“A Star is Born” tells the story of Ally (played by Lady Gaga) who encounters herself in the company of famous singer/songwriter named Jackson Maine (played by Bradley Cooper). The movie tells the story of their relationship, of Ally’s rise to fame and of Jackson’s’ stumblings into the world of addiction. Early on in the movie, Ally expresses how she feels she will never be able to pursue her dream career as a singer because of her large nose. In other words, she believes that she is not pretty enough to succeed at what she wants. She does not have the power needed to fulfill her dreams.
After watching this movie and then reading the course notes, I couldn’t help but connect the concepts of beauty, power and influence. Power can be defined as “the capacity to produce effects on others, or the potential to influence others. (Bass, 1990) On the other hand, “influence is the change in a target agent’s attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors as a result of influence tactics.” (Penn State Notes)
In today’s culture, many things are centered around whether or not a person is attractive or beautiful. Most of the people who influence us on social media or TV are quite lovely and beautiful individuals. If you scroll through Instagram, most of the influencers are young women with bikini bodies and flowing hair, or men with six-packs and a killer jawline. When watching TV, how many times do you see a reporter who you think is ugly? Or a celebrity who you’d rather turn off the TV then have to look at? Our culture has defined beauty in a certain way and those who portray this type of beauty automatically possess a certain amount of power.
The main character in this movie, Ally, is a great example of someone who, at the beginning of the movie, has power, but does not have influence. Due to her talent as a singer and strength in personality, she truly possesses the power one needs to be influential. She speaks for many people in the world when she expresses how she does not feel that she offers the amount of beauty someone with influence has. She puts herself down because people had literally told her that she was not pretty enough to make it in the music industry. She believed what the world around her was telling her about her features and was not able to take her power and grow it into influence. It wasn’t until Jackson met her and considered her to be beautiful that she started on the road to success.
This here is an example of somebody empowering us, showing us the power that we have all along and pushing us to use it in an influential way. While Ally’s voice is obviously what brought her fame, if it weren’t for Jackson making her believe that she truly held power through beauty, she would not have made it to fame. As she grows more and more, she embraces the influence that her power provides her with and uses it to have an impact on people, as many celebrities do. This is what we would refer to as “Influential Tactics”. Some extreme changes which most definitely increased her influence were the changes she made in her appearance. As a performer she dyed her hair a vibrant color, wore bold and stunning clothing and always had her makeup done up professionally. Additionally, she promotes being seen with people of influence. She is invited to perform on famous TV shows and interact with other performers. Another factor is the title that she becomes famous with: Ally. Most people go by their first and last names, but Ally has so much power and influence that she can be identified simply by these four letters. We can also tell that she is successful in her journey because of the numerous awards she is nominated for towards the end of the movie.
While the movie does not necessarily end on a high note and Ally has many trials that could have taken her down, she is an ideal of example of someone who has power, but does not believe they can develop it simply because they do not fit the world’s definition of “beautiful.
- Bass, B. M., (1990). Bass and Stogdill’s Handbook of Leadership. 3rd ed. New York: Free Press.
- Power and Influence. (n.d.). Retrieved February 18, 2019, from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1975088/modules/items/25786847
- Eisold, K. (n.d.). The Power of Beauty. Retrieved February 18, 2019, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hidden-motives/201007/the-power-beauty
yzm5208 says
That was a great analogy of power and influence at work. I actually believe that every person has some sort of power within themselves to become leaders and influencers. This, of course, assumes that we’re not just talking about beauty and aesthetics as the only ways by which we can make small changes in the world. It can be anything–talent, perspective, insight, unique abilities, and, yes, sadly, even money, can all be sources of power. It’s in how we use it that they exert any kind of change, and thus influence those we want to change.
I feel that the world is changing so much that we can all be more confident of each our powers. If, back then, power only meant money and beauty, now, we can have more influencers, if only because we’re starting to realize that our uniqueness is power. We don’t have to conform to what society’s standards are of power–we can influence them in our own way, as long as we are true to ourselves. I think that’s an accessory message of A Star is Born. It didn’t matter if she didn’t look the part of an influencer by traditional standards. Ally set her own avenue, her own standards by exercising the power that was unique to her. And in doing so, she was able to influence and touch a lot of people with her song and talent.
Carri Rae Davis says
Hello Rebecca,
I enjoyed reading your post, and I found it to be fascinating. I also agree, by having something that is considered to be desirable does allow for higher power or control over the situation, whether it is beauty, body structure, nice clothes, fancy cars, etc. I was instantly reminded of the concept of the halo effect.
The halo effect can be related to power because it is assumed that individuals who are attractive and well-polished are also highly intelligent and have positive personality traits (Solomoon, Theiss, 2013 pp.165-166). These characteristics of attractiveness create a tendency for others to make the attributions of having a higher status (p. 166). I feel that this is what drives the media to promote beauty and attractiveness on screen, as well as the emphasis of making up an individual to look a specific way through style artists and makeup artist. According to Bixler & Nix-Rice as cited by Solomoon & Theiss (2013), having a polished look can increase your chances of getting hired or being promoted is increased by 8–28% (p. 166).
I also wanted to add that the halo effect is also seen in performance management situations where evaluations are made about employees (Muchinsky & Culbertson, 2016, p. 214). In this situation, it is seen as a halo error that is an inaccurate bias, made based on the favorable or unfavorable opinions of the person making evaluation decisions. According to Machinski & Culbertson (2016), these halo errors are seen as the most severe and pervasive biases found in judgmental evaluations (pp. 214-215).
I feel that these situations would be an example of expert power, which is based on the assumption of knowledge and the ability to influence others (PSU WC, 2019, L. 7, p.4). It is also important to note that expert power is based on the situational dynamics and the power goes to the individual who is presumed to have the most knowledge, intelligence, and through the halo error the most attractive.
Reference
Muchinsky, P. M., & Culbertson, S. S. (2016). Psychology applied to work: An introduction to
industrial and organizational psychology (Eleventh ed.). Summerfield, NC: Hypergraphic Press.
Pennsylvania State University (2019). Leadership in work—PSYCH 485. Lesson
7: Power and Influence. Penn State World Campus, The Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1972967/modules/items/25704920
Solomon. D., Theiss. J. (2013). Interpersonal Communication: Putting Theory into Practice. New
York, NY: Routledge.