Nicolas Cage – good or bad? Stardom, performance, and memes in the age of the Internet

Using Nicolas Cage as a case study, this article discusses the complex meanings – and contradictions – that can develop within a film star’s persona in the digital age. Cage has been venerated by the academy, most notably winning the Best Actor in a Leading Role Oscar for his performance in Leaving Las Vegas (1995), as well as receiving a nomination in the same category for Adaptation. (2002). Throughout the early 2000s, he additionally enjoyed a privileged position as one of the highest-grossing box-office stars. However, many of Cage’s recent films have underperformed both critically and commercially, with several bypassing cinemas entirely. Failing stardom has traditionally been viewed as a relatively linear path towards obscurity, save for any carefully-staged comebacks or salacious moments of scandal that revive interest. In the Internet era, however, this trajectory can be more complicated. Over the last decade, Cage’s star image has inadvertently become a prominent subject for online memes. New technology has permitted such instances of ‘textual poaching’ (to coin Henry Jenkins’ term) to reach a much larger audience than ever before. This article will consider whether such an approach should always be considered progressive, as an empowerment of the audience. Cage is often lampooned online for perceived excess – a reading arguably heightened when fragmented clips are presented in fan edits without their original contexts. Is this fair criticism of an objectively bad actor, or does this reaffirm the primacy of naturalism within American film acting?