Richard Dyer's Star Theory

1. Star Theory RICHARD DYER
(1979)

2. ‘ A S T A R I S A N I M A G E N O T A R E A L P E R S O N T H A T I S
CONSTRUCTED ( AS ANY OTHER ASPECT OF FICTION IS) OUT
OF A RANGE OF MATERIALS (E.G. ADVERTISING MAGAZINES,
F I L M S , M U S I C ) . ’
 Dyer bel ieves that icons and celebr i t ies are const ructed by inst i tut ions for
f inancial reasons and are bui l t to target a speci f ic audience or group.
 They have USP (Unique Sel l ing Point ) to make them di f ferent f rom other
stars.
 The star theor y can be broken down into three sect ions:
• Audience and Inst i tut ions
• Const ruct ions
• Hegemony (Cul tural Bel iefs)

3. AUDIENCE AND INSTITUTIONS
‘ S T A R S A R E C O M M O D I T I E S T H A T A R E P R O D U C E D B Y I N S T I T U T I O N S . ’
 Stars are only made to make money.
 Audiences want to consume what they think is the ideal .
 I n s t i t u t i o n t h e n mo d i f i e s a s t a r ’ s ima g e a r o u n d t h e t a r g e t a u d i e n c e- e.g.
the makeover of the per formers on X-Factor.
 Inst i tut ions makes the celebr i ty meet the needs of the consumer.
Depending on the audience,
the star’s image is altered to
please the audience because
the ideology of how the star
should look differs with
different audiences.

4. CONSTRUCTIONS
‘ A S T A R I S A CON S T R U C T E D IMA G E , R E P R E S E N T E D A C ROS S A R A N G E OF ME D I A A N D
M E D I U M S . ’
 The star is bui l t for an audience and is not an actual person – a persona is
created which the audience can ident i fy wi th.
 A s t a r i s b u i l t s p e c i f i c a l l y w i t h s ome o n e ’ s s i g n a t u r e t o t h em t h a t
di f ferent iates them f rom other stars.
Jessie J is an example of a pop star who has created
a stage name, thus creating a separate identity. She
has a different style of character when performing
on stage to when she is being interviewed.

5. HEGEMONY
‘ S T A R S R E P R E S E N T A N D E M B O D Y C E R T A I N I D E O L O G I E S . ’
 Celebr i t ies are there for the audience to fol low-
• The audience have a feature that they admi re or share a celebr i ty and
some at tempt to repl icate them.
 To be a pop star you have to conform to one ideology- i t is thei r job to
create ideology, making money.
Beyoncé's ideology is to be confident,
dominant and ‘sexy’. This is shown
through her alter ego Sasha Fierce,
something a lot of the female teenage
audience will aspire to be like. Since the
rise of feminism, this has become a more
common characteristic.