Tuesday 11 October 2016

Richard Dyer Star Theory


Richard Dyer, born 1945, is an English media theorist who is specialised in cinema (particularly Italian cinema), queer theory, and the relationship between entertainment and representations of race, sexuality, and gender.

His star theory focuses on the idea that icons and celebrities are manufactured by institutions for financial gain. He believes that stars/celebrities are constructed by the industry to represent "real people" experiencing "real emotions". According to Dyer, stars are manufactured by the music industry to serve the purpose of; making money from the audience by them buying the stars records and becoming fans. His theory is split into 2 main sections: 
  1. Audiences and Institutions 
  2. Hegemony
Audience and Institutions is discussing how stars are made for money purposes alone. The institution is modelling the artist around the target audience they choose the star to be around. Lady Gaga was, according to Dyer, modeled around fashion forward people so that the audience could relate to her as a person and also relate to her music. 


Hegemony is also known as "culture". The idea is that the audience relates to the star because they have a feature they share or a feature they admire with the star. Some fans attempt to replicate the star in their behaviour, what they wear and what they do. However, this could have a negative impact on the audience since some stars may be doing negative behaviour such as drug abuse or a massive consumption of alcohol. For example in the 70s there was an increas of illegal sales of cannabis due The Beatles being fine with using it and saying that it is okay to smoke cannabis. 
Audience interest in the stars 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. 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 Lady Gaga calls her fans, to engage with that discourse just as much as she expects them to listen to her music.


While working on her second album, Gaga developed the theme of monster, both in physical form, and to describe her inner fear (Monster of death, alcohol, drugs, etc.). During the summer of 2009, she first started to use the name during her live performances to refer her fans. The name fit them well because her fans crawl and scream during her show like monsters would do. The little monster's grew and does now count for all of Gaga's fans who have created Little Monster social media accounts and a little monster website

1 comment:

  1. Needs illustrating - and include (hyperlink) Little Monsters

    ReplyDelete

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