Richard Dyer: Star Theory

Richard Dyers: Star Theory

Richard Dyer developed the idea that the viewer’s perception of a film is heavily influenced by the perception of its stars, and that publicity materials and reviews determine the way that audiences experience a media text.

With this idea in mind, Dyer analysed critics writing, magazines, advertising and the films themselves, to explore the significance of stardom.

According to Dyer a star is an image not a real person they are constructed, as any other aspect of fiction is, using a range of materials and methods e.g. advertising, magazines and featuring in films and music products. He states that icons and celebrities are constructed by institutions for financial gain. And that stars create a persona that is appealing to a target audience but is not actually a true representation.

There are four key components to Dyers Star Theory, these include;

• Stars as constructions
•  Audience and industry/institution
•  Ideology and culture
• Character and personality

Point one: Stars are constructions

Stars are constructed, artificial images, even if they are represented as being "real people", experiencing real emotions. Their representation may be image associated. Such as Madonna's conical bra or Michael Jackson's glittery sequin glove. Pop stars have the advantage over film stars in that their constructed image may be much more consistent over a period of time, and is not dependent on the creative input of others.

Point two: Audience and industry/ institution                

Stars are manufactured by the music industry to serve a purpose — to make money out of audiences, who respond to various elements of a star persona by buying records and becoming fans. Record companies nurture and shape their stars as the TV talent show processes have shown us such as the X Factor. The institution want to make money out of their constructed stars and create constructs of stars they believe an audience want to copy.

Point Three: Ideology and culture

Stars represent shared cultural values and attitudes that promotes a certain ideology about themselves as an artist and what they want an audience to see what they believe in. By having dominant desirable ideologies it allows the audience to see their star qualities and make them more desirable. Audiences tend to copy or idolize ‘stars’ so promoting their own beliefs makes them more desirable.

Point four: Character and personality

Dyer says stars provide audiences with ‘ideas of what people are supposed to be like’ and because of this audiences feel the need to conform to these constructions.  A star creates a character based on themselves and what they feel the audience want to consume they promote an image what they feel is desirable for an audience. Stars are characters that create personalities to present to an audience. Audience consume this idea and the character these stars re-present to an audience.