Around this time Lohan also had roles in other Disney television movies. Notably, she starred in Life-Size (which included Tyra Banks) and Get a Clue. While her early career had presented Lohan as a highly marketable, and ostensibly middle class child, her persona was further developed during this period. In working within the Disney system, Lohan’s persona clearly became a n element of this production model. While much has been written of the Disney image, in regards to Lohan’s persona, it took on an extremely clean-cut and almost pristine goodness. Being associated with Disney gave Lohan this particular persona that was only cultivated more in interviews and other such press functions. In addition to Lohan’s affiliation with Disney her star power and persona were affected by tabloid stories. For instance, she was romantically linked to Backstreet Boy Aaron Carter. If there were any slightly salacious aspects of Lohan’s life during this period they were related to light-hearted conflicts that the tabloids either generated or uncovered. For instance, there were rumors that Lohan and Hillary Duff had feuded since both actresses had been romantically involved with Carter. As Lohan entered her teenage years her persona shifted slightly to match the challenges and complexities of her teenage self. One of the first films Lohan starred i n during this period was Freaky Friday. Rather than focusing her persona on her Disney like image, Lohan’s teenage self took more prominence. Still, it was highly clear that Lohan was extremely concerned with her image. Originally she was cast as goth-type character, but later had this changed so that