2. What is the theory about?
Richard Dyer presents the idea that the persona’s that celebrities or rather
‘pop stars’ put forth are socially constructed by institutions for the main
purpose of financial gain. Their persona sells to the audience through
different forms of avenue such as having well placed/timed stories, a
famous boyfriend/girlfriend, attending premieres/parties and being featured
in magazines.
Dyer states that “a star is an image not a real person that is constructed out
of a range of materials (e.g. advertising, magazines as well as films)”.
The theory is divided into three main aspects: audience and expectations,
constitutions and hegemony.
3. Audience and Institutions
Dyer explains that institutions such as record companies will manufacture
and brand artists in a way that will attract the audiences and cater to their
preferences. This is helped through identifying the artist's unique selling
point (USP) and exploiting that aspect which the audience can then emulate
or parody from. Ultimately, by expanding the brands identity, the institutions
will benefit as they will eventually become a household name and in turn
gain a larger financial gain through increasing sales on media platforms that
their brand is associated with.
Dyer states that “stars are commodities produced and consumed on the
strength of their meanings”.
4. Constitutions
Similar to the idea of audiences and institutions, constitutions relates to the
idea that the star is built for an audience and is not an individual person.
Their USP helps to differentiate them from other stars.
5. Hegemony (Culture)
Dyer explains that the audience relates to the star because the star has a
feature that they can identify with. They embody the current trends at the
time and expand their status. This is especially helped by this generation's
high use of social media such as facebook, twitter and instagram. It helps
them share their personality and the trend that their following or creating
themselves to a wider range of people as media communication has become
global. This makes it easier for fans and people alike to interact with the
artist and lets them grow naturally into a star.
6. Example Artist - Rihanna
Rihanna is an example of a pop ‘star’, she is a Barbadian singer, songwriter,
and actress who has been releasing albums since 2005. She has released
eight studio albums since then which have in total amounted to over 230
million records making her one of the best selling artists of all time.
7. News Stories
Chris Brown Assault Controversy
Around early February 2009, reports surfaced of previous boyfriend singer Chris
Brown had physically assaulted her. A leaked photograph from TMZ was released
showing Rihanna’s bruises and scars. The media flocked to this, and the coverage
was huge at the time. A few years later she released a music video ‘We found Love’
which seemed to be influenced by her ex Chris Brown and her feelings towards him.
In the music video, Rihanna is seen in this relationship with this person that
resembles Chris Brown, partaking in drugs, sex and theft. It also shows her fighting
with him as well. Rihanna transitioned from this by changing how she presented
herself by changing her hairstyle and generally speaking making her music and music
videos more mature.
8. Famous Relationships
Rihanna has been in various relationships with high-profile
people over the years which garners major media coverage.
These people include the infamous Chris Brown, Drake, Travis
Scott, Matt Kemp and Leonardo Dicaprio.
9. Rihanna creating Hegemonic Culture
Over the years, Rihanna has
formed somewhat of a cult
following. This has mainly come
about from her distinctive image
and her personality. She is able
to form trends by constantly
changing her hairstyle and
clothing. People can then
emulate that by changing their
hairstyle and clothing to match
hers.
10. Conclusion
From researching about Star Theory, it has taught me that
constructing the pop star is very important especially for being
featured in the music video , posters and digipaks in order to boost
as much profit and brand identity as possible as this is what people
will be attracted to - the personality of the person rather than the
actual music quality.
