Richard Dyer’s Star Theory

Chloe Killin

3 Main Features…

The star as a construction; The image of the artist that has been constructed by the record label or their

management through advertising and other various media. This construction creates a unique selling point which is the stars’ main feature (eg. A signature move) that becomes increasingly important in the competitive music industry, and is a way of identification.

The star as a commodity; The stars are “sold” to the target audience and modified to meet specific

audience demands. The record label will invest into the research of the target audience to find out what they like in order for them to create a star suited to their tastes.

The star as an ideology; The star will have certain beliefs and ideals that can be used to relate to the

audience and be exploited when they are featured in a magazine (as shown on the next slide).

Stars begin as “real people” who are modified and moulded to turn them into a construct. These constructs allow them to be idolised by their audience as this gives them a fictional element, as the star has been constructed and if often shown with positive qualities, however they are still based on a real person and so this creates a potential attainability to the fans.

Stars provide the audience with ideologies and tell the audience how they should act and look. They may support hegemony by following the general ideals of the time (for instance being thin and beautiful), or they may choose to provide difference.

Dyer thought that there were certain elements necessary for a star to become successful in the music industry, these elements are;

Youthfulness

Rebellion

Sexual magnetism

Originality

Success against the odds

An anti-authoritarian attitude

Creativity/ talent

Aggression/ anger

Conspicuous consumption of sex, drugs and material goods

A disregard for social values relating to drugs, sex and polite behaviours

Youthfulness

Rebellion

Sexual Magnetism

Originality

Success Against The Odds

An Anti-Authoritarian Attitude

Creativity/Talent

Aggression/Anger

Conspicuous consumption of sex, drugs and material goods

A disregard for social values relating to drugs, sex and polite behaviours

In this image, Lana Del Ray is being presented to us as sweet and innocent, which will reflect well onto her audience who are likely to be in their teens and twenties. This makes her someone that her audience can aspire to be like, and seeing as her image is often quite positive, parents of these teenagers are likely to be happy about this representation as it will have a good impact on the young and impressionable audience.

This gives her “likeability” which the record label will be desperate for her to have in order for her to create and maintain an audience to sell products to.

Because her style is consistent it has helped her create a loyal fan base thus being successful as the ideology created by the record label.

In this image, the blood on her face was perhaps used to try and make her appear to be more than meets the eye, in the hope that she appears as more than an ordinary girl to the audience and possibly hints at anti-authoritarianism, which Dyer suggests is necessary for a star to be successful.