Star image - Richard Dyer

Richard Dyer is a theorist at Warwick University who wrote a book called 'Stars' in 1978. In his book he discusses the way in which audiences engage with different well known stars. He stated that stars are a myth and are constructed in order to sell an image to an audience - in effect they are a commodity that are bought and sold on the strength of their meanings.

What he means by this is that we know a lot about a celebrity through their engagement in the media, however we know very little about their private life behind closed doors. He describes this as stars being present in our life but simultaneously absent, or in other words we think we know lots about them but we actually know very little as we are buying into an image that is either being constructed by the agencies that manage them or by the artists themselves.

Within the music industry, the following features can generally be applied to an artists image:
1) Using their sexuality to sell themselves
e.g. Kylie Minogue

2) Rebelliousness

e.g. Tupac 

3) Disregard for social norms e.g. drug taking, getting into trouble with police

e.g. Justin Bieber

4) Creativity

e.g. Lorde

5) Anti-authoritarian attitude

e.g. Sex Pistols 

6) Attractiveness to the audience

e.g. One Direction 

7) Originality

e.g. Ed Sheeran 

8) Being aspirational to the audience

e.g. Beyonce