Dyre: Star Theory

Richard Dyre

(b. 1945 - )

Richard Dyre is an English academic and film professor. 

What is Star Theory?: 

Star theory is the idea that "celebrities are commodities manufactured by institutions." According to Dyer, celebrities are:

"constructed to represent real people in order to relate to audiences and sell a media product." 

He also says that individual stars have specific selling points, for example reality TV star turned businesswoman Kylie Jenner's lips, or A-List actor Morgan Freedman's voice. 

Dyre also coined the idea of "paradox of the star": a star has two simultaneous representations, "ordinary and extraordinary". The ordinary is the representation of regular people, but the extraordinary is certain qualities that place them above the average person. Following this, he also believed that a star is also "present and absent": they are present in daily life (consumption), but absent as they are inaccessible to the average person. This idea also ties with Baudrillards hyper-reality, or simulacrum theory. 

Star power is in reference to the power a star has in engaging or attracting an audience for a media text or product. For example: Working Title's Cats (2019), has an A-List ensemble cast, attracting as many audience demographics as possible. 

Star vehicle is when a star is the driving marketing aspect of a media text or product. For example, Working Title's Green Zone (2010), is driven by A-List actor Matt Damon's star power, who acts as the star vehicle for the films marketing. 

Possible influences for my film: 
As I am an indie producer making a micro-budget film, I will not be able to include any stars in my film as this is very expensive, and will make me less commercially appealable. 

Resources: 
https://cpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.grammar.sch.gg/dist/a/4/files/2013/10/Richard-Dyer-Paradox-of-the-Star-1s9gq0n.pdf
https://www.mytutor.co.uk/answers/9006/GCSE/Media-Studies/What-is-Richard-Dyers-star-theory/