Richard Dyer's Star Theory applied to Pop Stars

The Theory 



David Bowie is a good example of a long lasting pop
star with a success career

• Richard Dyers believed that 'Pop Stars' and 'Pop Performers' are different things
• Pop Stars and known for being famous and Pop Performers are famous for their talent 
• Performances and talent can be easily forgotten about because of publicity stunts and scandals
• Pop stars are constructed by management and labels to create a person that an audience will want to love and be 

The construction of Stars

• Pop stars are created from 'artificial images', even if they are being represented as 'real people' with 'real emotions'
• They are told what to say and how to feel when in public, and are 'controlled' by record labels and institutions



Daft Punk are unique for their anonymity image

Industry and Audiences

• Stars serve a purpose of making money from their audiences using their various elements of their persona that attract the audience
• the music industry is well aware of the different audiences that can be targeted, such as 'Tweenies' who are attracted to Justin Beiber
• The 'conveyor belt' approach to new stars means that talent isn't developed, and a star's value may be very short-lived

"...stars are representations of persons which reinforce, legitimate or occasionally alter the prevalent preconceptions of what it is to be a human being in this society...our society stresses what makes them like others in the social group/class/gender to which they belong. This individualising stress involves a separation of the person's "self" from his/her social "roles", and hence poses the individual against society. On the other hand society suggests that certain norms of behaviour are appropriate to given groups of people, which many people in such groups would now wish to contest...Stars are one of the ways in which conceptions of such persons are promulgated."

Richard Dyer — The Stars (BFI Education 1979)

Lady Gaga wearing her iconic meat dress in 2010

Important to remember...
A star is an image not a real person, but is a construction made out of a range of materials (e.g. advertising, magazines etc. as well as films and music)












Useful Website
http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/Music/music.php?pageID=popstar

Music Video Fandoms

'A gif image' = a lossless format for image files that supports both animated and static images.

Through the use of 'Gif' images, we can explore the different audiences of Pop Music. I have chosen to explore gifs of a teenage audience because they are whom I'm going to aiming my music video to next year.

'A fandom' = a group of people who are brought together through their mutual interest of a celebrity, book or activity



Katy Perry in her music video
'Last Friday Night'

Miley Cyrus in her music video 'Can't Stop'



 

 

 

 

Music Videos

Favourite:

preferred to all others of the same kind.

 

I narrowed my favourite music videos down to 4. All the music videos are different in terms of editing, music, mise en scene and cinematography.

 

Airplanes - Local Natives
The music video shows the journey of an old abandoned house, the moving picture and exploding portraits signify that there are spirits in the house. The style of this video is quite creepy but works well with the track.



The Reeling - Passion Pit
I like this video because

 

 

Houdini - Foster the People

The music video is about the members of the band being killed in an accident during rehearsals and the production team having to come together to

 

Anna Sun - Walk The Moon

Desert Island Review

In class we produced diagrams of a desert island in order to create and visually appealing our journey over the AS media course. The surrounding deep blue sea represents that at the beginning of the year I was very lost because I had never done media before, however now my island has grown trees, signifying that my knowledge has expanded and I am less isolated. The large volcano about to erupt represents how I felt before the exam, excited and full of knowledge. In the far right corner I have drawn a boat to show that I am sailing off onto my next adventure of A2 media.

An Introduction to A2 Media Studies

As we near the end of my first year at Hurtwood and all my exams are now over, we are being introduced to the A2 courses of my 3 chosen subjects. Moving on from our Thriller opening sequence we are going to create a Pop music video come September. So we are in the stages of exploring our knowledge of music videos are coming up with ideas that would interest us in our own music video. I feel as if I have learnt a lot from media this year, in which I can use to in my practises next year in order to receive a top mark in a years time.

 

 

Franchi, me and Gabriel in Media