Richard Dyer's 'Star Theory'

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RICHARD DYER ‘STAR THEORY’

Transcript of Richard Dyer's 'Star Theory'

Page 1: Richard Dyer's 'Star Theory'

RICHARD DYER ‘STAR THEORY’

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WHAT IS IT?The Richard Dyer 'Star Theory' is the idea that celebrities

or 'stars' are created by institutions for making money. Stars are given a certain personality so an audience identifies with them and chooses to become a 'fan' by buying their records or watching their movies. An example of this would be Jennifer Lawrence, whose 'down to Earth' attitude earned her a lot of fans who find her ‘funny’ and ‘likeable’ therefore she is a current candidate for many blockbuster and Oscar nominated movies such as the X-Men franchise and American Hustle. The Star Theory can be split into several parts; audience and institutions, construction, Commodity, ideology, constitutions, character and personality, and hegemony. Taking pop stars as an example, Richard Dyer believes there is a difference between a ‘pop performer’ and ‘pop star’. A ‘pop performer’ being someone who simply performs pop music but a ‘pop star’ being someone who has an identity and persona outside their pop performing. If this is applied to the film industry, then we can use Tom Hanks and Jennifer Lawrence as an example. Tom Hanks’ popularity lives solely through his acting career and ability whereas Jennifer Lawrence is most well known for her ‘down to Earth’ attitude and likeability. Jennifer Lawrence is commonly in magazine and news stories due to her relationships, premier and event attendance and personal life whereas Tom Hanks is not.

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AUDIENCE AND INSTITUTIONSStars are made for money so they can use their

‘brand’ identity to increase the income the institute gains by starring the star in their movie. Stars are modelled based on the target audience they commonly draw in. An example of this would be Channing Tatum who, because of his good looks and charm, is commonly in teenage films and romance due to his popularity amongst a young female audience. Channing Tatum’s ‘stardom’ is then blown up by the media’s portrayal of his romantic and personal life. In order to become a ‘star’ the actor must have the ‘star’ look about them which Channing Tatum has. In comparison to Rupert Grint who, despite being in the huge Harry Potter franchise, did not have the big career of his co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson. According to Dyer’s ‘Star Theory’ this could be because Rupert Grint does not have the traditional ‘star’ appearance or personality of his two co-starts of Channing Tatum, therefore he is not commonly in mainstream media.

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CONSTRUCTIONStars are constructed to suit a target audience’s ideals.

He believes stars are not real people and are created in order to generate a profit. This applies more to pop stars than it does to movie stars as pop stars have more opportunity to create a persona that will last throughout history whereas a movie star changes personality with every role they play. But an example of construction with a movie star would be how a star such as Scarlett Johansson sells because of her good looks. She turns up to premiers in a nice dress chosen by a stylish, her hair and makeup will be professionally done, and when the images of the premier are put into a magazine, they will be photoshopped to perfection. But Scarlett Johansson would not look like this at home as she would not have a professional hair and makeup artist on hand. Therefore her image is created to generate a profit and it’s not really her. Because of this, her ‘image’ is a star quality and something that gets her cast into films. Scarlett Johansson was cast into roles such as Black Widow in the Marvel franchise because of her beauty rather than her actual acting ability.

A prime example of this construction of a star is X Factor because the show takes ordinary people and transforms them into stars. But X Factor has failed in some cases such as Leon Jackson who was dropped by Sony after his singles failed to make a hit.

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COMMODITYThe Richard Dyer also believed stars are create to make money off

merchandise, this applies more to pop stars than it does to movie stars because pop stars such as David Bowie have a personality that suits well with merchandise. And because of this, the music industry creates many similar artists because it believes that it has understood the trend in making money. This is why there are so many boy bands that are similar and targeting the same target audience of young teenage girls.

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IDEOLOGYBecause stars represent certain social groups, they

often share the same ideologies with their target audience. This is so fans can copy what they do and share the same views as them. Leonardo DiCaprio is a prime example of this because of his work in raising awareness for global warming and helping the wildlife. Not only this, but he has donated huge amounts of money to charities throughout his acting career. This makes more people a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio because they could share his beliefs about global warming. Social network allows stars to work on this and share their values, ideas and thought through social media so they can interact with their fans and therefore create a larger backing for the films they star in.

But this could also be a bad thing as stars can also have a bad influence over people. An example of this would be Miley Cyrus who is known for her outrageous behaviour and costumes. This is bad because she previously had a target audience of young teenage girls during her time in Disney and now all of a sudden her music and lives shows are deemed inappropriate which could be a bad example for her young fans.

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CHARACTER AND PERSONALITYStars are created with a personality that makes

them sound more of a ‘real person’ so when their lives are put into magzines, fans can identify with them and feel closer to them which makes them more likeable overall. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s life and relationship are always in magazines because fans feel involved in the relationship and want to feel closer to these stars. But because these stars are made to seem real, it often gives people a twisted version of what people are supposed to be like. For example, because Angelina Jolie is slim and beautiful, it teaches others that women are supposed to be slim and beautiful in general whereas men are supposed to be muscular and masculine like Brad Pitt. Because a screenwriter creates a character a film star is going to act as, this often constructs who they are going to be. For example, because Sylvester Stalone was cast in Rambo and Expendables, he is type cast as an action star and rarely gets a role as a romantic interest or a character who is weak.