If Brad Pitt and George Clooney started dating and had the same family, that still might be too out-there (read: transgressive) for mainstream audiences to swallow.  But Pitt and Jolie are just “normal” enough — and just beautiful enough — that they make practices and attitudes that might otherwise be “other,” “weird,” or otherwise transgressive into the mainstream.  Or at least make them speakable — some may not agree with their parenting style, their refusal to marry “until everyone can,” or how they let Shiloh dress, but that parenting style and non-marriage decision is still very visible.  In this way, it prompts discussions that might not otherwise take place, and it makes what was formerly “fringe” behavior into the mainstream.Sometimes the popularity of a star can highlight a societally regressive moment (Britney Spears, Charlie Sheen); sometimes they highlight a progressive one (Obama, Gaga).

Superstardom makes Brad Pitt easy to talk about.  But the way he arrived at superstardom was more than just marrying Jennifer Aniston and leaving her for Angelina Jolie — although that certainly has a tremendous amount to do with his seemingly everlasting appeal.  (That and the crinkled eyes when he smiles, but I digress).

Plainly put, actors become stars through two primary means:

1.) Playing “themselves” on screen, which is to say playing a relatively consistent version of their established image;

2.) Maintaining an extratextual (“private”) life that reinforces that image.

They’re reinforcing processes, but as long-term readers of this blog know, it’s all about constructing a unified and coherent image.  Sometimes that image can be summed up in a word (“cool,” “indie,” “All-American,” “girl-next-door”) sometimes it’s a combination of things (gravitas and sex appeal; hooker with the heart of gold, etc.).  Angelina Jolie is intense, dark, and sultry physical sexual energy; Brad Pitt is shining, golden, easygoing sex appeal.  That’s part of why their images go so well together: sex and sex.  (Sex and cute, not so much.  See Aniston and Pitt.  Sex and snotty, also not so much.  See Pitt and Paltrow).

The star also needs to not play himself from time to time, mostly in the name of proving that he/she can act.  There’s a fantastic academic article from the early ’90s on how Warner Bros. would use the times when Bette Davis played “against” her image as a means of selling the picture — “See Bette Davis play a husband-killing total bitch!” (See: Little Foxes!).  In these cases, playing against type actually functions to reinforce type.  Look at this star acting so different from their “true” image!  (these performances are also the opportunities for big stars to win Oscars, mostly because the “acting” is so on display).

Of course, the innate fallacy is the belief that a star’s image is not an act in and of itself.  A star’s image is no more the “real” star than any other performance. The image, however, is polished, consistent, and has the trappings of “authenticity,” despite the fact that it has been polished and practiced far more than any single movie performance.

Which brings us to Pitt.  Pitt’s dominant on-screen image (also known as his “picture personality”) is, to generalize a bit, that of a hot, charismatic guy who gets what he wants.  Sometimes this guy is more emotive, sometimes he’s less so, getting by on his charm.

Most of the time, especially in his recent films, he’s doing a lot of eating.  There are slight variations — sometimes he plays Brad Pitt-as-half-Greek-god, sometimes he plays Brad Pitt-as-assassin — but there’s nevertheless a strong centerline running through the performances.

Read on.