Richard Dyer - Star Image

Richard Dyer is a media theorist.

• He has written extensively about the role of stars in film, Tv, and music
• According to Dyer, in order to understand the relationship between the music industry and its audiences, it is important to consider the roles of music stars

What does 'Star' actually mean?

• Dyer suggests that when we talk about the term 'star', the word itself refers to the semi-mythological set of meanings constructed around music performers in order to sell the performer to a large and loyal audience

Stars have some common features

• A star is a perspective or image, not a real person, that is constructed out of a range of materials. 
• Such materials may include videos, artwork, performances, and media appearances

Stars depend upon a range of subsidiary media in order to construct an image for themselves which can be marketed to their target audiences

• Some examples of these media may include: magazines, TV, radio, the internet
• 
  The star is made up of a variety of attractive meanings that may attract a target audience
• Some common values of music stardom are: Youthfulness (E.g. One Direction), Rebellion, sexual magnetism (E.g Shakira), Originality, creativity/talent,  aggression/anger (e.g heavy metal or rap), and even success against the odds (e.g Adele originally or Ed Sheeran)

Richard Dyer states that fundamentally, the start image is incoherent that is incomplete and 'open'. He says that this is because it is based upon two key paradoxes.

• Firstly, the star image must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer. For example Beyonce having an extremely expensive looking dress on stage and then just a picture of her with her own child. Another example is Justin Beiber having his face on a 2018 calendar and then a picture of him getting arrested.
• Secondly, the star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer. For example, Taylor Swift inviting fans to tea parties or engaging with them and stopping for selfies outside her shows. This shows presence to the audience. An example of being both present and absent as a star is live performances. Watching them and seeing you favourite artist makes you feel like they are present, however, you are in a crowd of masses amounts of people and likely very far away from the artist, making them absent.

The Star Image

• This incoherence ensures that audiences continually strive to 'complete' or 'make sense of' the image
• Achieved by continued consumption of the star through his or her products
• In the music industry, performance seems to promise the competition of the image, but is almost always, ultimately unsatisfying