Using stars, not just ‘reading’ them: the roles and functions of film stars in mother–daughter relations

This article explores the various and important ways in which film stars can function within mother–daughter relations over the life cycle of their relationship. Drawing on detailed qualitative material from an interdisciplinary audience study of mothers‘ and daughters’ shared relations to film stars, it demonstrates how a significant shift can be identified with regard to the kinds of roles that stars play in dyadic relations as a daughter experiences various developmental and transitional phases to adulthood. Necessitating an alternative approach to those previously employed within star and celebrity studies, the article takes a significant new perspective on the study of audiences for stars from the work of art anthropologist Alfred Gell and proposes a move away from semiotic, ‘textualist’ readings of stars towards an ‘action’-centred exploration of the ways in which film stars are used and function in social interactions over the life cycle of personal relationships.