Richard Dyer Star Theory

Richard Dyer's star theory is the idea that icons and celebrities are manufactured by institutions for financial reasons. Dyer believes that stars are made to represent 'real people' who experience real emotions as we do. Stars are styled and created to appeal to their target audience, thus meaning that the industry make money from them. Richard Dyer's star theory is split into 3 sections: 1. audiences and institutions 2. constitutions 3. hegemony.

Audiences and Institutions:
Stars are purely made for the purpose of making a money. By increasing the brand identity it benefits the institution as they become a household name, meaning the daily sales increase. By being in more media platforms it means they're money rates go up. The institution also decides what the artist will dress like so that they're appealing to their target audience. For example, with Katy Perry being a pop star, her target audience is young teenage girls. Because of this, her style is bright, girly and bold. Her outfits within the music videos often represent her girly side, for example her song 'California Girls'.

Constitutions:

The constitutions side of his theory ties back in with the audience and institutions previously spoken about. Dyer proposes that a star is not a real person, but is groomed, styled and coached into fulfilling a set of record company and market expectations.

Hegemony:

Hegemony is also known as the 'culture section'. Dyer's idea is that the audience can relate to the star as they share a feature with that star. Some fans may start to mirror the behavior of their admired star. In some cases this could be a good thing as it might encourage them to take up a new hobby such as singing. However, with the good comes the bad, so if a fan were to be influenced by the likes of rappers such as ASAP Rocky, they may be influenced to swear more as it is promoted in their songs, the same goes for drugs as they are idealized. Stars represent shared cultural values and attitudes and promote a certain ideology. A star may initiate a fashion trend, which fans will then follow and promote. Now more than ever before, social networks give pop stars the the ability to share their own personal values outside of their music.