Yes, I think the media insists that actors need to be 'stars', and then the studios insist that they should go along with it to guarantee media coverage, and the 'stars' need to play the studio game because film-making is insanely expensive these days and ...

If people just went to see quality films and read quality books and mags, the system couldn't self-perpetuate. Outside of the USA, this is somewhat the case. Inside, well ...