Early 1900s

By 1909, the silent film companies began promoting "picture personalities" by releasing stories about these actors to fan magazines and newspapers, as part of a strategy to build “brand loyalty” for their company's actors and films. By the 1920s, Hollywood film company promoters had developed a “massive industrial enterprise” that “... peddled a new intangible—fame.”[http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:1CP1noeuL2wJ:www.adidem.org/articles/MF1.html+movie+star+salary+economic+rationale&hl=en&gl=ca&ct=clnk&cd=45 403 Forbidden ]

Hollywood “image makers” and promotional agents planted rumours, selectively released real or fictitious biographical information to the press, and used other "gimmicks" to create personas for actors. Then they “...worked 1 reinforce that persona 2 manage the publicity.” Publicists thus "created" the "enduring images" and public perceptions of screen legends such as Rock Hudson, Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly. The development of this “star system” made “fame... something that could be fabricated purposely, by the masters of the new ‘machinery of glory.'”

1970s

According to Sofia Johansson the "canonical texts on stardom" include articles by Boorstin (1971), Alberoni (1972) and Dyer (1979) that examined the "representations of stars and on aspects of the Hollywood star system." Johansson notes that "more recent analyses within media and cultural studies (e.g. Gamson 1994; Marshall 1997; Giles 2000; Turner, Marshall and Bonner 2000; Rojek 2001; Turner 2004) have instead dealt with the idea of a pervasive, contemporary, ‘celebrity culture'." In the analysis of the 'celebrity culture,' "fame and its constituencies are conceived of as a broader social process, connected to widespread economic, political, technological and cultural developments."

1980s-1990s

2000-Present

In the 2002 American Idol premiered with the concept to find superstars. Britney Spears has been a huge celebrity and media icon throughout the decade.

"Lottery winner"

According to Roger Caillois, superstars are created by the interplay between “mass media, free enterprise, and competition.” Superstars are produced by a mixture of effort by the actors or athletes and chance (the luck of winning, due to the many arbitrary factors influencing sports, film releases, etc.). The “superstar has extraordinary natural talent augmented by an even more extraordinary perseverance and drive.” However, some “small and relative differences are of decisive importance for winning or losing by a hair's breadth.” It is here that chance plays a role; a sudden gust of wind at the end of a yachting race can mean the difference between stardom and defeat. Caillois notes that the role of chance in superstardom is paradoxical, given that the west is such a “predominantly meritocratic society,” which valorizes the role of work, competition, activity, and determination.Caillois, Roger. “Games of Chance and the Superstar” in Diogenes, No. 190, Vol. 48/2, 2000 33. Blackwell Publishers Ltd. Available at: http://129.3.20.41/eps/pe/papers/0303/0303003.pdf