Richard Dyer's star theory states that celebrities are constructed images meant to appeal to audiences and make money. A performer becomes a star when their persona is publicized beyond just their music. Dyer identifies four aspects of star construction: stars as constructions, where celebrities are artificial images with unique selling points; industry and audience, where record companies shape stars to appeal to target demographics; ideology and culture, where stars promote beliefs to audiences; and character and personality, where public personas are based on generations and conform to audiences. The document uses Justin Bieber as an example, analyzing how his image and persona have been constructed over time across these four areas to maximize his appeal and profits.

3. Richard Dyer’s Star Theory:
According to Richard Dyer, a pop performer changes into a
pop star when their persona is aired to the public in other
means than just their music. Changing from a pop
performer to a pop star is beneficial, according to
Dyer, because it is easy to forget an artists music without
showing parts of their persona. The star theory states that
celebrities are constructed by institutions in order to
appeal to a specific type of audience and financially gain
from it. His theory can be separated into 4 areas, which
include stars as constructions, industry and
audience, ideology and culture, character and
personality. I am going to go into more detail about what
each of these mean and will use the example of Justin
Bieber, who is considered a pop star and justifies these
segments.

4. Stars as Constructions:
 Richard Dyer states that celebrities are
constructed/artificial images that are not real, but
presented as real to the audiences through their use
of expressing emotions and beliefs
 Most celebrities will have a USP (unique selling
point) that will bring in fans and make them more
memorable towards the public. This USP will be
unique to that one celebrity and will allow them to
stand out from any other pop stars.
 To summarise, it can be said that stars are
constructed images that the audience can become
aware of through new stories in the
press, magazines, having other famous partners and
much more.

5. Justin Bieber: A Constructed
star Justin Bieber began his career as a young
internet sensation, who got discovered on
YouTube. He came from a poor background
with little money and developed into a
successfully rich pop star. The history of his
life has become well known to the entire fan
base and Justin often expresses emotions
about it. By showing him as an originally
unhealthy boy whose dreams came true, it
makes him more likeable and is an example
of how he uses real life events that he has
been made to tell in order to bring in a wider
audience.
 Justin Bieber’s most unique selling point
was probably his hair. During many
interviews, on stage and even in the
streets, Justin was caught doing his famous
flick of the hair and it immediately cought on
with the public and made him attractive to
every teenage girl of his age.
 Justin also had a phase recently when he
dated Selena Gomez, another pop star. This
was a very popular story within the press
and was often stirred and out of context.

6. Industry and Audience:
 Richard Bryer’s star theory says that record
companies manufacture and construct artists in ways
that they think will appeal to audiences. This is
because pop stars make money from their fans and
so they would need to be presented in ways that are
what audiences of that time want.
This, therefore, makes pop stars a product of their
record company. This all serves a purpose; stars are
shaped by record companies beause then audiences
will respond to the persona created by purhasing
records and albums etc and earning them money.
Nobody will spend their money on artists that are
blunt and uninteresting and so the record companies
have a duty to make pop stars seem real and
entertaining.

7. Justin Bieber: Industry and
Audience
 It is obvious that Justin Bieber has changed
from when he first came into the music
industry, to now. His unique long hair has
been shortened because the style had worn
off and he needed to maintain popularity
with the press by doing something new and
unexpected. Cutting off his hair caused him
to be in many magazines and was talked
about by all of his fans. It shows that his
record company thought Justin needed a
change and it signifies his leap to maturity
by changing his look. His new hair now
appeals not only to younger fans but also to
new, older audiences and this will then
cause him to potentially earn more money.
 Justin also went through a phase where he
wore supras shoes all of the time. This was
so that people would automatically
recognise who he was. He went on to
create his own style which made him more
money. All of this would have been the
ideas of his record company because it is
their duty to come up with ideas to make
him as much money as possible through
the way in which he is presented to the
audience.

8. Ideology and Culture:
 Richard thought that pop stars were presented
as people who promote certain ideologies by
conveying their beliefs and opinions outside of
their music. They do this by sharing their
cultural values and attitudes to the audience.
This can be done through
twitter, facebook, other social networking
sites, or interviews, etc. and can involve
promoting things such as charity or new
fashion trends. These opinions and beliefs that
they convey are what give the stars their own
unique persona and the cultural values will
interest the audiences.

9. Justin Bieber: Ideology and Culture
 Justin supprts and takes part in many
different charities and always encourages
his fans to donate and help with different
organisations. For example, for his 17th
birthday present, he asked his fans to
donate some money for clean water to help
out those in poor countries who have to use
dirty, contaminated water to drink. Because
Justin has suh a large fan base, this proved
to be succesful and it put him in a good
spotlight to the audiences.
 Justin also shows how he can be supportive
with other charities that he does not organise
himself. One time Justins friend and
mentor, Usher, was organising an event for
his own charity ad Justin offered to perform
live to get more money for the cause.
 Another way in which Justin raised
awareness for charities is by releasing his
song Pray. In this song it shows scenes of
places affected by natural disasters, sick
children, possessed homes and more. The
song not only showed Justin in a good light
and as someone who cared for others, but
also encouraged the audience to not only
appreciate their lives, but to also help those
that are less fortunate than themselves.
 Other Things Justin does that make him a
good role model for teenagers is visit his
fans when they are sik and in hospital. He
will often perform a song directly to them.

10. Character and Personality:
 Before a pop performer becomes a pop star, they begin as a real
person. Their transformation from their record company turns
them, however, into a construct. This construct aims to be as realistic
as possible and is not entirely fictional as they need to maintain a fan
base by being themselves. The construct is often based on the
generation and will conform to what audiences will want to see.
 Pop stars usually use their characters to give audiences an ideology of
society. They do this by conforming to a certain ideology or by being
the complete opposite. The reason for this is because pop stars are
idolised and influential to many people and so their
appearance, characters and personalities will often be imitated by their
fans.
 A pop stars character and personality is established usually through
their music and their performance. Their music seems to develop as
society develops. Audiences tend to judge what an artists personality is
like through their songs. If a pop star writes their own songs, shows
certain emotion in their songs, allows fans to relate to their music, gives
ideas of their own personal lives in their music, et, then the pop star will
become more likeable and will be easier to make a connection with the
audience.

11. Justin Bieber: Character and
Personality
 Justin Bieber’s character has definitely
changed throughout the years. He
began as a 13 year old boy who had a
passion for singing and got discovered
by Usher. His songs began as typical
teenage boy songs about girls, such
as ‘baby’ or ‘one time’ and these
mirrored his stereotypical 13 year old
boy attitude and behaviour. They
helped him gain a wide female fan
base and it was from here that his fan
base was introduced.
 As the years went ahead, Justin’s
songs got more modern to suit society
and he released more albums. He
started dating other pop stars and
celebrities such as Selena Gomez.
 His maturity was discovered when he
was caught smoking illegal drugs such
as weed. Justin also developed an
attitude and is seen on many
occasions getting angry at paparazzi.

12. Reflection:
 Getting star image right is important because the more pop stars
appeal to audiences, the more money they will earn from them. It is
important for pop stars to conform to society and influence fans in
different ways. This can be done through their beliefs and opinions that
they air and publicise through social networks or other ways.
 I will use Richard Dyers theory to create my own star image because I
think it is important to get the image right and attract certain audiences
in certain ways. I now know what my pop star will have to do in order to
achieve as much fame as possible and this includes supporting
charity, expressing her emotions in songs, having a unique selling point
that makes her different to other and constructing her so that she
conforms to society. All of this will allow my pop star to set trend and
bring in bigger audiences which will then make her more money and
allow her to be more memorable to the audienes. After
all, blunt, uninteresting pop performers will be forgotten after a while
and I want my star to have an impact on audienes for a long time, not
only through her music, but through the things she does outside of her
career also.