Richard Dyers Star Theory

Richard Dyer


Richard Dyer was born in 1945, and he is an English academic specialising in cinema, As of 2006 he is Professor of Film Studies at King's College London.


Dyer proposes that a star is an image not a real person that is constructed out of a range of materials (E.g. advertising, magazines etc. as well as films).


Dyers theory can be constructed into sections:

• Audience and Institutions
• Constitutions
• Hegemony 

Audience  and Institutions:


Starts are made for money purposes alone. Increasing the brand identity benefits and institution as they become a household name increasing sales on all of the media platforms they are in. The institution then models the artist around the target audience they choose. For Example Lady GaGa, according to Dyer, was modelled around fashion forward people so the audience can relate to her as a person and also her music.


Constitutions:


This is more or less the same as the audience and institution part of his theory.




Hegemony:


This is also known as 'culture'. It is the idea that the audience relates to the star because they have a feature the share or admire with a star. Some fans may attempt to replicate the star in their behaviour, what they and what they do. 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. 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. Stars benefit from cultural discourse for example, via their Twitter feed. Now more than ever before, social networks give pop stars the opportunity to establish their own values outside their music. Lady Gaga tweets frequently about issues, and expects her “Little Monsters” (The name of which Lady Gaga calls her fans)  to engage with that discourse just as much as she expects them to listen to her music.