Star Theory(Richard Dyer).

1. Star Theory
Research

2. Richard Dyer’s Star theory applied to pop stars
“A star is an image not a real person that is constructed (as any other
aspects of fiction is) out of a range of materials (eg advertising,
magazines etc as well as films [music]).” - Richard Dyer
Meaning, a star's image is created via the process of construction and
by the means of advertisements, social media and events.
Furthermore, stars become recognised by different platforms through
merchandising their profile; such merchandising suits the means of
profitable operations in regards to industries. Whereby, stars become
a commodity. In addition, stars become influential to fans, whereby
stars may represent social groups or cultures and encourage fans to
share similar views; creating ideologies where stars act as the
ideologists.

3. Richard Dyer’s Star theory applied to pop stars (continued)
Richard Dyer produced the book known as ‘Stars’ within the year of 1979. Which, within the
book developed his ideas of viewers having certain perspectives of films; claiming that such
perceptions were encouraged via publicised figures (stars), also reviews and public
resources influence how audiences experience films. After founding such theory, Richard
Dyer met the means of investigating magazines, advertising methods, films and critical
writing in the form of reviews; to obtain an understanding of the relationship between
popular figures and their influence on audience perception in context to films.
It is notable that a popstar has a significance to other marketing over time,
such as brand association and recognition. Whereby, many of the current
artists featuring within the top margin of music charts do not posses such
qualities; which questions whether they are Pop stars in consideration of
Richard Dyer’s Star theory.

4. Artist(s) that suits the ideals of a pop star figure
One Direction, are an English and Irish male pop group which become successful due to
their televised performance on the show: The X Factor (2010); placing third position in
the competition and later signing to Simon Cowell's record label: Syco Records of a £2
Million contract. An increase in publicity was gained via social networking on an
international scale, based on their performance whilst on the show. However, during the
competition, the group was not known of until the stage of “bootcamp”. Whereby, in past
stages all members were solo performances, yet all members didn’t qualify for the
category labelled “boys”. Alternatively, Simon Cowell merged all five performances to
create a group known to be “One Direction”, which secured a placement in the “groups”
category, leading to their third placement finish in the competition.
In future moments after the competition, the group participated within the X Factor Live
Tour where the group had performed for 500,000 people across the United Kingdom.
Concluding their tour, the group continued to create their debut album “Up All Night” in
various locations including London, Stockholm and Los Angeles. Which, the album
included their debut single “What Makes You Beautiful”; claiming rank one in the UK
music chartings (2011), later evolving into Sony Music Entertainment’s most pre-ordered
music single in history. Notably the singles “Gotta Be You” and “One Thing” also claimed
positions within the top ten UK music chartings.

5. Artist(s) that suits the ideals of a pop star figure (continued)
In addition, One Direction’s debut single “What Makes You Beautiful” also secured
rank twenty-eight within the ‘Billboard Hot 100’; ranked as the highest debut single
of a British act since 1998. Furthermore, their debut album achieved as the UK’s
fastest selling debut album of the year (2011), claiming positions of top ten within
sixteen countries music chartings, thriving within the ‘Billboard 200’ charting and
lastly the debut album accumulated five-hundred-thousand sales in a digital form
within the USA (selling three-million copies via August 2012).
Moreover, One Direction become titled as the first British group within the USA chart
history to secure first position via their debut album (becoming introduced to the
Guinness World Records in result). Without doubt, One Direction’s popularity had
enlarged significantly since their release of their debut album and notice within the
USA and UK. Presently, One Direction demonstrates similar attributes in which have
accumulated many awards; obtaining five BRIT awards, three NME awards, two
Kids’ Choice awards, four MTV Music Video awards, winning twenty-seven awards
from twenty-nine nominations via Teen Choice awards and additionally two
American Music awards from their two nominations of the titles ‘Favourite PoP/ Rock
Album’ and ‘Favourite PoP/ Rock Band’.

6. Artist(s) that suits the ideals of a pop star figure (continued)
Furthermore, it is inevitable that One Direction is considered to be an association of pop stars.
Nevertheless, the group has acted as idealist figures, encouraged via their numerous charity
involvement such as: BBC’s Children In Need (2011), Comic Relief (2013), money raised
towards the Autism Action and Temporary Emergency Accommodation Mullingar charities
(2012), Cancer Research (in the act as ambassadors of the charity) and the Stand up to Cancer
campaign also. Such involvement has provided One Direction with a positive image, becoming
foreseen as idealistic models to audiences; encouraging their audience span to increase via their
positive moralities which provides their audiences with a likeability perspective of them.
In addition, the implication of social media has allowed One Direction to seem fan-endorsed via
utilising Twitter as a communication platform; accumulating ten-million followers by February
2013. Such means of social media has constructed another image of the group, being socially
interactive; showing an interest and caring attitudes towards their fans. Which, is portrayed as a
positive image, hence strengthens their likeability as a group. Moreover, One Direction is
inevitably a commodity; which are branded to merchandise such as clothing, jewelry and
accessories for profitable purposes. Which, allows stars to be utilised as a source of awareness in
relation to brand identity. From an institutional perspective, is highly profitable as promotion
encourages an increase in sales; further allowing fans to make relations between merchandise
and artists, known as brand association. Which, in turn accumulates a larger audience span to the
artists.

7. Artist(s) that suits the ideals of a pop star figure (continued)
Controversially, the image of One Direction has more recently been obscured upon a
member's lack of participation in their Asian tour on March 19th. Whereby, member
‘Zayn Malik’ was known to be airborne and to return to his family in the UK. Such
actions were in response to images that highlighted himself and an unseen girl,
located within Thailand; becoming a popular topic within social networking. Further
on, member ‘Zayn Malik’ left the group, after being removed from the group's Asian
tour on March 25th; said to be the cause of the stress Zayn Malik was experiencing.
Evidently, the groups exclusion of Zayn Malik caused the image of One Direction to
alternate, negatively. Where, sudden views of the group become of a disappointment.
This is evident as fans begun to reach out to Zayn, in act of changing his thoughts to re-
join the group. In which, Zayn Malik seemed to be the social connection between the
group and fanbase, so much so, one individual stated that her world had “stopped
turning”(Daily Mail). In addition, such event accumulated of around 4,600 tweets per
minute on Twitter; inclusive of a self-harm related hashtag, that became trending on a
global basis. It was apparent that teenaged fans of the group begun posting pictures of
the arms, but slashed; encouraging other fans to recreate the same harm. Such acts
were implicated to forcefully make Zayn Malik re-join the group, yet their attempts were
unsuccessful.

8. Artist(s) that suits the ideals of a pop star figure (concluded)
In conclusion, it is clear that One Direction is a constructed image, where their image is similar to other existing
and pre-existing bands, whose image is also determined by the media and is based upon their actions. It is
notable that both positive and negative events within the group are socially highlighted via social media, yet the
group is generally perceived as being idealistic figures. Inevitably, their fan base population alone grants them a
‘PoP Star’ status, in which much of their fans clothing style and hair style is recreated to become of the same
likeable image. Evidently, the group's actions are perceived as ‘trend creating’, encouraging fans to create ideals
of them or otherwise respond with actions. In summary, One Direction is an association of ‘PoP Stars’ whose
image is generally positive, likeable and influential to fans.

9. Richard Dyer’s star theory in relation to my own production
Richard Dyer’s theory explores stars as a constructed image. Discussing the processes of how an image of a star is
created, how a star is perceived and accumulates an audience and how a star's appeal is situated to the audience of
the music genre they perform to.
In relation to my proposed productions of various media texts(music video, magazine poster and digipak), the means
of construction can be implemented to achieve the popularity and likeability aspects of my artist; becoming a
constructed star. In consideration of advertisement and marketing in relation to social networking, my artist can be
proposed to be an influential figure to those of the youth classification(target audience) and who shares similar
interests with him. Such image can be created via social media and networking for instance, whereby various media
texts of the artist will encourage people to create ideals of him; the artist will be artificially glorified. Moreover, will
focus upon audiences that maintain an interest of the Hip Hop music genre. Furthermore, the ideals of a music artist
becoming a commodity can be implemented to achieve brand-recognition and larger audience spans. Which,
provides a sense of engagement for audiences of the artist. Brand-recognition, can be used as a device to analyse
the artist's influence on publicity also.
In summary, Richard Dyer’s star theory provides an understanding of how stars are and can be created through
various media texts and platforms, which he defines stars to be constructed rather than born. Furthermore, is
suggestive that a star's image can be dampened and should be maintained via conveying the artist in ways that
conforms to publicities desired image of them.