Chapter 5 Blog Question #3

Type casting has been used by actors for many generations. Typecasting refers to actors playing similar type of roles from film to film. Typecasting is has become very beneficial to actors across the globe. Type casting can allow actors to become comfortable and use to a specific character type thus making them better actors, and leading to better movies and more profits for the actor. Often the public begins to associate a specific actor with a type of role and thus increases the popularity of an actor. There are many different actors who have used typecasting to their benefit. Such actors as Charles Chaplin, Roger Moore, William Shatner, have all used typecasting to their advantage. No actor however has been more successful with typecasting then Sylvester Stallone. Stallone is best known for the Rocky movie series. The Rocky series features Stallone as a tough no nonsense boxer fighting is way to the world heavyweight title. This particular series gave Stallone a tough and “bad boy” public persona. He took this particular public persona and parlayed it into other “tough guy” roles. Most notably Stallone is known for his Rambo movies. Rambo is a film that centers around the life a psychotic ex-soldier. Stallone used his rough and tough roles to produce films that have grossed millions of dollars worldwide. Type casting can be very beneficial to the career of an actor.

Their can also however be a done side to typecasting. The public can mistakenly view a stars film persona as that of his own personal persona. One of the most widely known actors that has fallen victim to typecasting is Marilyn Monroe. Often Monroe was cast as a dumb blonde and gold digger in film such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire. These films caused the public to negatively stereotype Monroe as intellectually deficient and money hungry. Actors however have overcome the stereotypes that comes with typecasting, most notably Sean Connery. Connery is best known for his tough sleek appearance in the film James Bond. Connery however wanted to resist this idea and did so by being cast in very different roles compared to that of James Bond. Such roles included a rebellious prisoner in the film The Hill an incorruptible cop in the film The Untouchables. Typecasting can sometimes put a negative stereotype on the personality of an actor.

Works Cited

Belton, John. American Cinema American Culture. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005. 98-99.