Acknowledgments
Introduction: Why Rita Hayworth?
Part One. Stardom Off the Screen
Part Two. Film Stars, Film Texts, Film Studies
Afterword: Replacing the Love Goddess
Notes
Cansino/Hayworth Filmography
Bibliography
Index
ADRIENNE L. MCLEAN is Professor of Film Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is also the author of Dying Swans and Madmen and the co-editor of Headline Hollywood: A Century of Film Scandal.
McLean's work is significant because it addresses a major flaw in
the majority of star studies--the lack of knowledge regarding how
movie stars were created by the Hollywood studio system. She
achieves an understanding of movie stars as economic constructs, of
the relationship of their real selves to their images, and of how a
star's original meaning and reception by fans sometimes differ from
what we assume today....Being Rita Hayworth is a model of good
scholarship.
*Film Quarterly*
[T]he plethora of stimulating ideas in Being Rita Hayworth should
jolt star, labor, and film scholarship to reassess contemporary,
too easily accepted truths and lead to dynamic debates and
exciting exchanges. Fresh perspectives rejuvenate, and that's a
gift to scholarship.
*Quarterly Review of Film and Video*
This book is praiseworthy in all aspects of the subject....This is
an excellent book well worth reading because of the cogent
discussion of ubiquitous processes of commodification, advertising,
and their influence on modes of subjectivity.
*Visual Anthropology*
Exploring the creation of this popular movie star's persona, Being
Rita Hayworth takes an especial interest in her appeal to other
women of the day who were struggling to navigate the demands of
family and work outside the home. An excellent read for anyone with
an especial interest in not only Hayworth's career, but the ripple
effect her star persona had on the hearts and minds of a female
generation.
*The Midwest Book Review*
This book reexamines Rita Hayworth's star image and her proficiency
as a dancer in order to challenge received wisdom about the
objectification of female stars in classical Hollywood cinema. This
is a superior piece of scholarship and an outstanding contribution
to star studies.
*University of South Carolina*
McLean's argument is complex, coherent, and eminently readable.
Through meticulous research, she productively opens up the notion
of star as worker.
*Dartmouth College*
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