Richard Dyers Star Theory

Today I was introduced to Richard Dyers Star Theory. Richard Dyer was born in 1945 and since then has gone onto become an English academic. Dyer specialises in cinema and has created a variety of theories and beliefs over his 50 year career. One of his theories is his Star Theory, Dyer argues that people look up to stars as role models and that a star is made up of various key factors such as Image, Audience, Culture and Personality. I decided I would make a post about Dyers Theory, here Is what I found: 

Richard Dyer

Stars As Constructions

Lana Del Ray

Dyer believes artists are constructed through artificial images such as advertising, films, magazines and music. He claims that consumers prefer artists to convey their true emotions themselves and not be groomed by record labels who try to create a fake image for them. This creates a Unique selling point for the artist as it differentiates them. An example of this would be Lana Del Ray as she is marketed as being extravagant and different to others artists that produce similar music to her within the music industry.










Industry And Audiences

Richard Dyer also believes that stars are manufactured to make money for their record labels by appealing to target audiences. As a result of this record labels have to cater different artists for certain target audiences as there are both niche and whole markets. Examples of record labels doing this can be seen through Mirror branding, both Rage Against The Machine and Joe McElderry are signed to Sony Music.

Rage Against The Machine

Joe McElderry

Ideology And Culture


Another one of Dyers beliefs within his Star Theory is that artists become trendsetters in the sense that audience members will imitate hairstyles and artists clothing styles. Artist may have certain religious beliefs and cultural values that audiences may also pick up on if shared by the artist. The most common types of media that consumers or audience members will be able to obtain all this information and keep up with the latest gossip are magazine articles, websites and blogs. An example of this would be OK magazine and an example of a trendsetting artist would be Cheryl Cole and her variant hair styles.

Character And Personality

Finally Dyer believes that stars are presented as 'real' human beings and that they are representations of the contradictions as well as reinforced ideas see in the music industry. Stars support the idea of dominant ideology, seen as a glorified version of "us" the audience or consumer. Not only this but he argues that seeing a stars lifestyle through the internet, magazines and newspapers will feel closer to them. Development in social media now means that audiences are able to interact with the day to day life of a star.

It is important to understand theories and ideas such as this one to understand certain aspects of my media coursework. It will also be useful when it comes to analysing artists in the future. Whilst analysing music videos I will be able to use my knowledge to develop a greater understanding.