Star Image

The star image concept was created by Richard Dyer. His theory proposes that celebrities are merely images constructed to appeal to their target audience and genre and for the purpose of financial benefit. He also proposes that stars need to be an equal blend of both ordinary and extraordinary to set them apart from their target audience as what we should all aspire to be but must also have a side that the audience can relate to and not be so prodigious that their demographic feel like they could never reach the same status.

There are four categories used to create this image:

Construction:

Construction states that the image is created for audience and is based around them being likeable and appealing to the target demographic. They are essentially not created to function as a real individual but a product. This image is usually created by the record company.

Cultural Belief's / Hegemony:

These types of stars are created to reflect and promote the popular current beliefs of society. This makes the artist relevant in popular culture and creates a role model that the target audience can look up to and replicate. 

Audience and Institutions: 

This type of star image is created purely for the production of money so the record company's focus their efforts on producing artists that will be the most commercially popular and base their artists on what they think they audience will want so that they can produce the highest profit possible. 

Case Study, Halsey:

Halsey is an example of an artist that fits into the different sub-sections of star theory. Halsey began her career by posting cover songs on YouTube under her real name, 'Ashley Frangipane'. In 2014, she recorded a song called "Ghost" and posted it on SoundCloud, this song gained Halsey attention and she signed with the 'Astralwerks record label' and is still represented by them. Her debut concept album, Badlands, was released on August 28, 2015 and has been described as an angry feminist record. The album included three singles, New Americana, Ghost and Colors and as a five track remix EP called "Complementary Colors". 

Halsey adopts and androgynous style, sporting short hair and often wearing gender non-conforming clothing articles in her music videos (see above) and concerts, though her style can vary depending on the situation, her more feminine side can be seen in videos such as ‘Colors’ for example. This style emits a certain sense of confidence and authority that we all strive for and she a personality that screams "do not mess with me" and this is heavily reflected in her music which she says is about "sex and being sad". Her stage name 'Halsey' is an anagram of her real name and also the name of a street in Brooklyn where she spent a lot of her youth which show her audience that she stays true to her roots whilst still maintaining her own sense of identity.This paints her as an original on trend artist that would appeals to her growing target audience of alternative teens.

Halsey has been consistently open about her background, sexuality (bisexual) and mental health (suffers from bipolar disorder) and how this translates in her music and the type of content she produces. This sense of honesty allows her fanbase to feel more connected to her as an artist and enables her to reach a wider audience who can relate and feel empowered by her to be unapologetically themselves. She is both something to aspire to wards being like but still genuine enough for her fans to relate to (Richards Dyer's perfect blend of ordinary and extraordinary).

I believe Halsey fits Richard Dyer's Star Theory as he says "it can be argued that stars are representations of persons which reinforce, legitimate or occasionally alter the prevalent preconceptions of what it is to be a human being in this society." which is essentially what Halsey does. She blends together youthfulness, sexual magnetism, creativity as well as disregard for social values and consumption of sex, drugs and material goods (things that Richard Dyers considers essential for an artist to embody). Halsey's on trend and edgy persona gives off a youthful vibe that the teenage audience to identify with her and the themes that run through her songs of teenage rebellion and emotional turmoil and the content of her music videos (mainly 'Colors' and 'Ghost') could be viewed as sexually provocative and appeal to both men and women alike. They fact that Halsey is so vocal about issues affecting both race, LGBT topics and issues affecting women reinforces and promotes the opinions currently emulated by society and popular culture.