2. Dyers Representation of
‘Pop Stars’
• A pop stars social status within today’s society means they are seen as
figure heads by ‘fans’ and this means they have a great influence on
their audience, often resulting in them replicating their fashion style,
hairstyles, tattoo’s, make-up etc. According to Richard Dyer’s ‘Star
Theory’ there should be a distinguishable difference between a ‘pop
performance’ someone who creates music however are not always
classed with the famous ‘star’ title and someone who is a commodity
constructed by management team with a particular persona,
however are not actually ‘real’ people. Dyer believes that the title of
a pop performer and a pop star have becomes synonymous and
interchangeable. He also states the process; Stars as construction,
industry and audience, ideology and culture, character and
personality and fandom.
3. Celebrities
As stated by Dyer in Stars, pop stars are
constructed, artificial, even if they are represented
as being ‘real people’ experiencing real emotions
etc. We can see this construction process happen
with many stars however an extremely relevant
example would be Miley Cyrus. She started as a
young country singer on a Disney channel and
now has been completely changed. She now has
a new image which is meant to be a wild new
young Miley. She cut her hair and style, changed
her music and who she is working with for example
associating with trap rapper Juicy J and doing
semi-nude shoots with Terry Richardson. Not
forgetting her extremely raunchy performance
with Robin Thicke at the VMA’s in which she was
extremely sexual on stage. However this opened
her up to a wider audience for either good or bad
reasons, whatever anybody thought of her she
was being talked about everywhere! Miley’s fans
and people that are not even normal fans of
Miley have taken on aspects of her image, many
girls have copied her hair style and fashion sense.
4. Celebrities
Another pop star that has an impact on their
audience in many ways is Kanye West. When
Kanye West performed in a leather skirt and
Givenchy there was a sudden change in
many peoples fashion style. Givenchy prints
and skirt front trousers had suddenly found
their way into many fans wardrobes. His
fandom, which is a subculture of people that
have a common interest in the same topic, in
this case Mr West have a fascination with
going to extremes of believing Kanye is a
God, which was heavily influenced by his
Yeezus album in which he is on a crucifix. In
an interview he even says himself ‘I am God’
and many of his fans believe this themselves.
He also uses ‘illuminati symbols’ in videos
which causes controversy but many of his
fans believe in this ‘satanic lifestyle’ and even
changed their opinions on religious figures
due to his opinions.
5. In Conclusion
Overall pop stars have a heavy influence on their fans due to
construction of the stars and how they are presented to their
audience in a way that they are seen as a ‘real person’ in order
to allow their audience to have an emotional response therefore
creating a solid fan base. People will continue to follow the
celebrities as long as they remain in the media and get credit for
doing so. This is due to the media having such an influence in
today’s society.
