Richard Dyer

Richard Dyer

Richard Dyer wrote his first full-length book 'Stars' in 1979. In the book he developed the idea that the viewers' perception of a film is heavy influenced by the perception of its stars it and reviews determine the way that audiences experience the film.

Dyer analysed critics' writing, magazines, and advertising and the films themselves.

Star Theory
The study of stars as media components of media texts demand that there should be a distinction between artist who are known for performing pop music or who are known as 'pop stars' who have an identity or persona which is not strictly based on their music but their image, characteristics etc.

Stars can be seen as constructed, artificial images, even if they are shown to be 'real' or genuine with real emotions etc.
This helps if they have a USP which can be copied and their representation may be metonymic.
Pop stars are a creation from the record label to gain popularity. This can be a negative as some stars could only last a very short time and then go out of the limelight.