Yousef El-Badri

Constructed, artificial images -advertising, magazines, films and music. Good if they have a Unique Selling Point which makes them different.

Record companies groom starts (artificial constructions) - we have more respect for them if they groom themselves.

We want to believe that stars convey their real emotions to us.

Stars - manufactured to make money from audience for record labels.

Forms of media dedicated to celebrity gossip where fans can catch up with the lives of favourite stars.

Stars are representations of the contradictions/reinforced ideas of the music industry.

Pop stars can be seen as actors -images are constantly changed to match ideologies of the time - getting publicity (whether negative or positive) enables them to remain in the spotlight

A prime example of the Star

Image theory is Miley Cyrus.

2007 2014

Richard Dyer believes that ‘Pop stars’ are constructed, artificial images -

advertising, magazines, films and music. Good if they have a Unique Selling

Point which makes them different. So they are seen more as an image rather

than a person.

Miley Cyrus portrays a sex appeal to her audiences which may draw jealous

females too her and it will inevitably draw males to her bringing her into the

limelight more. However, this backs up Dyer’s theory because she will be

seen as more of an object rather than a human being.

This image was represented of her at the VMA’s in September 2013 when

she was ‘Twerking’ on stage with Robin Thicke. This act from Miley gave her

more of a Unique Selling Point so in a way it made her more of a ‘pop star’

It could be argued that Hollywood Records changed Miley’s appearance to fit

her audience. Miley first signed with Hollywood Records in 2007 when the

second season of Hannah Montana was released, this was also a big time for

Miley because her song ‘The Best Of Both Worlds’ was released as well. So it

could be argued that Hollywood Records had an influence on the way Miley

dressed and looked because as she was increasingly becoming a star the

Industries wanted to use her USP for their own gain, so you could say that

Hollywood Records influence on her gave us the impression of a young,

sweet and innocent Miley Cyrus.

When Miley signed for RCA records in January 2013 it could be argued that

this had the biggest influence on her appearance, later on in the year she

released her single ‘Wrecking Ball’, in this video she is shown to be a more

wild with her new hair style and revealing dress choice. It could be argued

that RCA records changed her appearance to make her seem more adult like

but still a party animal at the same time. This was a drastic change from her

sweet innocent look under Hollywood Records.

Miley Cyrus constantly tweets about her adopting dogs, she encourages her followers to follow in her footsteps and save homeless dogs and give them homes. She is a big advocate for homeless dogs and promotes adoption by plastering twitter with pictures of herself and her adopted pets; this is creating a star persona for Miley.

Miley is also an avid Gay Rights activist, she often takes to Twitter to tweet about Gay Rights, she also has a Gay Rights tattoo which she defends.

Miley has been shaped and developed her image throughout her life and every change is due to the fact that times are changing and she needs to fit in with what the audience expects and what they want to see. Her personality has changed from being a sweet, innocent Miley who led a double life as Hannah Montana, to being this sex symbol and a teenage rebellion then ending up becoming a punk idol who creates trends and keeps up with the latest fashion. Although she has changed her appearance and her personality, she has always been the stereotypically pop star which is thin and beautiful, this has allowed her to keep audiences interested in her.

After doing research on Richard Dyer's theory, I will use it to construct the image of my own artist because it will help to make my artist to become well known and having the right star image, which is what I want to achieve. To construct the correct image, my artist will need to be featured in different media such as music videos, TV, magazines. That way, audience will pay attention on him and he will get the recognition.

My artist is involved in the house music genre, therefore his image should be created conventionally so his image targets to a specific audience (Teens – Young Adults). The most common way for an artist to become well known is to have their own unique fashion and style, because it will stand out from the others, so therefore the image of my artist will be created to have an unique hairstyle to make his star image unique.