Star Theory

Richard Dyer's Star Theory suggests that all or most stars are corporate constructions. This means that their brands and promotion are generally done for them in a specific way to create an image and attract a target audience. This is usually done through films and videos.

Dyer also claims that people prefer artists that display their true emotions and image through their work and their social media outlets, rather than the ones that have an image created for them artificially.  An artist that appeals to this audience need is able to use this as their selling point.

Another one of Dyers claims in Star Theory is that artists become trendsetters in terms of clothing and hairstyles and really enthusiastic fans may copy these hairstyles and the way they dress. This makes it easier to sell merchandise to a certain percentage of the audience.

Artists may also choose to share certain religious beliefs to appeal to their target audience. Fans have an easier time looking into the personal life of artists because of the internet, as a lot of them choose to share a lot of personal things that give an insight to their lives through social media outlets.

The specific artist I will focus on in this post in relation to star theory is Britney Spears. When she initially emerged into the music scene, it was unusual and strange to some people as she was entering an industry that was dominated almost exclusively by male performers. The lack of females in the music industry caused a lot of people to pay attention to her and notice what she was doing which was what allowed her to breakthrough and become a massive star. Britney became a role model for teen girls at the time because there  were no other female role models that were getting as much attention as she was in the music industry. Seeing as Britney Spears was a product of the media industry she was dressed in a specific way to appeal to her younger female audience of ages primarily between ten and fifteen early in her career, this could be inferred from her Barbie like image. Her dance routines were usually very simple, which meant that her audience could learn them if they wanted to in order to feel more connected to her.

The first music video I will look at that was done by Britney Spears will be ''Hit Me Baby One More Time'', with relation to the points outlined by Laura Mulvey in her essay, we can see that Britney is indeed presented as the object of erotic desire, this is done through her dances, deliberate camera angles and suggestive clothing.





Another one of Britney Spears' videos that is interesting is ''Hold It Against Me'' this video shows that Britney is fed up of being given images by the industry and wants people to see her for her own personality.  The video shows a room full of computer screens with her past music videos playing which shows that she has a lot to say about her past and that she wants to change peoples opinion on her. The part where she is shooting paint at the computer screens shows that she does not want to be remembered by images that she has been given by the industry.