Richard Dyer Star Theory Media - A2 A Level. Research and Planning

1. Star Theory
Richard Dyer

2. Star Image
‘In these terms it can be argued that stars are representations of persons which reinforce,
legitimate or occasionally alter the prevalent preconceptions of what it is to be a human in
this society. There is stresses what makes them like others in the social group/class/gender
to which they belong. This individualising stress involves a separation of the person’s ‘self’
from his/her social ‘roles’, and hence poses the individual against society. On the other
hand society suggests that certain norms of behaviour are appropriate to given groups of
people, which many people I such groups would now wish to contest (e.g. the struggles
over representation of blacks, women and gays in recent years). Stars are one of the ways
in which conceptions of such persons are promulgated.
- Richard Dyer (Stars, BFI, 1981)

3. It is used in order to understand the relationship between the music industry and its
audiences, it is important to consider the roles of music stars. The term ‘star’ refers to the
semi-mythological set of meanings constructed around music performers in order to sell the
performer to a large and loyal audience.
• Common values of music stardom:
• Youthfulness
• Rebellion
• Sexual Magnetism
• An anti-authoritarian attitude
• Originality
• Creativity/talent
• Aggression/anger
• A disregard for social values relating to drugs, sex and polite behaviour
• Conspicuous (noticeable) consumption of sex, drugs and material goods
• Success against the odds.

4. Dyer has written extensively about the role of stars in films, TV and music. Irrespective of
the medium, stars have some key features in common:
A star is an image, not a real person, that is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is)
out of a range of materials (e.g. advertising, magazines etc., as well as films [music])
Stars are commodities produced and consumed on the strength of their meanings.
Stars depend upon a range of subsidiary media- magazines, TV, radio, the internet- in order
to construct an image for themselves which can be marketed to their target audiences. The
star image is made up of a range of meanings which are attractive to the target audiences.
Fundamentally, the star image is incoherent, that is incomplete and ‘open’. Dyer says that
this is because it is based upon two key paradoxes.
• Paradox one: the star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the
consumer.
• Paradox two: the star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer.

5. The Star Image:
The incoherence of the star image ensures that audiences continually strive to ‘complete’
or to ‘make sense of’ of the image.
This is achieved by continued consumption of the star through his or her products.
In the music industry, performance seems to promise the completion of the image, but it is
always ultimately unsatisfying.
This means that fans will go away determined to continue consuming the star in order to
carry on attempting to complete their image.
Finally, the star image can be used to position the consumer in relation to dominant social
values (that is hegemony).

6. My partner and I want to use the artist Ella Henderson for our main music video task, and
we would argue that Ella does not fully conform to the Star Theory as she does not have a
character which creates her image for her. You could say that certain points constructed but
worked on her image of the ‘girl next door’ and her management and herself will want to
develop that in order for her be applicable to her audience. However, an artist such as Lady
Gaga would be related to Dyer’s Star Theory because she becomes a ‘star’ through the
persona she has created. Lady Gaga is the character that she calls herself when she is
performing and making music but her real name is Stephanie Germanotta. Linking to the
paradox one: ‘the star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer’
and this definitely applies to both Ella Henderson and Lady Gaga as they can both be
classed as ordinary and extraordinary from the consumers of their music and they both offer
different meanings to their audiences.