However, the difference between the female star and the female spectator is a source of fascination not only with ideals of physical beauty, but also with the stars’ personalities and behaviour, which are often admired or envied by spectators. These identifications demonstrate the contradictory pleasures offered by Hollywood stars, on the one hand reproducing normative models of feminine glamour, whilst on the other hand offering women fantasies of resistance. For example, some female stars represented images of power and confidence. These were frequent favourites because they offered spectators fantasies of power outside their own experience.
from "feminine fascinations: forms of identification in star-audience relations" by jackie stacey, collected in stardom: industry of desire, published 1991