Richard Dyer

Richard Dyer - Star Theory

Dyer says that icons, artists and celebrities are manufactured and moulded by institutions purely for financial gain. He beleives that they are constructed to represent normal people with real emotions and they do this through their songs and what they do away from music. However this is done to make money, normal people relate with the artist therfore leading them to buy there material.
Dyer said there are two paradoxes that makes a person a star:
The first paradox is that a star must be both present and abscent to the audience. So the star has to be accessible and present to a person through the availability of their music and material but also abscent to the audience as they cannot actually meet up and talk to the star.
The second paradox is that the star must be both ordinary and extraordinary to the audience. So in this case the star has to come across as a normal person whos down to earth and relatable just like every body else, but also need to possess an extraordinary talent or quality which can be idolised by the public. A classic example of this is Adele.