RESEARCH: STARDOM

STARDOM - click here to view the website where my information is based

Richard Dyer's Star Theory applied to Pop Star

In one of our lessons we learnt about a man called Richard Dyer, and his 'Star Theory' which applied to everyday pop stars. One of the reasons so many pop stars are described as stars, is because they are extremely quickly promoted to fame by the management they are under, according to Dyer. Pop stars however are not always promoted in a positive way, with scandalous stories being published every day about pop stars in popular magazines such as HEAT, we can get a flavour of why these people become famous so quickly. We completely forget about the music side of things, when reading about love affairs etc, and therefore it almost seems like several performers 'jump' the actual performance stage to fame, however, they do go through it eventually. 

Dyer said that a TRUE pop star has lasting significance upon its audience and will live as a legend even when dead. He claims that many of the top 40 chart stars at the moment haven't created any impact on social or environmental factors across the globe and will therefore in a number of years be forgotten by their fans, whilst they move onto someone or something long term. 

Dyer proposes that: 

'A star is an image not a real person that is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) out of a range of materials (eg advertising, magazines etc as well as films [music]).' 

This is the website used to research Stardom - http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/Music/music.php?pageID=popstar

 Stars are manufactured by the music industry to serve a purpose — to make money out of audiences, these audiences then respond to the 'star' by buying the several singles and albums released by the artist. These stars that are produced each year are what keep the record companies running as the companies get a large cut in the profits from how much a single or album makes. Record companies nurture and shape their stars — as the TV talent show processes have shown us. The record companies tend to manufacture what they think their audiences want, such as the increasing number of boy bands as of late. However, there are many people and markets of music that do not conform to the hype of todays music produced by 'stars' as they believe the music is too manufactured and not setting a good example for the youth of today.