Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Charlot analyzes the development of Charlie Chaplin’s star image in France from the arrival of his first films there in war-torn March 1915 until the tributes to him at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1971, which set the scene for what Chaplin himself termed his “resurrection,” and his nostalgic visit to Henri Langlois’s Cinémathèque in Paris in September 1973. Throughout this long period, Charlot was a favorite of many French critics and intellectuals, who often defended him from criticism in the United States. Studying the evolution of the star image of an American star in another country such as France puts into perspective their image within the United States. It underlines the fact that what might seem natural and universal is often merely local and contingent. Cinemagoers, critical communities, and intellectuals construct and reconstruct star images in the light of their own social, cultural, and political identities and the historical circumstances in which they find themselves. Since these contexts within which meaning is created vary from nation to nation, star images reflect such differences. This book will be one of the first extended studies of the reception of Chaplin and his films outside of American culture, as well as of how he was perceived as a celebrity and artist in France. It will contribute to both the growing scholarship on Chaplin himself and to the study of stars in their cultural context.</jats:p>