Richard Dyers ‘Star

Theory’

ihannaApplied to…

Richard Dyers ‘Star Theory’Richard Dyers ‘Star Theory’ meets the idea that pop stars are manufactured and constructed in order to generate a

financial gain. Furthermore, he also believes that stars are constructed to represent ‘real’ people that are

experiencing ‘real’ emotions. They are constructed by their managers in order to serve a specific purpose,

whether that be through their music or their personal predicaments. They are there to make money out of their audience, who thrive off the interesting elements of the celebrities life and music therefore buying their records

and usually becoming a dedicated, life long fan.

Dyers theory can be broken down into 5 sections:1. The making of a star2. Constructions3. Audience and

institutions4. Hegemony (cultural

beliefs)5. Character and

personality

The making of a starWhile pop star Rihanna became big when she first entered the industry, the ingenious management skills of Jay-Z meant that she could globalise as her persona which has gone from being a ‘good girl’ to a ‘bad girl’. Along with this, her famous relationship with rapper Chris Brown and the drama that transpired between them caused many people to not take into consideration her music for a short while and be more concerned about her personal life. Through appearing in magazines Rihanna has also been able to transform from a ‘pop performer’ to a ‘pop star’ as they revealed information about her personal life as well as the famous outfits she wears to premiers and parties e.g. The Grammy’s. Rihanna also has her own clothing line with ‘River Island’ and cosmetics line ‘Mac’, which has attracted a larger audience for her.

ConstructionsRihanna’s image can perhaps be seen as constructed due to her changing from a ‘good girl’ to rebellious one. Her tattoos support her persona and show that she has been constructed in some way in order to meet her audiences expectations. Alternatively, her presence can be considered slightly iconic as when she shaved her hair or dyed it red, it instantly began trending and still is, even now. As well as this, Rihanna’s unique selling point is her crazy personality and her seductiveness. This has meant that she’s been able to appeal to a wider range of people. By having a unique selling point it means that more people are likely to engage with you. In Rihanna’s case it was not necessarily her music but the things she did in her personal life, such as relationships and fashion statements. Also, Rihanna being from Barbados can be used as a unique selling point as more people want to have the opportunity to interview her to find out about her background and culture etc.

Audience and institutionsRihanna’s purpose is to appeal to young adults/teenagers, whilst her more explicit content appeals to those who are older. It can be argued whether she is completely shaped by her record label or whether she has her own input into her appearance. Nevertheless, she was created in order to make considerable amounts of money. It is clear to see where Rihanna has been shaped, when looking back at when she first entered the music industry, she was a shy girl who gained a fan base from her originality at the time. Her first few songs were very cultural. However, throughout the years she started to show her rebellious side, releasing songs such as ‘S&M’. Once her management saw that this facade was appealing to people, they used it to their advantage. This is where her songs began to have a more sexual nature to them and had more to do with partying, drugs and sex in comparison to her initial love songs. However, Rihanna still was satisfying her initial fan base by releasing songs such as ‘man down’ and ‘no love allowed’.

HegemonyThe fact that she is adventurous and unique with her hair styles enhances her star quality. Many females changed their hair to match the way that Rihanna styles her. Also, her fans also find replica’s of her clothing to match what she wears on occasions or simply wear shirts with her face on them. Rihanna frequently updates her Twitter page and Instagram of pictures of herself participating in illegal activities. She also uses profanities which her followers tend to pick up on and then use themselves. For Rihanna, twitter has become a huge part of her image, this is because she also frequently has arguments and confrontations with other artists on the site. In this day and age, many people base their life choices etc. on what they see in the media. This can be related to Rihanna as she is the type of individual to be very open about what she does and how she conducts her lifestyle.

Character and personalityThroughout her career, Rihanna’s character and personality has changed and therefore she can be seen to be ‘constructed’. Her position within the female music industry is a very dominant one and she is well-known worldwide. When Rihanna first started her career her physique was much more curvaceous, but as she became more established as an artist she was constructed to become thinner and give off more sex appeal. This was to show her audience ‘what women are supposed to look like.’ Rihanna's personality also changed from her innocence to ‘good girl gone bad’ throughout the years, this too was apart of her conforming to hegemony as her personality made some people see her as more beautiful and dangerous.