Will Smith by

Carpool Karaoke with James Corden

201571533 — 2023-11-09 02:11:28 UTC

Appearing on Carpool Karaoke also pertains to Smith's likeable and extroverted personality. Audience's enjoy watching their favourite actor 'let loose' with other celebrities and show their more 'down-to-earth' side.

Will Smith's GQ appearances

201571533 — 2023-11-09 02:12:49 UTC

Appearing on the YouTube channel for GQ, the men's fashion and culture magazine, identifies Will Smith with his male audience, as well as his online audience or YouTube audience, particularly the younger, technological generation, who may not have heard of Smith before. In this video, Smith answers questions from online users such as 'What is good advice from Will Smith?' and questions concerning his iconic past roles in films. This video adds to Smith's likeability and personable attitude, he seems to be a fun and entertaining personality, sharing wisdom but also making the audience laugh.

Will Smith's YouTube channel

201571533 — 2023-11-09 02:13:40 UTC

Remaining relevant with new, emerging media platforms, Smith created his own YouTube channel which features videos of him and his family, motivational speaking and behind the scenes of his work. The idea behind this was, assumedly, to allow audiences to understand him and his life beyond his celebrity status, almost as if he is 'one of us'.

201571533 — 2023-11-09 02:18:04 UTC

Memes created and shared across Twitter spread like wildfire as the moment happened live on air, with audiences shocked and appalled.

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990-1996)

201571533 — 2023-11-09 02:19:26 UTC

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air initiated the beginning of Will Smith's acting career. Smith plays a fictionalised version of himself, characterised as a streetwise, smart-mouthed, hip-hop loving teenager who grew up in West Philadelphia, forced to move in with his affluent family members in Bel-Air, California and integrate into their upper-class way of life. This role launched Smith's career and debuted Smith's star image in comedy acting as well as tear-jerking performances. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air hooked audiences from the moment the pilot aired, and audiences fell in love with Smith's refreshingly playful and youthful acting and musical talents.

201571533 — 2023-11-09 02:27:45 UTC

Users took to Twitter to comment on how disappointed and disgusted they were with Smith's actions at such a prestigious event, and how Smith was then able to win 'Best Actor' just moments after committing a crime on stage. This evidences Smith's declining favourability with the public and loss of prestige in his star image, an extreme polar opposite from his previous inspirational and highly admired public image.

Havens, T. (2013) ‘4. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Channel Fragmentation, and the Recognition of Difference’, in Black Television Travels: African American Media around the Globe. New York: New York University Press, pp. 101–118.

201571533 — 2023-11-09 03:45:38 UTC

"The Fresh Prince of Bel Air picked up on the themes of universal teenage experience in order to draw in youthful and young adult audiences at a time when many U.S. households had become multichannel, multiset homes..." (p. 103)

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince

201571533 — 2023-11-09 03:51:00 UTC

Smith and his The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air co-star DJ Jazzy Jeff had been making rap/hip-hop music since before the show's premiere, and continued until 1992. The fact that the star of Fresh Prince was an almost unknown (at the time) rapper confused audiences at first, but this ultimately drew in younger, multi-cultural and varying social class audiences who identified with Will Smith, the actor, and his Fresh Prince character, also named Will Smith.

Multi-media/cross platform celebrity

201571533 — 2023-11-09 04:06:36 UTC

Will Smith's ability to cross media platforms across his career (film, TV, music, YouTube...) ensures his relevance over the years. It also allows for a wider audience engagement with Smith, and for a variety of different media audience's to enjoy his work.

201571533 — 2023-11-09 04:10:03 UTC

201571533 — 2023-11-09 04:15:41 UTC

Havens, T. (2013) ‘4. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Channel Fragmentation, and the Recognition of Difference’, in Black Television Travels: African American Media around the Globe. New York: New York University Press, pp. 101–118.

201571533 — 2023-11-09 04:23:57 UTC

"When the series debuted... Will Smith (a.k.a. The Fresh Prince) had already established a reputation as a rapper... Smith's Grammy Award-winning single 'Parents Just Don't Understand,' released in 1988, had become indicative of his inoffensive... persona and music. The lyrics tell of the universal difficulties of teenage life. As Will explains it, 'You know parents are the same no matter time nor place. They don't understand that us kids are going to make some mistakes'" (pp. 102-103)

This evidences Smith's young, teenage and coming-of-age audience at the time, who identified with his lyrics as well as his onscreen character, who embodied these lyrics.

201571533 — 2023-11-09 04:32:01 UTC

Men in Black (1997)

201571533 — 2023-11-09 19:02:17 UTC

Will Smith's role in Men in Black, a buddy/action/sci-fi film, earned Smith a the title of a household name in acting during the mid-1990s. His more serious ventures into bigger budget, Hollywood film showed off his performing talents, and displayed his acting progression since starring in Fresh Prince. Smith remained a relevant star throughout the 1990s, leaving Fresh Prince in 1996 and starring in Men in Black the following year. His performances were fun, playful and down-to-earth. Smith's collaboration with actor Tommy Lee Jones also introduced Smith to an older, mature generation of audiences.

Ali (2001)

201571533 — 2023-11-09 19:10:54 UTC

Ali, amongst other films, cemented Smith's status as one of the most successful and bankable actors at the time. His performance in this film was held to incredibly high acclaim and moved Smith away from solely comedy roles to deeper, more profound and intense on-screen performances. Film academics and critics commented on Smith's highly skilled performance. This evidences Smith's star image at this point as a professional and admired actor.

Will Smith as a successful artist

201571533 — 2023-11-09 19:22:06 UTC

Alongside the release of Men in Black, Smith released a titular theme song to accompany the film and to be used in its soundtrack. This further reinforces Smith status as a cross-platform/cross-medial celebrity, consistantly remaining relevant across all media platforms throughout the 1990s.

201571533 — 2023-11-09 21:31:05 UTC

During this interview advertising for the film Ali, Smith's star image is portrayed as personable, a jokester, but also as a serious committed actor who expresses humility at having the opportunity to portray Muhammad Ali on-screen (a personal hero of his). Throughout, he is laughing and joking with the interviewer, expressing a likeable and playful personality. Audiences admired his acting talents and ability to move away from his youthfully immature Fresh Prince role.

Bradshaw, P. (2002) 'Ali', The Guardian.

201571533 — 2023-11-09 22:03:57 UTC

In this review, Bradshaw comments on Smith's star image status at this time in his history, "...as one of Hollywood's most charming and intelligent leading men..."

Gennusa, C.R. (1999) ‘Will Power: The king of the sure thing flies all the way to the top’, The Hollywood Reporter, 356(43), p. 1-4.

201571533 — 2023-11-09 22:09:26 UTC

This article published by The Hollywood Reporter on Smith's role in the 1996 film Independence Day comments on Smith's star image of the time, commenting, "It seems that Will Smith, the 30-year-old, Philly-born movie star-rapper-producer can do no wrong". This article also references Smith status as Hollywood Reporter's 1999 'Male Star of the Year'.

The infamous slap at the 2022 Oscars Ceremony

201571533 — 2023-11-09 22:31:18 UTC

At the 2022 Oscars, Will Smith walked on stage and slapped comedian and host Chris Rock, after Rock made a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith's, shaved head. Smith sat back down in his seat and shouted 'Keep my wife's name out your f.....g mouth!'. This moment is often referred to as 'The Slap Heard Around the World' and shocked audiences internationally, since Smith seemed personable and pleasant up until this moment.

Controversies

201571533 — 2023-11-09 22:36:52 UTC

The seminal moment that the public's perception of Will Smith altered from a fun-loving and admirably wise, inspirational actor was, in my opinion, the 'Oscars slap' moment. Previously, small controversies and rumours had been circling, such as his alleged cheating scandal with Margot Robbie and marital issues with his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. However, the slap at the 2022 Oscars angered audiences to the point of potentially blacklisting Smith.

Shoard, C. (2022) 'Will Smith’s popularity saw ‘very significant and precipitous decline’ after Oscars slap', The Guardian.

201571533 — 2023-11-10 01:05:51 UTC

"According to data provided to industry magazine Variety by Q Scores - a widely recognised quantifier of star power and appeal - Smith's ratings were significantly impacted by his slapping Rock live on TV during the Oscars ceremony earlier this year". This incident evidently dramatically decreased the public's perception of Smith's star image, from highly acclaimed actor to raged lunatic in a matter of moments.

McGahan, M. (2022) 'Celebs React to Will Smith Slapping Chris Rock at Oscars 2022: Jada Pinkett Smith, Amy Schumer and More, Us Weekly'.

201571533 — 2023-11-10 01:19:14 UTC

"[Steve Harvey] called Smith's actions a 'punk move', noting that he 'lost a lot of respect for him' after the incident"

"[Tim Allen] tweeted, 'It's not ok to come up on stage and hit a dude cause you don't like the humour. It's not ok at a Comedy Club, concert hall or hosting some cheeseball award show. Chris Rock is a stand up comedian and a standup guy who carried on"

"[Rosie O'Donnell] ... a sad display of toxic masculinity from narcissistic madman"

201571533 — 2023-11-10 01:26:25 UTC

Despite Smith's incredible career, his Oscars slap incident put him out of favour completely with audiences, enough for Will Smith to attempt to revive his retired 30 year old rap career to clutch at relevancy once again.

Playing the same film personas

201571533 — 2023-11-10 05:56:43 UTC

Smith tends to gravitate towards film's where he is presented as the 'good guy', reflecting his real life 'nice guy' star image. In films such as I Am Legend and Independence Day, Smith is the hero who saves the world. His character in Men in Black, (Agent J) also reflects Smith's public persona in the real world, both sharing an enthusiastic, energetic and humorous personality.