Richard Dyer's Star Theory

Richard Dyer states that icons and celebrities are constructed by institutions for money and they are built up to target a specific audience. Dyers theory can be broken down into three different sectors:

-          Audiences and Institutions

-          Constructions

-          Hegemony (Cultural Beliefs)

He states:  

-          “Stars are commodities that are produced by institutions.”

-          “A star is a constructed image, represented across a range of media and mediums.”

-          “Stars represent and embody certain ideologies.”

Audiences and Institutions:

Stars are made to make money for that purpose alone. Audiences want to consume what they think is the ideal. The institution then modifies the stars image around the target audience; they make a star based on what they think the audience want. Fore example, X Factor auditions give the judges an ideas of what they are looking for which is the ‘full package’. The people auditioning want to please the audience as they are what will make the star a success or not.

Constructions:

A star is built for audiences and is not an actual person. A persona is created for the audience so stars can differentiate between different stars and why they like them or not. The star is built specifically with someone’s signature to them.

Hegemony:

We relate to the star because they have a feature we admire or share with them. This develops from an admiration into an idolisation. Some people may attempt to replicate what they like about the stars.