Supervisors: Dr Sarah Thomas and Dr Katherine Whitehurst
Contact: margaret.scott@liverpool.ac.uk
Research topic
Social/political philosopher Jurgen Habermas’s Theory of Communicative Action describes a concept of reason whereby individuals can reach understanding through the exchange of validity claims of action and significance across a horizon of the shared lifeworld, in order to obtain emancipation from unnecessary dominance imposed by an external system. My research reframes analyses of classic Hollywood star texts by adopting Habermas’s terminology regarding validity claims, lifeworld, and system to investigate and contextualise subversive star personae within the systematic framework of the film narratives generated by the Hollywood studios.
I use classic Hollywood star icon Katharine Hepburn as a case study to show how post hoc agency may be assigned to a star whose socio-political significance may not have been identified, realised, or celebrated during her career or lifetime. My research draws together philosophy, star theory, feminism, race theory, and queer theory in a textual and cultural analysis of how readings of historical film narratives can pursue an ideological discourse about the construction, and re-construction, of star identities.
Research areas
Hollywood stardom, film philosophy, feminism, women’s history, representation/inclusion