He has written extensively about the role of stars in film, TV and music.
He found that no matter what medium they are in, stars have different key feature all in common, these include;
A star is an image that has been constructed out of a range of materials (which include; videos, artwork and media appearances) and not actually a real person.
Stars are commodities which are produced and consumed on the strength of their meanings.
A star has to depend on all types of media- magazines, TV and radio- to try and make an image for themselves, which then can be taken and marketed towards their target audiences.
There are many common values of music stardom, including;
Youthfulness
Rebellion
Sexual magnetism
anti-authoritarian attitude
originality
Creativity/Talent
Aggression/Anger
Disregard for social values
Success against that odds
Dyer believes that the star image is incoherent, incomplete and 'open'. He says it is because it is based on two key paradoxes
The star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer.
The star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer.
'Like a Prayer' is a pop rock song recorded by the American singer, Madonna. The soundtrack also contains elements of gospel music giving it a more spiritual feel. The music video, which was directed by Mary Lambert, created a lot of controversy at the time that it first came out, and remains a very controversial video to this day. Images of crucifixes being set alright, the Ku Klux Klan and what seemed to be a black Jesus, made the video very unpopular with religious groups.
Three main reoccurring themes throughout the video are sex, race and religion.
The narrative of the video shows a white girl being murdered by a group of white supremacists, however a young black man gets framed although he was trying to help. Madonna hides in a church to try and find courage to go to court as a witness of the events.
Religion
As mentioned before, Madonna looks for guidance once entering the church as to what she should do, so it is no wonder that it is a reoccurring theme throughout the video.
The video has some very quick shots of different religious iconography at the beginning, such as the crucifix, and along with her being inside a church, the audience is being given the idea that it will be a very religious video.
Images of Stigmata are also used, the appearance of injures o the body that Jesus would have suffered, to show that Madonna is going through a religious experience in an extreme case.
The problems with religion begin to arise when in the video she is stood by burning crosses, which gives the connotation of the KKK. The violence that is connoted with a gang goes against what Catholics believed and that is why it was a risky decision to include that in the video. Perhaps by doing it Madonna was trying to draw more awareness to the racism that was about at the time, and the video is her way of saying that it isn't right.
Race
The use of race within the video caused a stir amongst the population when they watched the video, notably with religious groups. The saint that is used, Saint Thomas, was seen by many as being a 'black Jesus' and many devout Catholics thought that it wasn't right.
The video subverts the normal stereotypes of a black man harming a young white woman, and a white man coming to her rescue. In this case it is a white criminal and a black man comes to her aid, however racism is still involved in the video when the man gets caught and charged with the murder although he wasn't the one who committed it in the first place.
Futhermore, the idea of Madonna having a relationship with the black man in the video could have also caused quite a bit of controversy when it was first released as it wasn't common for a white girl and a black man to be together.
Gender + Star Image
The video shows the objectification of women when the young girl is harassed and killed by the group of young men.
Also Madonna gives herself a very sexual image throughout the video. In one hand the audiences sees the religious aspect but on the other what Madonna is wearing totally goes against the Catholic idea of remaining pure and innocent until marriage.
We are given very sexual images, with many different close up on the tight dress that she is wearing and her chest area.
Other Images
The imagery of the roses and the dagger within the film portray romance, as they relate to the story of Romeo and Juliet.
There is a dream like element to the video, Madonna falls from the sky and is caught by a a woman dressed in chorus robes. This adds to the miracle element of the video, and the idea that Madonna is being 'saved' by the church spiritually and they put her back on course.
The use of the gospel choir at the end of the video, as Madonna explained herself, 'As the choir
sings, she reaches an orgasmic crescendo of sexual fulfillment intertwined with
her love of God. She knows that nothing's going to happen to her if she does
what she believes is right. She wakes up, goes to the jail, tells the police
the man is innocent, and he is freed. Then everybody takes a bow as if to say
we all play a part in this little scenario."
The final scene ends with a curtain closing on all of the 'actors' within the video, including Madonna herself. The idea of this I believe would have been because Madonna knew that the whole video would have caused a lot of controversy that by turning it into a 'play' at the end she could pretend that it was all just to please the audience.
By looking at this album cover there are different elements to it that make it stand out the artist stand out as being an 'organic' artist over a 'synthetic' one.
The simple drawing in the centre of the album could be seen as reflecting the pureness of his music.
It could be seen as a way of suggesting that he wants people to appreciate his music more than the image he has.
The blue background portrays a sense of calm, and relates to the title as it could be seen as water.
The simplistic font shows that he is just being who he is and is staying true to himself.
Instead of using graphic designs and complex digital imagery, the choice of the painting in the background gives off an impression of the album being original- like his music.
Even though there is no picture of a face, it still appears he is looking down thoughtfully suggesting that his music will be quite deep.
In class we were asked to look at two different artists and their different campaigns for the type of music that they produce. I decided to look into 'Walk the Moon', an American based band, and 'Paloma Faith' and British artist.
Walk The Moon
The band is an American Indie rock band who are based in Cincinnati Ohio. The band was started by the lead singer Nicholas Petricca in 2008 and the final band was established in 2010. The released their first major label album after being signed to RCA Records in 2012 titled, 'Walk The Moon.'
This was the cover for their first album, they chose to make it brightly coloured to reflect the energy that their songs have and the excitement they bring in their live shows. As a critic states, 'It's clear that the members of Walk The Moon are having fun with their instruments and lyrics.'
In December 2014 the band released their second major-label album, 'Talking Is Hard'. This album included their massive hit 'Shut up and Dance' with came up as number four on the Billboard Hot 100.
The album again is relatively brightly coloured, however this time the band members are placed on the cover instead of an abstract image, however it remains quirky showing off the fun and energetic side of the band.
'Anna Sun' was released along with their first album in 2012, it has had over 12 million views.
'Shut up and Dance' was released with their second album in 2014 and has had over 30 million views.
In an interview Petricca mentioned that, 'We were really inspired by the dorky, maybe kooky artists of the '80s. There was a time where the weird and goofy was really celebrated, especially in the videos and music...' The band decided this was what they wanted to bring to their videos which I believe is exactly what they have done. The upbeat tempos of the songs and colourful and quirky music videos leave people wanting to get up and dance.
Website:
On their website the main page is an image of their album, 'Talking is hard', they also have different link that take you to the tour dates and the merchandise page.
Although the website isn't as bright and colourful as their albums and music videos are, the use of single prominent colours make is stand out to the people that are viewing is and make them concentrate on specific elements. The white font on the black background for the tour dates make the dates stand out, and the use of yellow background on the home page both make the band members stand out in their white t-shirts without confusing the eye too much with too many colours.
Paloma Faith
Paloma Faith is a British singer song-writer who is known for her eccentric and retro style. Her debut album, 'Do you want the Truth or Something Beautiful?' was released in 2009 and it made it to number nine in the UK, and also was later certified double-platinum in the country.
The cover was very quirky and showed off her unique style, the music gained mixed reviews with some saying that 'it couldn't be flawed' and others saying that her music was 'specious and bland.'
In 2012 she released her second album, 'Fall to Grace' and said that his album would contain more 'agony and suffering'. In June of that year Paloma got signed to Epic Records, the CEO of the company L.A. Reid stated that, 'In an era where authenticity resonates, Paloma is the epitome of soul.'
Whereas the last album with quite brightly lit this one uses rather dark colours, however the use of the parrots give it the quirky edge that she had in the previous one. The dark colours could have been used to represent the 'agony and suffering' that she had stated the album would be based around.
Palomas most recent album, 'A Perfect Contradiction' was released in 2014. In an interview she stated that, 'I consider this album to be a history of soul, from the '50s to the '90s'
The album colours as with the previous album remain relatively dark with different flashed of colours, the main of which is the bright red of her hair which she became rather renowned for. The cover re-enacts the famous painting 'The Entombment of Christ'. Paloma was and still is a fan of art from the renaissance era and decided she wanted to use that panting as her album cover because 'it is a pull between heaven and hell.'
This was a single that was released in her most recent album, it has over 21 million views on YouTube and has been her biggest hit up to date reaching number 6 in the UK and number 1 in Australia.
Website
Palomas website follows the theme of the most recent album, including dark colours with the most prominent colours being reds and blues. The use of the golden font makes her name stand out the most on the website, along with tour dates and her merchandise store the website also includes shortcuts to; photos, videos, news and music.
