2. WHAT IS IT?
The Richard Dyer 'Star Theory' is the idea that
celebrities or 'stars' are created by institutions for
making money. Stars are given a certain personality
so an audience identifies with them and chooses to
become a 'fan' by buying their records or watching
their movies. An example of this would be Jennifer
Lawrence, whose 'down to Earth' attitude earned her
a lot of fans who find her ‘funny’ and ‘likeable’
therefore she is a current candidate for many
blockbuster and Oscar nominated movies such as
the X-Men franchise and American Hustle. The Star
Theory can be split into several parts; audience and
institutions, construction, Commodity, ideology,
constitutions, character and personality, and
hegemony. Taking pop stars as an example, Richard
Dyer believes there is a difference between a ‘pop
performer’ and ‘pop star’. A ‘pop performer’ being
someone who simply performs pop music but a ‘pop
star’ being someone who has an identity and
persona outside their pop performing. If this is
applied to the film industry, then we can use Tom
Hanks and Jennifer Lawrence as an example. Tom
Hanks’ popularity lives solely through his acting
career and ability whereas Jennifer Lawrence is
most well known for her ‘down to Earth’ attitude and
likeability. Jennifer Lawrence is commonly in
magazine and news stories due to her relationships,
premier and event attendance and personal life
whereas Tom Hanks is not.
3. AUDIENCE AND INSTITUTIONS
Stars are made for money so they can use
their ‘brand’ identity to increase the income
the institute gains by starring the star in
their movie. Stars are modelled based on
the target audience they commonly draw
in. An example of this would be Channing
Tatum who, because of his good looks and
charm, is commonly in teenage films and
romance due to his popularity amongst a
young female audience. Channing Tatum’s
‘stardom’ is then blown up by the media’s
portrayal of his romantic and personal life.
In order to become a ‘star’ the actor must
have the ‘star’ look about them which
Channing Tatum has. In comparison to
Rupert Grint who, despite being in the
huge Harry Potter franchise, did not have
the big career of his co-stars Daniel
Radcliffe and Emma Watson. According to
Dyer’s ‘Star Theory’ this could be because
Rupert Grint does not have the traditional
‘star’ appearance or personality of his two
co-starts of Channing Tatum, therefore he
is not commonly in mainstream media.
4. CONSTRUCTION
Stars are constructed to suit a target audience’s ideals.
He believes stars are not real people and are created
in order to generate a profit. This applies more to pop
stars than it does to movie stars as pop stars have
more opportunity to create a persona that will last
throughout history whereas a movie star changes
personality with every role they play. But an example
of construction with a movie star would be how a star
such as Scarlett Johansson sells because of her good
looks. She turns up to premiers in a nice dress chosen
by a stylish, her hair and makeup will be professionally
done, and when the images of the premier are put into
a magazine, they will be photoshopped to perfection.
But Scarlett Johansson would not look like this at
home as she would not have a professional hair and
makeup artist on hand. Therefore her image is created
to generate a profit and it’s not really her. Because of
this, her ‘image’ is a star quality and something that
gets her cast into films. Scarlett Johansson was cast
into roles such as Black Widow in the Marvel franchise
because of her beauty rather than her actual acting
ability.
A prime example of this construction of a star is X Factor
because the show takes ordinary people and
transforms them into stars. But X Factor has failed in
some cases such as Leon Jackson who was dropped
by Sony after his singles failed to make a hit.
5. COMMODITY
The Richard Dyer also believed stars are create to make money off
merchandise, this applies more to pop stars than it does to movie
stars because pop stars such as David Bowie have a personality
that suits well with merchandise. And because of this, the music
industry creates many similar artists because it believes that it has
understood the trend in making money. This is why there are so
many boy bands that are similar and targeting the same target
audience of young teenage girls.
6. IDEOLOGY
Because stars represent certain social groups, they
often share the same ideologies with their target
audience. This is so fans can copy what they do
and share the same views as them. Leonardo
DiCaprio is a prime example of this because of
his work in raising awareness for global warming
and helping the wildlife. Not only this, but he has
donated huge amounts of money to charities
throughout his acting career. This makes more
people a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio because they
could share his beliefs about global warming.
Social network allows stars to work on this and
share their values, ideas and thought through
social media so they can interact with their fans
and therefore create a larger backing for the films
they star in.
But this could also be a bad thing as stars can also
have a bad influence over people. An example of
this would be Miley Cyrus who is known for her
outrageous behaviour and costumes. This is bad
because she previously had a target audience of
young teenage girls during her time in Disney and
now all of a sudden her music and lives shows
are deemed inappropriate which could be a bad
example for her young fans.
7. CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY
Stars are created with a personality that
makes them sound more of a ‘real person’
so when their lives are put into magzines,
fans can identify with them and feel closer
to them which makes them more likeable
overall. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s life
and relationship are always in magazines
because fans feel involved in the
relationship and want to feel closer to
these stars. But because these stars are
made to seem real, it often gives people a
twisted version of what people are
supposed to be like. For example, because
Angelina Jolie is slim and beautiful, it
teaches others that women are supposed
to be slim and beautiful in general whereas
men are supposed to be muscular and
masculine like Brad Pitt. Because a
screenwriter creates a character a film star
is going to act as, this often constructs who
they are going to be. For example,
because Sylvester Stalone was cast in
Rambo and Expendables, he is type cast
as an action star and rarely gets a role as a
romantic interest or a character who is
weak.
