Presenter: Sophia June
Mentors: Tricia Rodley, Theatre Arts; Sally Garner, Journalism
Oral Presentation
Major: Journalism
Today, it is a common practice for the film and theater industries to advertise films or plays based on the celebrity status of its actors. This is an example of the star system, the commodification and creation of celebrities. This star system is usually credited with beginning in the early 1800s with English theater actor David Garrick, who was known for his natural manliness. However, one hundred years prior, opera singers called castrati — male performers who had their testicles cut off between age eight and twelve in order to preserve a high-pitched voice — were taking the opera world by storm, particularly Farinelli, one of the most famous castrati of all time. Garrick is widely considered the first celebrity and start of the theatrical star system. However, I will argue that Farinelli was actually the first star, but not recognized as such by scholars or history because castrati were seen as feminized males who represent the “unnatural,” and did not possess traditional manliness. In his study, Joncus has found that Farinelli and other castrati bear similar qualities to modern celebrities, but were also subjects of homoeroticism by wealthy men.