In our reading, “Bette Davis: Actor/Star” the authors describe Davis’ star identity in three parts: personality, persona, and image. They considered these components as “complex, interrelated, and, to some extent, interchangeable”(67). Additionally, they defined persona as: “a more crafted and consolidated public projection of the person, in which film roles and media appearances play a part in creating the mask that ensures consistency, which can be used as an element of performance”(67).

Now that we have an understanding of what a persona is, we can look at it in the context of Bette Davis and the film All About Eve. Persona is the creation of a character that an actor uses both on and off-screen in order to create a familiar image for their audience. Similarly, Eve creates a “character” to deceive Margo. This is often done by actors because it helps them feel secure in their classes and image of stardom. All About Eve showcases this relationship between the individuals involved that can make or break a film career and how it is a huge game of attempting to satisfy your audience with the right image.

Not all personas are harmful or manipulative, however, All About Eve gives us a look inside how it can be used with malicious intent. Eve intentionally manipulated Margo for her own benefit and this shows how important it is in the film world to appear as likable and change who you are to match the expectations of those around you.

There is also a connection to be made with our other reading, “Part Two: Stars As Images.” There is the notion that stars are made out of ordinary people with a special quality that makes them irresistible. Eve plays into this stereotype when she creates this image that makes her out to seem plain, yet unique, and this lands her the understudy role.

All About Eve has a super meta moment where Margo seems to shine a light on the idea of persona and even how that applies to Bette Davis herself. Margo talks about the duality of stardom and how she has both a public image, but is also just a woman. She expresses that she doesn’t expect a man to love her when she doesn’t even really know herself. The dichotomy of a personal and realty can become extremely difficult to decipher over time and stars can become lost in who they are trying to be.

In the Bette Davis reading, they explain how Davis saw her own persona. By playing several roles of liars, “what Davis was revealing, bit by bit and from role to role, was not the secret of her own personality…but rather the secret of personality itself: that it is a fabrication, designed, constructed and performed”(75). Davis is even admitting herself that her persona is completely made up. This even seemed to attract more fans because they resonated with someone who felt they needed to “perform” daily to fit into the world around them.

Persona is natural and innate, yet it’s also artificial and fabricated. Actors create this image for others to see, which often is to make them appear more likable and to sell more tickets. However, there are also these personas that we act out every day for our own personal advances. We are all a little bit like Eve and we use our ability to alter our persona in order to get what we want from certain people.