Theory of Stardom (Classwork)

In class today, we studied the theory of stardom by Richard Dyer. Here is my summarised understanding of the theory.

“A star is an image not a real person that is constructed out of a range of materials” -Richard Dyer.

Dyer says that celebrities are constructed by companies to target a demographic. By representing themselves as 'real people' , they are able to attract audience and sell products such as films or music.

REEL persona : curated version of a star, designed to fit expectations of audiences (shown through performances, music video, social media)

REAL persona : authentic personality of the individual (shown through interviews, documentaries, behind-the-scenes footage)

 Celebrities are appealing to audience for 5 reasons:

1. Love : fascination with the love lives of stars, or because we feel romantic affiliation with them
2. Ordinariness : fascination with them doing routine things, living normal lives
3. Success : fascination with the idea of overnight success, failure before success that appeals to our sense of fair play
4. Consumption : fascination with huge material wealth brought by media success
5. Downfall : fascination with the exploitation of their misery

Here are my classroom notes about a celebrity me and my team had chosen (Beabadoobee) to analyse their reel and real personalities according to the theory.

Self-Reflection: I think understanding the foundation of what makes a star and how does one construct a star played a huge role in major decisions regarding our artist. This included visual identity, message, on-screen personality and more, which impacted the way I created our social media page and boost interactivity. 

Problems : There was no major problem that occured during the process of making this blogpost

Solution : -