Star Image: According to Dyer and Negus' Star Theory

Dyer's star theory states that a celebrity is an image and not a real person. They are constructed out of components such as videos, artwork, appearances in the media, and so forth. Stars are usually constructed to appeal to the target audience, so that the record companies will be able to sell more of the product to the audience. Everything that the artists seem to stand for is most likely constructed by others, and they don't really get a say to what they stand for. They are constructed, a commodity, and are ideologies. Dyer has set up two paradoxes.

The two paradoxes consist of:
- The star must both be ordinary and extraordinary.
- The star must both be present and absent.

The first paradox consists of the artist being ordinary in a way that the target audience can relate to them and therefore feel more bespoken when they listen to their songs and when they follow their lives, but also extraordinary enough to be able to look up to the artist, as their idol. This makes them believe that what the artists do is special and therefore is worth mentioning, and a big thing.

The second paradox consists of the artist being present, which means that the artist must be around enough to keep the audience interested; this activity can be seen through social media, the media itself, new releases, and so forth; at the same time they must be equally as absent so that there is an element of curiosity engaging the audience in the artist, and to not bore them with too much of the artist.

For our star image I believe that our artist won't be too constructed as stated in Dyer's theory. I would like to keep the artist as real as possible, especially because I don't see them being built up by the media and advertisements - I believe that our artist should stay their own person.

Therefore I also believe that our star is probably not seen as a commodity, either. Because our artists stand for teamwork, youthfulness, creativity, and so on, I think that the artist would be big on selling their music rather than themselves and their image, and will probably be more reserved.

I do believe that our artists represent ideologies, in the best sense. As mentioned in the word cloud (click here to get to the word cloud for "Home"), our artist stands for unity, teamwork, success against the odds, and spirit. These things are positive to embody and probably have a good influence on their target audience.

According to the paradoxes, I think our artist will be more ordinary than extraordinary because I don't see them as a great big star; I believe that our artist is probably more laid back and doesn't reveal themselves to the public as much. Therefore they would also be more absent than present.

Negus' star theory consists of two ideologies within the star image: Organic and Synthetic. An organic artist is represented in the sense that they are natural, and haven't been made up to suit a specific target audience and their needs. Synthetic artists are artists who have been made up and constructed by the record companies to suit a specific target audiences, and to be able to make them more extraordinary (this ties in with Dyer's star theory).

The organic ideology means that there is a naturalistic approach when looking at the artists. The record companies do not spend a lot of time and efort in constructing them in a specific way, but letting them grow with their music rather than through their image. Artists like these include Ed Sheeran and Eliza Doolittle. This strategy allows artists to work for a rather sizeable amount of time and generate profit over this period.

The synthetic ideology means that record companies usually work together with the artist, however also influence them greatly in constructing successful acts that they believe will appeal to audiences. These artists are usually in the spotlight for a shorter amount of time because they are quickly tired out and no longer go with the time, unless they change their image. A good example of this would be Miley Cyrus, who was constructed to appeal to the now-teenage audience that used to like her older work.

I believe that our artist will be more organic because, going along with the song, I cannot imagine the indie/alternative rock song belonging to an artist that is currently being constructed by the business. I believe that because of what we want our artist to stand for, it might be a smarter idea to let them grow on their own and not promote a juxtaposed image to what we believe our artist should stand for through constructing them in a certain way just to appeal to a larger target audience (and to technically generate a larger profit over a short period of time).