What does it mean to be a star? - Star Theory

In my opinion a star is someone who has the ability to captivate their audience; it is not nesecarily always because of their talent (although some of the time it can be) but because of their presence, on and off of stage, their image or even just their personality. People like to obsess over things and stars are often the victims of these obsessions due to their 'star quality'.

Some of the common values of 'stars': Youthfulness, rebellion, Sexual Magnetism, an anti-authoritarian attitude, originality, creativity/talent, aggression/anger, a disregard for social values relating to drugs, sex and polite behavior, conspicuous consumption, of sex, drugs and material goods and success against the odds.

Richard Dyer developed the 'star theory'- he decided that stars depend upon a range of subsidiary media – magazines, TV, radio, the internet – in order to construct an image for themselves which can be marketed to their target audiences. The star image is made up of a range of meanings which are attractive to the target audiences. He went on to say that fundamentally, the star image is incoherent, that is incomplete and ‘open’. Dyer says that this is because it is based upon two key paradoxes.  He also stated that their must be two paradoxes; the first paradox being: the star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer. The second paradox being: the star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer.
He set up the idea of 'Star image' this is the incoherence of the star image ensures that audiences continually strive to ‘complete’ or to ‘make sense of’ of the image. This is achieved by continued consumption of the star through his or her products. In the music industry, performance seems to promise the completion of the image, but it is always ultimately unsatisfying. This means that fans will go away determined to continue consuming the star in order to carry on attempting to complete their image. Finally, the star image can be used to position the consumer in relation to dominant social values (that is hegemony). Depending upon the artist, this may mean that the audience are positioned against the mainstream (though only to a limited degree, since they are still consumers within a capitalist system) or within the mainstream, or somewhere in between.

In relation to HAIM (our band)-
For our project we are creating a music video for the band Haim. This band is original due to the fact they are new, up to date and young, these are both key feature of the star theory. These factors show how the band is recent and up and coming which makes them exciting and intriguing.On the other hand it could be argued that Haim is not catorgised as a star when using Richard Dyer's theory this is because they are portrayed as ordinary people rather than a traditional big star. This is because they do not show qualities such as aggression and social disregard, despite this I believe these reasons are why the group have been a success as they make the made relatable and approachable for the audience. Therefore could suggest how Dyers star theory is not accurate as not only these factors make an artist a star.Overall their are many contradictory aspects to what makes a 'star' in the opinion of Richard Dyer which make it increasingly difficult to distinguish whether Haim would fit into the 'star' category or not.