1. Star Image Task (Richard
Dyer’s Star theory and Justin
Bieber)
By Vincent Yau

2. Summary of Richard Dyer’s Star
theory (Image Construction)
• According to Richard Dyer, pop performer and pop star are two different
things in media term.
• Pop performers are the ones who are famous and popular mainly because
of their talent in the genre of pop music. Where as Pop star are simply an
artificial image
• He believes image of pop stars are not real person, but instead they are
images constructed through a number of elements such as music videos,
advertising, magazines etc…
• Their icons and celebrities are constructed by the manager for financial
reasons and are built to target a specific audience or group of people.
• Richard Dyer’s Star theory is broken down into 3 parts: Industry and
Audience, Ideology and Culture, character and personality.

3. Summary of Richard Dyer’s Star
theory (Industry and Audience)
• According to Richard Dyer’s theory, pop stars are manufactured to make
money from the audience for the company/record labels such as advertising
their concert tickets, signing autographs and have fan meetings. Richard
believes that stars are created to give them as much likeability as possible as
fans are the means of keeping the music industry together. The company
tend to manufacture the stars what they think audiences want.
Summary of Richard Dyer’s Star
theory (Ideology and Culture)
• Richard Dyer believes that pop stars were presented as people who
promote certain ideologies by conveying their beliefs and opinions outside
of the music industry. Pop stars/Artists shares their information on common
types of media such as magazine, websites and social media network. For
example, a popular pop star may share his/her latest hairstyle to the fans on
Instagram so people will see it as a trend or new style.

4. • Richard Dyer believes that stars started out as “real” human.
The record company then transform/construct them to be as
realistic as possible while maintaining a fan base by being
themselves. The construct is often based on the audience and
generation and will conform to what they will want to see.
• Richard believes that seeing a stars lifestyle through the
internet, magazines and newspaper will feel closer to them.
Fans and audiences will know much more about the star, and
they are able to see the real image of them.
Summary of Richard Dyer’s Star
theory (Character and Personality)

5. Justin Bieber – Star Image
Construction
• The star image of Justin Bieber is not a real
person, it is constructed through different
elements such as music, music videos,
magazines and social media network. His image
is built for an audience, specifically with a
signature that differentiates him from other
stars. The image of Justin Bieber was popular for
his hairstyle, where the hairstyle gets really
popular that we see it as a trend. He also
changed his own fashion aesthetic through
various ways and fans tend to copy his fashion
style.
• His star image is also constructed negatively,
Justin Bieber is often surrounded by controversy
where his negative actions may be replicated by
others. He is sometimes shown as a negative
role model on the media.

6. JB - Audience and Institutions
• Justin Bieber is a famous Canadian singer,
who also dances and acts. Justin Bieber has a
big impact in institutions and audiences. His
first appearance and image has attracted
many girls where he is soon modified his
image so that more girls will pay money for
his merchandise or to watch him in concert.
• He has a global fan base, termed as
“Believers” and over 40 million followers on
Twitter, which he has an impact on
institutions because his image has been
constructed successfully whether he is
portrayed negatively or positively, his record
company will make huge amount of money
out of the amount audiences and fans.
• To gain more audience attention, he has
shortened his hairstyle because the company
would like to change his style for the
audience purpose and he needed to maintain
popularity by doing something unexpected.

7. JB - Ideology and Culture
• Justin Bieber links to Richard’s theory as
he is represented as a star who promotes
certain ideologies by conveying his beliefs
and opinions outside of music.
• Justin Bieber has used his social media
account such as Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram to share his culture values and
attitudes to the audience such as showing
fans his new fashion style and hairstyle, or
use the social media website share the his
lifestyle. This will give the Justin Bieber a
unique persona and the cultural values
will interest the audiences.
• Justin Bieber mainly used these social
media website to portray his positive
image, for example, he has posted images
of him taking part in several charities and
he has volunteered with different
organisations.

8. JB - Character and Personality
• The character and personality of Justin Bieber
has changed since his first appearance. He is
started out as a teenage boy who had passion
in music, specifically singing. His song ‘baby’ is
about girls, it has shown his typically teenage
boy characteristic and attitude and have
attracted a large amount of audiences, mainly
girls because the fan girls believes that is a
nice character and attitude.
• However, the behaviour and personality of
Justin Bieber has been shown negatively in the
recent years. He was caught smoking weed,
and has been shown through the media. He is
also seen getting angry at paparazzi and tries
to hit photographers