Cameo Appearances

To establish what viewers should expect from a new film or TV series, the characters are first featured in trailers, teasers, and other publicity strategies like cameo appearances. Through these strategies, a viewer will have an idea about the actors and actresses who will play a movie’s or a TV series’ protagonists,antagonists, and supporting characters. 

Literary works make use of “literary cameos.” They are usually well-known characters from another literary work who appear briefly to show the shared universe setting in both literary works. However, cameos are more popular in entertainment.

When it comes to films and TV series, most of the time, the use of cameos is a publicity stunt. In this context, cameo refers to a short appearance as a character or as oneself in a movie, TV series, or music video. A popular example of a cameo is the appearance of Rapunzel and Eugene (previously from the Disney movie “Tangled” in 2010) in the 2013 Disney movie “Frozen” as guests for the main character’s coronation. 

The use of cameos is also popular in superhero movies like the “Incredible Hulk” in 2008 where Iron Man makes a short appearance at the end of the movie just before the credits. This is an example of a publicity stunt to build the anticipation of fans, to give a hint for what’s coming next, and to establish the continuity in a story’s upcoming sequels and spinoffs. 

Cameos are also popular in Korean dramas. A perfect example of this is the popular series “Personal Taste” (known as “Kaeinuichwihyang” in Korean) where the famous Yoon Eun-hye briefly shared the screen with the drama’s lead character played by Lee Min-ho. Also, in one of the popular dramas of 2016 called “The Entertainers” (known as “Ttanttara” in Korean), Park Shin-hye made an announced appearance.

People also appear as themselves in recurring cameo appearances. One American TV sitcom that is famous for inviting famous personalities to appear as themselves is “The Big Bang Theory.” One of the series’ regular cameos is the renowned English award-winning astrophysicist Stephen Hawking. Another example is the film “Apollo 13” where the real-life commander of the flight, James Lovell, and his wife appeared next to the actors portraying them.

Although it may seem like cameos are only used in movies and series for the sake of publicity, they serve as little surprises for fans to keep them hooked and entertained. They add to viewer excitement and anticipation.