Pop Stars on Film - by Kirsty Fairclough & Jason Wood (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Pop stars have provided audiences with performative moments that have become ingrained in popular consciousness. They are a lens through which deeper understandings about race, gender, politics, history and the artistic process can be understood. When combined with the most affective of mediums - cinema, the combination can be both thrilling and alarming.

From the relatively early days of cinema, figures from the world of popular music have made forays into acting and contributed cameo appearances. From Little Richard and Kylie Minogue to Nick Cave and Tom Waits, Pop Stars On Film: Popular Culture in a Global Market offers a collection of essays on some of the most influential international performances from a diverse range of cultural icons.

The book considers industry shifts, access and diversity, but also the notion of cultural appropriation, audience appeal, marketing and demographics. Perhaps most importantly, the publication will look at what happens when cultures collide and coalesce.

Review Quotes

"Pop stars appearing in movies will frequently draw on their own, slightly unreal, public persona. But there is also dandyism, naivety and shape-shifting at play when a pop star switches from one discipline to the other, things that stage actors can't necessarily bring to film. Here is a book that gives equal weight to David Bowie's careers as musician and actor, and is all the more readable and fascinating for it." --Bob Stanley, author of Let's Do It: The Birth of Pop

About the Author

Kirsty Fairclough is Professor of Screen Studies and Head of Research and Innovation at the School of Digital Arts at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. She is the co-editor of Prince and Popular Culture (Bloomsbury), The Music Documentary: Acid Rock to Electropop, The Arena Concert: Music, Media and Mass Entertainment (Bloomsbury), The Legacy of Mad Men: Cultural History, Intermediality and American Television., Music/Video: Forms, Aesthetics, Media (Bloomsbury) and author of the forthcoming Beyoncé Celebrity Feminism and Popular Culture (Bloomsbury). She is the curator of Sound and Vision: Pop Stars on Film and In Her View: Women Documentary Filmmakers film seasons at HOME, Manchester and Chair of Manchester Jazz Festival.

Jason Wood is Executive Director of Public Programmes and Audiences at the British Film Institute. Having worked in the independent British film industry for over 25 years, he is also a filmmaker, whose last work, the co-directed Always (Crashing) screened at numerous international festivals. A contributor to The Wire, Wood has also written for The Economist, Time Out, Sight and Sound, Little White Lies (and others), Wood is also the author of several books, including Nick Broomfield (2005) and The Faber Book of Contemporary Mexican Cinema (2nd edition, 2021).