Research Investigation 11- Richard Dyer Stars Theory-Assessment task

You will continue to work on your research project and receive feedback on your second draft.

How celebrity coverage relates to some crucial areas of modern media: Stardom, Marketing and news.

Celebrity is now more widespread and commonly encountered than ever before. They blend into news and current affairs often in an attempt to boost ratings via human interest and glamour.
It is easy to link celebrities and their lives to news coverage.
George Clooney got married.
Commercial advertisers are keen that we associate these figures with their products and brands.
Jennifer Anniston/Smart Water.
Health bodies use celebrity to raise awareness of disease and improvements in dealing with it.
Kylie/breast cancer.

1. Have there always been celebrities? Here are some milestones:

• 1842 – First illustrated newspaper
• 1880 – First photograph in newspaper
• Images linked to text = growing fascination with famous people
• 1824 – First use of the term ‘star’ to refer to the lead actor/actress in a stage production
• 1849 – The definition of the term ‘celebrity’ as ‘a famous person’ first appears in the Oxford English Dictionary

The difference between celebrities and stars:

Celebrities are famous beyond a single area of achievement.
Many celebrities are also stars; but all stars do not necessarily seek or achieve celebrity status
(‘Opera Star’ or ‘a Star Chef’)

Definition of celebrity: = A person ‘whose image circulates without being attached to their initial
professional role (whether this be actor, presenter, criminal, politician, and so on)’

Charles Dickens, The First Celebrity?

• Actively cultivated his public image and courted publicity.

• Biographical details were widely known during his lifetime.

• Novels were popular; but so was he.

• The word ‘celebrity’ first appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary at the height of Dickens’ fame.

Mark Twain, The First ‘Celebrity Brand’?

• Physically recognisable due to his trademark white suit, white hair, white moustache
• Copyrighted his own image
• Twain was ‘the most advertised man in the world’ according to J. P. Morgan (the richest man in the world)

The Studio System in Hollywood

• Readers began to expect that the news would include stories about their favourite film and stage stars, singers and sports heroes
• The stars (rather than the stories films told) sold movies to the public
• Stars signed to contracts that required them to market themselves through magazines, merchandise, fan clubs, etc.
•Until the 1950s, public images of celebrities were carefully managed. Without paparazzi.

2. To what extent are celebrities created by the media?

Max Weber: a celebrity has ‘an individual personality by virtue of which he is set apart from ordinary men’ (quoted in Dyer [1979], p. 35)

Jessica Evans: ‘individuals do not become celebrities as a result of [any] innately alluring or magnetic qualities’; they are the result of a ‘mediated persona’.

•   Rise of the image in the twentieth century changed our perceptions of fame.
• ‘Graphic Revolution’ = The rise in mass-produced images. Magazine circulation for example.
• ‘Pseudo-Events’ = Events staged for the main purpose of media coverage. 

A news conference is often held when an organization has an announcement and wants members of the press to get the announcement simultaneously. The in-person events may include interviews, questioning, and show-and-tell.Award ceremonies, red carpet events and celebrity photo opportunitiesSex tapes when created with the intention of being 'leaked'

• Modern celebrity is fabricated; it is a fiction.

3. Why is the public attracted to celebrities?

There are at least three differing components to any celebrity’s persona:
1) The ‘real person’ - the personal identity that pre-exists the public’s perception of that celebrity.
2) The ‘screen presence’ – this is based on the characters or roles that the celebrity plays on screen (action hero, romantic comedian, girl-next-door)
3) The ‘public persona’ - what we come to know about a star or celebrity through newspapers, magazines, etc.

Three Faces of Victoria Beckham

Cause for concern or neurotic wife

Glamorous, Sexy Partner

Happily Expectant Mother

Why celebrities appeal to us 

Conscious/Unconscious -- Id/Ego -- Symbolic/Imaginary
What we are permitted to do or have vs. What we desire Celebrities appear to have more access to what is desirable
Theoretical = based on assumptions; educated guesses. Useful for exploring whole societies and time periods
Empirical = based on the results of practical research. Useful for studies of specific audiences
Both suggest that the allure of celebrity involves a desire for shared identity


4. What might the changing nature of celebrity suggest about society?

Truth or Fiction?

• ‘We can make a celebrity but we can’t make a hero’ – Daniel Boorstin, The Image (1961)
• The only things we ‘know’ about any celebrity are mediated by the media
• Is the image of any star just a representation, rather than a reality, that the media have constructed?

Dyer proposes that:

A star is an image not a real person that is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) out of a range of materials (eg advertising, magazines etc as well as films).

Task 1: 

Year 13 Assessment task. October 2014. Media Studies.

Based on Media Studies lessons and relevant blog posts explaining Richard Dyer’s Stars theory;

Write a 500 word essay answering the question:

To what extent does a pop star's image influence their audience?

Your essay should include images and relevant quotes where appropriate.

Submit: 13.10.14