Richard Dyer and Star TheoryAudiences and Institutions | Hegemony | Paradox of the Star

Richard Dyer

Richard Dyer is a media theorist and in his 1979 book ‘Stars’ he talks about star image and the construction of the star as artificial and created, and that individual stars develop their own unique selling point.

Richard Dyers star theory is the idea that icons and celebrities are created and manufactured by institutions and companies solely for financial gain. He believes that stars are constructed to represent 'real people' experiencing real emotions. Stars are manufactured by the music industry to make money from an audience, who respond by buying albums and acting like their idol that the industry have created.

Miley Cyrus and Patent Pending Fans

Audiences and Institutions

Richard Dyer’s theory can be split into three different parts, the first being audience and institutes. His theory states that stars are made only for money and that proliferation of the star’s brand indentity benefits the music companies when stars become household names as it increases the sales. The institution then models the star around the target audience.

An example of this can be Miley Cyrus’ new image. After working on Disney, she wanted to detatch herself from the childhood image and so became a lot racier and for a adult audience. The companies then created her as a brand, synonymous with bad behaviour and ‘twerking’ which is popular with her young target audience.

Lady Gaga and Conforming to this theory

Another example of a star that conforms to this theory is Lady Gaga, who is constructed around a fashion forward people audience so her audience can relate to her and as a consequence provide more money for institutes from sales of music. To the right is an image of Lady Gaga fans lining up for a concert. They dress in a similar style to her, emulating her whilst the companies construct her in this way too in order to have them relate to her.

Patent Pending and Subversion of theory

It could be argued that this aspect of Dyer’s theory does not come into play with a band like Patent Pending who do not have institutes constructing an image of them to create a unique selling point, instead they chose to present themselves within the pop-punk genre by dressing the way they usually would and jumping around and having fun. The name Patent Pending comes from the idea that when you put a patent on something, you are about to create something new and unique and that the name ‘patent pending’ means that that uniqueness will come about soon, as the patent is still pending. They have constructed themselves as people who like to have fun but also care for others from their music videos and song topics which speak out against teen suicide. On stage they jump around and have events which promote friendliness, different to other corporate constructed punk bands like Asking Alexandria which put an emphasis on anarchy.

Hegemony

The second aspect of his theory is the idea of hegemony and that audiences relate to stars because they have a feature they share or admire with the star. For example, with Miley Cryus fans, the audience may appreciate that she doesn’t care what people think and presents herself as a strong-willed and carefree individual who just wants to have fun but may also admire her beauty and confidence to wear unconventional clothing. Some may view her as sexy and admire her image, wanting to be like her.

Stars represent shared cultural values and attitudes, and promote a certain ideology. Audience interest in these values enhances their 'star quality', and it is through conveying beliefs, ideas and opinions outside music that performers help create their star character to their fans. A star may start a fashion trend, with masses of fans copying their hairstyle and clothing.

For example, Miley Cryus’ twerking, clothing and trademark to stick out her tongue has been copied by her fans.

Example:

More examples: Patent Pending

Social Media and Hegemony Now more than ever before, social

networks give pop stars the opportunity to establish their own values outside their music. Stars can use twitter to talk about problems they think are important and institutes can control a star’s twitter account, making tweets appropriate for their target audience.

Here you can see that Miley’s inappropriate behaviour on social media is expected of her because of the way her image has been constructed as rebellious and inappropriate. The use of social media has allowed the brand of the stars to reach out further.

Negatives about Star Power

But this could also be a negative impact as some stars often are heavy drinkers and drug abusers. For example in the 60's and 70's there was an increase of illegal sales of cannabis due to The Beatles being open about using it. Stars represent shared cultural values and attitudes, and promote a certain ideology

Paradox of the Stars

In Dyer’s theory, he additionally suggests that there are two paradoxes and suggests that there are two contrary representations and that star is both “ordinary and extraordinary”. Dyer says tat the star needs to be like us to be able to relate to the audience enough but yet have something that we do not as an audience have in order for them to be special enough to be stars.

Dyer mentions that stars exist and are a part of our lives in the fact we talk about them, adopt styles from them, watch them on television, music videos and track what they are doing on social media but he also states that Stars are at the same time absent and out of reach. Dyer proposes that the audience completes the star image by consuming their products.

Miley Cyrus - Paradox

Ordinary Extraordinary

Patent Pending

OrdinaryExtraordinary

Present yet absent

Absent- not really there,You do not really know The star.

Present- constantly updated by whatthey are doing as if you know them