Research and analysis of a star, Dyers theory

Richard Dyers Theory

·    Richard Dyers star theory is the idea that music artists and celebrities are constructed by different institutions for financial reasons and are built to target a certain audiences or a different group of people.

·    He gives of the impression that :-
 - Stars are an image not a person
 - Stars are a product
 - Stars are constructed out of materials such as advertising and magazines.

Dyers theory can be broken down in to 3 segments which are audiences and Institutions, Construction and Hegemony (Cultural Beliefs)

Audiences and Institutions

o    Stars are used for no other reason but to make money

o    The Institutions then advertise the stars images around their target audience, for example advertising Rihanna in magazines to attract a target audience of teenagers.

Constructions

o    The star is a fake person built solidly for the audiences entertainment not as an actual person

o    A star is built specifically by someone that wishes to differentiates them from other starts

Hegemony

o    Some people may try to copy what they like about the stars however this can be negative as even though starts are seen as role models, in music videos there is usually use of drugs and alcohol which negatively influences Youngers.

Applying Dyers Theory

Rihanna is a Barbadian recording artist that started off her singing career in 2005 at the age of 17. She released her first album 'Music of the sun' which consisted of her song 'Pon de replay'. This was the lead single from her album. Although she is in a night club and is wearing a silver  belly top with baggy jeans, she still comes across as an innocent young woman.

Pon De Replay

This was one of Rihanna's first song that she released in 2005. By watching the music video its easy to notice that she portrays the image of a sweet, innocent young lady that just wants to have a good night out with her friends. The video is performance due as she is informing the DJ to 'turn the music up' and at the same time telling everyone else how to dance. This is shown in her lyrics when she said 'It goes one by one even two by two everybody in the club let me show you how we do it' and then she goes on to explaining how to 'Dip it down low and bring it up slow'  however she doesn't do any dirty dancing within the video and her innocence remained.

Rihanna's appearance throughout the video is just as innocent as she is wearing baggy jeans and a gold sequenced belly top. Also in another scene she is wearing a denim dress with her hair in two pony tails which also sets off an innocent look as well a stereotypical representation of a young girl. Throughout this music video there are many close ups of Rihanna as it was one of her first ever music videos and the record label wanted the audience to gain recognition of this singer. Therefore the close ups put much emphasis on her face so she became well known.

However, in 2007 soon after the fame and popularity had gotten to her head Rihanna had 
completely changed her image to continue gaining popularity and that when she released her third album 'Good girl gone bad'. This album consisted of her songs 'Umbrella' and 'Shut up and drive' which allowed the audience to see the dramatic change in her nature from innocent to provocative. These songs consisted of many references to; love, sex and being 'possessed by the devil'. It comes across as though Rihanna knew how much her popularity and fame had grown, so she felt as though she could completely change her image and attitude and still maintain a high amount of popularity.

Shut up and drive

This song was one of the 5th singles from her album good girl gone bad. Her innocent appearance had suddenly transformed to provocative and allowed the audience to see the development in her confidence and attitude towards her career. You could see the difference in her appearance when she appears in this music video with her hair cut extremely short and the numerous revealing outfits she was changing into throughout. An example of this is when she has her hair  in two ponytails in her music video of  'Pon de floor' which shows her innocence where as in her music video 'Shut up and drive' her hair is cut into a bob which adds to the more 'Rude girl' look. Another example could be her outfits in 'Pon de floor' when she is wearing a denim dress she comes across as a naive young girl where as on the other hand in 'shut up and drive' she wears outfits like shorts and cut tops. 

Also her song 'Pon De Floor' comes under the music genre of more Dance-pop where as her song 'Shut up and drive' comes under the music genre of Pop-rock. However; her song 'Shut up and drive' has a narrative behind it which is her talking about sex. Throughout the whole song she is talking about how her "engine's ready to explode, explode, explode, So start me up and watch me go, go, go, go" which means she is waiting for some one to come along and give her that 'sexual pleasure'. Her attitude in this music video shows how she has transforms in to that 'bad girl' as she is creating songs about intercourse which sets of a bad example to the young teenagers that look up to her. 

The advantage of her change for Rihanna is that she will be receiving a lot more male attention as they found her very attractive.

It comes across that this music video also applies to Goodwin's Theory as the lyrics and visuals relate. For example the lyrics are talking about a car, the engine and about a guy driving; so throughout the song it consists of her trying to fix a car and towards the end it shows two guys racing in the cars. Which could symbolise two guys competing over her as her song is about what guy could 'handle her'

Pour it up

This is one of the most recent songs and music video that Rihanna has created which was released in 2013. It shows the dramatic change within her personality and appearance as she has now become extremely provocative. Her music videos now consist of her dancing inappropriately and contains some nudity. Reflecting back on her old music videos that I have analysed above, you can clearly see how she has changed. As Rihanna's music videos are now very inappropriate, it comes across that her videos can't be shown on TV before 9pm.

The costume she is wearing at first consist of her wearing a big furry coat, very big heels and red underwear. The red could symbolise love and provocative behavior. The amount of clothing she is wearing is extremely limited which gives of the impression that she is going 'off the rails' as the fame and popularity has gotten to her head. This backs up Dyers theory as it proves that fame and popularity creates a fake person.

Within this song, Rihanna seems to be singing about going clubbing and drinking. This is shown through her lyrics which are "Strip club and dollar bills, I still got my money, Patron shots can I get a refill, I still got my money". She is giving of the impression that at clubs she "flashes her cash" and yet again she still has plenty of money left. This is a negative impact on her audience as it gives of the impression that she feels like its a good thing to spend lots of money when going clubbing. 
Throughout the song she tends to speak a lot about money and how her money never runs out. This could be her telling everyone around her about how she feels like she has lots of money to spend as she is famous which gives the audience an impression that is has become very arrogant.

Dyers Star Theory

Richard Dyers theory relates to Rihanna as it is clear that Rihanna has changed over the years to gain popularity, fame and to compete with all other artists. Therefore this backs up Dyers point that Artists are not who they portray themselves they are fake images just to engage more of an audience, to gain popularity so that could leads to them making more money. This has been shown and backed up with my analysis Rihanna's three most famous songs which shows a drastic change in her behavior and her lifestyle. It has been a negative change and she is no longer seen as naive and innocent but provocative and arrogant.