Representation Theory - Star Theory

Richard Dyer - Star Theory 

Dyer developed the idea that viewers perception of a film is heavily influenced by the perception of its stars and that publicity materials and reviews determine the way that audiences experience a media text.

With this idea in mind, Dyer analysed critics writing, magazines, advertising and the films themselves, to explore the significance of stardom. 

Dyer's theory has 4 key components:

• Stars as constructions
• Audience and industry / institution
• Ideology and culture
• Character and Personality

Image Essay: Beyonce - Pretty Hurts

Richard Dyer’s star theory can be thought of by 4 key components – stars as constructions, audience and industry/institution, ideology and culture and character and personality. The theory suggests that a star is an image and not a real person. He believes that celebrities are constructed by institutions for financial gain and target audiences to make profit. “A star is a constructed image, represented across a range of media and mediums” – a quote from Dyer himself that Beyoncé conforms to in the music video Pretty Hurts.

Over a period of time, Beyoncé has constructed an image over many media texts of being a powerful role model within society. In the music video Pretty Hurts, she is representing herself as being a ‘real person’ experiencing ‘real emotions’ as she puts herself through the trauma of a beauty pageant. 

A close up shot is used to focus the attention on Beyonce’s facial expressions, as she looks distressed and miserable. Depth of field soft focus is present, blurring the background of the shot out portraying her confused thoughts, as her mental health is not right – suggesting that the high expectations of ‘perfection’ of women, in society, has lead her to be like this. A lack of sound is present as the audience begin to sympathise with Beyoncé as they start to relate their experiences and emotions to hers – forgetting that Beyoncé is manufactured by the music industry to serve a purpose; making money. The institution construct stars, which they believe viewers, want to copy. Therefore, as the music industry knows Beyoncé is a powerful role model for women and men, they believe that individuals will mimic her strong mind set as she breaks free from the expectations of women in the media through her narrative within he video.

Dyer believes that stars represent shared cultural values and attitudes that promote a certain ideology about them selves, as an artist. Also, that they only show to audience what they believe in. In this case, Beyoncé takes the audience on a journey of some of the extremes that woman put themselves through to maintain and achieve an outer sense of beauty – due to society putting a lot of pressure on women to look a certain way. The fact that Beyoncé is acknowledging this current issue in society promotes her ideology, making her a consumerable household name, as she is an inspiration to all women and men. 
As the video comes to an end, Beyoncé get asked the question “what is your aspiration in life?” Responding with “well my aspiration in life is to be happy” shows her audience that beauty doesn’t bring you happiness and it doesn’t move you forward in life.

To conclude, it is clear that Beyoncé conforms to Dyer’s theory in many ways. Overall throughout her video, she demonstrates the message that it is important for your natural beauty to shine through – portraying her as an inspirational star for her audience to idolise.