Star Theory

The star theory is a idea constructed by Richard Dyer and it is an theory where celebrities are manufactured by companies artificially, but are being represented as being real people that experience real emotions. Companies do this to gain great financial gain from the celebrities because they build that celebrity to fit into a certain genre and demographic. People within that demographic will be interested in that celebrity as they conform to that genre and should get popular very quickly. This is planned by the companies and if the celebrity continues to grow then single, album and merchandise is released so that fans by these so that the companies make a financial gain from the celebrity.

Dyers theory is in three sections which are;
1. Audiences and Institutions
2. Construction
3. Hegemony

Audience and Institutions

This section is about how the celebrity is only put together for a financial gain. The institution that creates the celebrity decides how they market the celebrity around the target audience. When music changes or the artist gets older, companies can then change the image of the artist. There have been many artists that have had an initial target audience to appeal to, and then when the target audience gets older then the company alters the image of the artist; a good example of this is Miley Cyrus. In her early career Miley Cyrus was known as Hannah Montana, a role model from the Disney Channel show 'Hannah Montana'. Once Hannah Montana finished and both her and her fans got older, her record label must have decided to change her image into the teenage turned adult 'bad girl'. This has been seen with many female child actresses who grow up in the music industry or in television, such as Britney Spears. The company will change their image based on their age and current culture such as fashion, dances etc.

Construction
Construction is where the star is purposely built around a particular audience and is not as 'real' as their fans believe them to be, instead they are very artificial. The people that create the image for a celebrity will normally give them a particular feature than separates them from other celebrities in their field. An example of this is Lady Gaga, who has an outrageous fashion sense. This is created by the institution that controls her to make her stand out from the other artists such as Adele, who is not known as a fashion statement.

Hegemony
Hegemony is how the audience relate to a celebrity because of a feature that they admire within them. A fan of the celebrity will idol this celebrity for this trait and some will try to copy the attitude that the celebrity presents. Although this is normally positive because many celebrities give a very positive attitude, some celebrities get involved in negative activities, such as heavy underage drinking, and taking drugs. These then have repercussions of young people getting in trouble with the police because they were trying to replicate an image presented by a celebrity they idolise.