Dyer's Star theory

From this post I will be able to see how we will represent the artist in our video as we will be able to either conform to the stereotype in some ways and challenge them in others as we will attempt to make the artist in our video represented in the same way in which the Arctic Monkeys represent themselves. 

Richard Dyer states that the star is a construction and not a real person.The star as an ideology, stars will represent certain social groups and views and will therefore create certain ideologies. It can be broken down into further sections which are: 

Audience and institutions- Stars are made to make money for the institution as the aim is to become a household name so that they can sell more records to people and therefore make more money for the institution, the artists image is modified around the target audience- We can see how the Arctic Monkeys have done this through creating their own style of Alternative rock and are not generic so therefore people see them as new and innovative. The band have become slightly more commercial as they have progressed in their career as their look has been modified to be slightly less relatable as it matches with their change in style of music as the band have gone from singing about clubs and the place they lived and children to more romantic, slower songs. Due to this they have become a household name and are one of the most popular bands in Britain this is demonstrated through the fact that there latest Album "AM" debuted at number 1 in the UK charts they sold 157,000 copies in its first week. As a result, Arctic Monkeys made history as the first independent label band with five consecutive number 1 albums in the UK.

Constructions- A persona is created which the audience can identify with, it is created through the use of videos, magazines and the music- From the use of these media platforms we can see how they use there music video's to create the image that they are both rebellious and resistant to conventions as we can see how they use the videos to demonstrate this, the music they make also creates this image as it has a heavy rock feel to it. Through different images and magazines we can also see this as they represent themselves as relatable early on but later became less relatbale however people will attempt to replicate the way that they dress and so this demonstrates how they are popular and therefore we will style our band/artist based on the Arctic Monkeys due to this popularity. This relatable look is seen in the video below as they wear clothes that people will typically wear and therefore they can be seen as relatable.


Hegemony-This is the idea that people enjoy/ are interested in the star because they have an affiliation to them due to cultural similarities. Some fans even attempt to replicate the star through the way they dress or act- This is demonstrated by the Arctic monkeys as they are a band from Sheffield in England and the lead singer "Alex Turner" is noted for singing in a strong Sheffield accent and therefore we can see how they are culturally relatable as people from Sheffield will feel an affinity with the band and therefore want to listen to them.
All three of these ideas can be seen in the video bellow as the band are shown to be relatable through the clothing, accent and demonstrating there own separate style:


Application of conventions to our chosen band
This can be applied to the Arctic Monkeys as we see that the conventions of a boy band are the they will be:

• Good-looking
• Rebellious 
• Confident 
• Loud

The Arctic Monkeys conform to these convention as they represent themselves in this way across all different forms of media as shown below: