Media Powerpoint

1. Star Theory & Pop
Videos

2. Learning Objectives
• To understand Richard Dyer’s Star Theory
• Relate the theory to an early Britney Spears
• To discuss Spears’ evolving career and how
she challenges Dyer.
• Understand key features of a Music Video

3. Relation of Visuals to Song Lyrics
There are three ways in which music videos
work to promote a song
Music videos can
use a set of images
to illustrate the
meaning of lyrics &
genre, this is the
most common
No clear distinction
between the video and
lyrics however the video
portrays the artist’s
narrative. Layers of
meaning are added
This is where the meaning of the song is
completely ignored

4. Representation in Music Videos
• The music industry creates and promotes
artists within clearly defined genres.
Genre examples?
• These genres offer signifiers.
Genre signifiers?

5. Star Theory
Stars as Constructions
• Richard Dyer believes artists are constructed
through artificial images  advertising, films,
magazines and music videos.
• Icons and celebrities are manufactured by
institutions for financial gain
• Constructed to represent 'real people'
experiencing real emotions  unique selling
point

6. Star Theory
Industry And Audiences
• Dyer believes stars are manufactured to make
money for their record labels by appealing to
target audiences.
• Record labels have to market different artists
to cater for certain target audiences.

7. Star Theory: Ideology & Culture
• Dyers claims certain artists become trendsetters
in the sense that audience members will imitate
hairstyles and artists clothing styles. Lady Gaga –
fashion forward.
• Artists may have certain religious beliefs and
cultural values
• The internet gives audiences greater access to the
“personal” lives of stars. What platforms?

8. Star Theory - Hegemony (Culture)
• Gramsci is known for his theory. The belief that
the ruling overview from higher power is
imposed and accepted as the cultural norm.
• Audience relate to the star. They may have a
feature they the share/admire with the star.
Some fans may attempt to replicate the star.
The Beatles

9. Britney Spears & Construction
• Britney raises interesting issues
regarding female identity in pop
music.
• Initially viewed and constructed
as a role model for the teen girl
market.
• Britney’s identity is placed within
a male-dominated industry 
Limited stereotypes of
femininity.

10. Britney Spears & Hegemony
How?
• Original image changed to
suit the record deal
• Audience can relate to the
star  Fashion/Girly songs
• Is this an artificial image?
Result

11. Deconstructing Britney Spears
• Early videos  surrounded
by ‘girlie iconography’ –
make up, bedroom culture,
teen pigtails.
• Choreographed dance
routines create the desire
to be part of ‘her gang’.
• Representation? Mise en
Scene

12. Hit Me Baby One More Time
• In opposition to her portrayed innocence is an
underlying sexuality.
• Is this video exploitative or empowering?
• Innocence VS Sexuality  Are the messages in
this video confused?

13. Hit Me Baby One More Time (1998)
• Insert Video…

14. Britney Spears
• As Britney grew, her video
narratives continued to
express teen girl identity, the
concerns and reflections.
• Her songs began to change
theme. “I’m Not A Girl, Not
Yet A Woman” (2001)

15. Visual VS Meaning
Womanizer (2008)Oops!...I Did It Again (2000)
Are the messages still confused within Britney’s Videos?

16. Laura Mulvey – The Male Gaze
Laura Mulvey’s theory relates to classical Hollywood cinema.
However, we can apply some of her ideas to our work on the pop
video.
Do these characteristics apply to Britney’s Music Videos?
The male gaze =
• women viewed as the objects of male erotic desire – in film
and audience
• Women do not have agency – they do not move the plot
forward.
• Cinema reflects patriarchal (male dominated) society

17. To Conclude…
• Britney Spears’s Music Videos are a polysemic text (a text
that has multiple meanings).
• Her career has evolved from a Disney princess with
connotations of innocence  sexualised female
performing for a male audience in FHM and Loaded.
Identities are stereotypical visions of femininity.
• Britney began to challenge this.

18. Blog to be completed
• What is Dyers’s Star Theory? Describe three aspects.
• Key features of a Music Video (signifiers, relationship between
lyrics and visuals (?), Intertextual references, camera angles,
editing, Mise en Scene)
• Brief Background of Britney Spears
• Discuss her evolved career : innocent to sexual. How does this
relate to the Star Theory?
• “Hold It Against Me” (2011)  is Britney rejecting her
‘constructed image’?
Be sure to discuss Mulvey’s theory