Sylvester Stallone and the economics of the ageing film actor

ABSTRACT

Sylvester Stallone’s stardom has been inexorably linked to notions of youthful masculinity and an image that was constructed more than thirty years ago. Recent academic attention has been largely concerned with the ways in which age is gradually moving the star away from the idealised image that had previously defined his stardom. Exploring how he is negotiating the realities of ageing, the impact this has on the roles available to him, and his ability to endure the physical requirements of these roles has been the subject of much academic interest, with many concluding that the star is increasingly redundant. This chapter will offer an economic reading of the star and an examination of the ways in which the veteran actor has sought to, and in many cases, succeeded in, extending his celebrity status in a contemporary global media marketplace. By considering two aspects that are central to Stallone’s contemporary stardom, his harnessing of social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to publicise new projects and to capitalise on earlier screen successes, and the his recent economic success in the Chinese film market, the chapter will explore how ideas of redundancy may have been applied to the star prematurely.

KEYWORDS:

• Geriaction
• social media
• China
• ageing
• redundancy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. All figures Box Office Mojo.

2. From 1994–2002 the quota system allowed only 10 films per year, in 2002 following China’s incorporation into the World Trade Organisation (WTO), that figure rose to 20 films per year, and in 2012 that figure was increased again to 34 films per year.

3. Numbers from Boxofficemojo.com.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mark McKenna

Mark McKenna is a lecturer from Staffordshire University. He is the author of the forthcoming book Nasty Business: The Marketing and Distribution of the Video Nasties with Edinburgh University Press, co-editor (with William Proctor) of the forthcoming collection Critical Studies in the Horror Film Franchise with Routledge, and he is currently writing a book on the John Milius film Big Wednesday (1978) for the Routledge series Cinema and Youth Cultures.