Star Image -Rosie Ram-

Richard Dyers theory The theorist Richard Dyer suggested that distinguished that there was a difference between a pop performer and pop

star. He argues that a pop performer transforms into a pop star when they are/their persona is delivered to the public through other means other then just their music. Dyer believes that the stage of changing from a pop performer to a pop star is a very beneficial stage for an individual as it gives them the opportunity and potential to allow the audience to connect with them more, and expose themselves more, as it is much more easier to forget an artists music without showing parts of their persona, therefore by doing this the artist themselves and their music will become more well known and popular which will eventually develop themselves into the stage of becoming a “pop star”. Furthermore Dyer states that celebrities are manipulated and constructed by institutions in order for them to have a the greatest potential to appeal to a specific audience, which will financially benefit them, this also leads to more grand awareness as they are usually seen by “idols” in society.

Richard Dyers theory is very popular and it can be categorized in 4 different categories which includes star constructions; the industry and audience, ideology and culture and lastly character and personality.

Dyer argues that stars (celebrities) are socially constructed he argues that despite there aim of transmitting an ideology of realism as “real people” there are artificial images that are constructed by institutions. Dyer argues that this is extremely beneficial for them as it helps there image use a unique selling point e.g. Can be copied. He argues that stars are manufactured by the industry for a purpose and this purpose is to gain financially from their audiences. Within there constructions stars are also represented to share cultural values and attitudes and promote certain ideologies the more the audiences interest the more that there “star quality increases”. Lastly Dyer argues that a star starts off as a real person with their individual characteristics, gender and race. He argues that star transformation process turns these “real people” into constructions however these constructions are not entirely false they do have a basis of real. Stars transmit ideologies of what people should be like. This suggests that certain norms of behaviour are given appropriate to given groups of people.

Stars as Constructions Dyer argues that stars (celebrities) are socially constructed he argues that despite

there aim of transmitting an ideology of realism as “real people” through emotions and beliefs they, are artificial images that are constructed by institutions. Dyer argues that this is extremely beneficial for them as it helps there image use a unique selling point to bring in a wider mass audience appeal and make the celebrity more unforgettable for the audience as they will be outstanding and eye-catching, due to their USP which will drag the audience in as they will suddenly become more interesting in the audiences eyes as that USP will be unique to that one and only celebrity which will make them stand out from all the other celebrities the are formally competing with. He argues that stars are manufactured by the industry for a purpose and this purpose is to gain financially from their audiences.

In Richard Dyers view stars are constructions that the audiences can easily become aware of new stories through magazines, press, having famous partners and much more.

Star Construction: Katy Perry

Katy Perry is a Californian actress that is an great example of a star construction. Katy Perry perceived her career in gospel music in her early teens and released her debut studio album Katie Hudson in (2001) having had limited exposure to mainstream pop music in her childhood. Katie moved to Los Angeles where she gradually got developed by institutions to apply to specific audiences and changed from gospel music to rock music when she changed her name into a more edgy /catchy name of “Katy Perry”. Her image is cleverly crafted to appeal to a wide audience fan-base. Katy Perry's construction is represented across many different forms of media, it is clear that herself and her record label are presenting her as a ‘youthful’, ‘fun’, ‘bubbly’ and ‘attractive’ singer. This is a star construction of her artificial image, as this is what she wants to portray to her audiences so that she is more likeable, this also enables audiences to express their emotions as many can relate to her music, despite this she is not regarded as a “fake” star but a natural star that freely portrays her persona through her music. Her history has also made her more likeable by audiences as they are know aware of her failures before her success and appreciate her music as they feel she has “earned it” going through the hard journey which many singers do not go through representing herself through her real person through her emotions and beliefs.Katy Perry also has a unique selling point that ranges from her over-the-top fashions, quirky stage props and catchy songs like “I kissed a girl”. During many interviews, on streets and even on stage there is always excitement and suspense to see what Katy Perry will come out with next, as she is one of the most unpredictable stars, her most major unique selling point has to be her over-the-top fashion. Due to this she has starred in many interviews and magazines questioning about her fashion sense and how far it will go. Her unique selling point delivers her persona through her choice of clothes and extravagant shows.

Katy Perry also dated the well-known British comedian Russell Brand that is very popular in England, this immediately caught the audiences and presses eyes and shortly became a very popular story and spread vastly and was often stirred and out of context as many rumours have come out, which increased her appearance. They were a very popular couple due to both of their quirky representations, which were well liked by the audiences. The couple jetted of to India to have their private wedding, without no public appearances, however this was also one of the most popular weddings of all times, and starred through the press over a long period of time. Furthermore to increase publicity, Russell Brand and Katy Perry shortly got a divorce from one another, rumours were spread, that suggested that Russell Brand filed for a divorce as he no longer found Katy “attractive”.

Before After

Industry and Audience

According to Richard Dyer stars are manufactured by industries so that they will appeal to a wider mass audience, to serve a purpose. Richard Dyer argues that this is a financial purpose, pop stars generate finance from their fans and in order for them to do this they have to represented in a way that they will appeal to the audience, in other words they have to be moulded into the audiences’ preference. Therefore this makes pop stars the product of institutions such as the record company as these record companies in Dyers words “Nurture and shape their stars”. Stars are shaped by record companies in the ideal star for audiences will respond to this created persona by purchasing the stars records and albums which will generate masses of money for the stars considering there success. This is a very vital point as in order to be a success record companies have a duty to make pop stars stand out, bolder and interesting as audiences will no be willing to spend their money on artists they do not have any interest in.

Katy Perry is very successful in financial terms she has thrived selling over 1.1 million albums her song ‘California Gurls’ sold 4,4 million online downloads and her album ‘Teenage Dream’ generating 5 number 1 hit singles. These numbers show her global success and market appeal to a whole variation of audiences this is partly to do with the record company Katy Perry is signed on by called capitol records which are a very large well-known recording company.

It is clear the Katy Perry has drastically changed over the years from when she first entered the music industry. Her whole look has changed ranging from her fashion, style and appearance. When Katy Perry first kicked off her career in 2004, her fashion sense was completely different to what it is now, Katy Perry was a tomboy, who had a rocky fashion sense. However Katy’s fashion sense has now been transformed, as she had to do something to maintain her popularity with the press by doing something new and unexpected. By making a complete transformation in her fashion sense by changing to some of the unique costumes the world has ever seen e.g. the cupcake bra goddess she is known to be. This move caused Katy Perry to star in lots of interviews, headlines and was talked about by all her fans who approved of her “new look”. This indicates that the record company felt that Katy needed a change to attract a wider audience and enhance her qualities that would appeal to more audiences, this change now makes Katy appeal to both males and females, her appearance now attracts males and females seen as a role model by both younger and older females which will potentially cause her to earn more money. This change has earned her to become an international style icon.

Katy Perry also went through a phrase of wearing brightly coloured wigs. This was also used as a unique selling point, however it was also so that fans could automatically recognise who she was, as it kind of became her fashion statement. This enabled her to experiment with different styles which led her to become more confident and create her own crazy/unique style which is adored by all her fans. These are all examples of what is in the hands of the record company, as this would be the record companies ideas as it is there obligation to come with ideas that will generate the most amount of profit for stars through the way they are represented to audiences.

The record company also enables Katy Perry to promote and market a variety of other products including pop chips, Sims 3 and adidas, to simultaneously promote herself.

Twitter

Albums

Ideology and Culture

Richard Dyer holds the belief that stars are portrayed as certain people who promote specific ideologies by transmitting their beliefs and opinions outside of their music. Richard Dyer argues that they do this by sharing/revealing their cultural values and attitudes to their audiences to create a greater link between the “star” and “fan-base”, he argues that helps to create their star persona. This can be done through social networking sites such as twitter, facebook, instagram and through interviews and this may initiate promoting fashion trends, with legion of fans copying their hairstyles and clothing or even a charity. Social networks now give pop stars the opportunity to establish their own values outside their music giving stars their own unique persona along with the cultural values that will engage audiences.

Ideology and Culture- Katy Perry

Katy Perry supports a numerous amount of charities and encourages all her fans to support charities and donate to them. An example of this would be when Katy Perry turned up to the annual snowflake gala, determined to support the children's charity, Katy performed at the ball and also became part of the travelling organisation becoming one of the ambassadors for unicef, she also conducted a speech advising her fans to volunteer for unicef abroad to protect and promote the rights of all children to build schools, train teachers and provide textbooks so that every child can get an education. Katy Perry also used the social networking site instagram to encourage fans volunteer through pictures. As Katy has such a large fan base this was very successful and put her in positive light.

In addition to her success a portion of her ticket sales was donated via Tickets-for-Charity to The Children’s Health Fund, Generosity Water and The Humane Society, and a portion of merchandise sales was donated to The Red Cross to benefit local disaster relief efforts, this also encourages audiences to buy tickets, this was widely spread over twitter and generated mass appeal. This shows that Katy can be supportive with other charities that are not organised by herself. Katy Perry also supported breast cancer, she has supported a large number of 18 charities. Katy also presents lots of ideologies in her music ranging from gender, money and power. Due to the caring ideology represented of Katy Perry and the things she is shown to do represents her as a good role model for all as she supports all charities and helps them with the best of her ability. This ideology and culture represents Katy Perry as a warm hearted, giving star that makes her well likeable by all. Katy Perry also releases many of her clothing, and fashion trends on twitter, where she promotes them which generates a lot of awareness and profit for her, as many fans choose to copy and follow her “unique” fashion trend e.g. her different coloured wigs and brightly coloured clothing became very popular over twitter and started a trend gaining many retweets and favourites.

Character and Personalities

According to Richard Dyer a star begins as a real person, possessing their own unique gender, characteristics and race. The transformation from a pop performer to a pop star from the record company turns them into a construction. This construction has the aim to be as realistic as possible as is not entirely all fictional but has a basis of realism as they need to attract a fan base of being themselves. The construction of the star is primarily based on the generation and will be on the basis of what the audience wish to see. Dyer argues that pop stars use the unique characters and persona’s to provide audiences with an ideology for society of what people are supposed to be like e.g. Thin is because for women. They may do this by conforming to the ideology of by being opposite to the ideology. This is because pop stars are highly looked at by their fans and are seen as role models in their eyes which makes them highly influential so their characters, personalities and appearances are important as they may be copied and idolised by the audience.

Richard Dyer states that a pop stars character and persona is revealed through their performances, fashion and music they produce. There music is seemed to be based around society developing gradually. Music is very vital for revealing a artists persona and character, audiences usually discover a artists personality through their songs, this is especially the case when an artist writes their own songs as audiences can discover the real meanings and emotions that lie behind the lyrics of the song and feel more emotions which makes the song more relatable creating a strong connection between the audience and artist.

Character and Personalities- Katy Perry

Katy Perry's character has greatly changed over the years. Katy Perry entered the music industry in her early teen years singing and producing gospel songs including songs such as “faith wont fall” and singing songs such as “Jesus is saviour” which depicted her as stereotypical image of a young teenage girl being sweet, innocent and angelic. Although at this time Katy Perry was not very well-known, this image still enabled her to a fan base which from here gradually developed. The following year Katy Perry move to Los Angeles where she attempted to venture into pop and rock music, where she aimed to pursue her music career in and reach success. However as the years continued as Katy gained the opportunity to sign on with the record company capitol records, where she her songs got more modern to suit society, Katy Perry rose with fame when she released the song “I kissed a girl” which drastically helped her to gain a wider audience consisting of both males and females as she became very popular, her character and personality suddenly changed from an “innocent, down-to-earth, angelic girl” to a fun, crazy , youthful, bubbly and attractive singer, almost seen to rebel against her angelic self as she moved from her gospel music onto producing music such as “Californian Gurls” which includes quite explicit scenes, which you would not expect from “Katie Hudson”. Katy Perry also began dating other pop stars/celebrities such as Travis McCoy, John Mayer and Russell Brand. Her change of personality and character could be see her in her appearance, fashion and confident attitude. She was also shown becoming more glamorous and feminine from her previous tom boy/rocky stage. Through a short period of time Katy Perry's character and personality drastically changed to meet the need her audience fan base’s needs. It appears that she is a very fun, bubbly woman who is confident and enjoys what she does. She is seen constantly smiling, laughing or having a fun time. This genuine personality and likability is what really attracts her audience and is one of the main reasons she has such a large fan-base.

Reflection

I will use Richard Dyers star theory to construct my own star image for my artist, by doing my research task on Richard Dyers theory I have learnt the importance of developing an artists image so that keep up with the latest trends, news, styles and gossip. It is highly important to construct the right star image for my artist in order for them to generate a large fan base and attract a suitable audience. In order for my artist to be successful and make a great impact on the music industry I have to consider, to make my artist unique and different to ensure that they stand out from the crowd, so that they are easily recognised and more memorable, this will be very effective as this will capture there persona and give my artist a unique selling point. From my research into Dyers theory I have learnt that it is important to shape my star in the audiences requirements; what they want and what they expect to see, as this will appeal to wider audience as my artist will meet all their requirements making my artist a success, which will result in them earning and generating more money. I will also ensure that my artist has a unique selling point e.g. Katy Perry's wacky styles.