Richard Dyer's Star Image Theory

Richard Dyer believed that stars within the spotlight are actually manufactured to boost their financial income. He believes that they are changed to be thought of as real people who experience things their target audience may, so that they are more relatable and therefore gain more fans and more money, he believes that they are not really how they are portrayed to be.

His theory can be split into four sections:

1. Star Image Construction
2. Audience and Institutions
3. Hegemony (Ideology and Culture)
4. Character and Personality

Star Image Construction

Using Dyer's star theory it is believed that the pop star is not a real person he is constructed through different elements such as music, music videos, magazines, social network and his record label. His image is built for an audience. Justin Bieber is a famous Canadian pop star who also dances and acts. The image of Justin Bieber was popular for his hairstyle, where the hairstyle gets really popular that we see it as a trend. He also changed his style through various way and fans tend to copy his style.  Many guys copied Justin Bieber's style and haircut as they believed it was a trend and could also possible attract females as majority of Justin Bieber's fan base is female.

His star image is also constructed negatively. Justin Bieber is often surrounded by controversy where his negative actions may be replicated by others. He is sometimes shown as a negative role model in the media.

Audience and Institutions

His first image and appearance instantly attracted many girls. His image was soon modified so that more girls will pay for his merchandise and his concerts. Over the years Justin Bieber has become a world wide sensation gaining him a global fan base known as 'beliebers' and over 40 million followers on twitter, the spread of 'bieber fever' has an impact on institutions because his image has been constructed successfully whether he is portrayed positively or negatively, his record company will make huge amount of money out of the amount of audiences and fans.

To gain more attention from the media he shortened his hairstyle as the company would like to change his style for the audience purpose and he needed to maintain popularity by doing something unexpected. Soon his short hair had also become a trend.
 

Hegemony (Ideology and Culture)

Justin Bieber has used his social media sites to share his cultural values and attitudes to the audience such as showing his fans his new hairstyle and fashion style, or even to share his lifestyle. This establishes a connection between Justin and his fans creating a unique persona for himself and making him seem more relatable in the eyes of the media and his audience. Justin Bieber mainly used his social media to portray his positive image for example on he has posted images of him taking part in several charities and volunteering with different organisations.
 

Character and Personality

The character and personality of Justin Bieber has gradually changed over the years. He started out a young, humble teenage boy who had a passion for music and sang songs about girls. It has shown his typically teenage boy characteristics and attitudes this has attracted a large audience, mainly girls as the fan girls believe he is a nice character. However, the behaviour and attitude of Justin Bieber has changed recently as he's portrayed negatively in the media.
 

Justin bieber

How it all began?

Justin Bieber is a Canadian singer/songwriter and has his very own unique star image. In the beginning it was a combination of his boyish charm and charisma that was the focus of his image, but as he grew up his music and image matured with him. The teenage heartthrob sprung into the limelight very quickly.

Justin Bieber was first noticed as a young teenager on youtube who was discovered by his mentor to this day Usher. He was well known all over the internet for his impressive cover of Chris Brown's "With You". In this video he is innocent, with not very much style. Within the video you can see there is not much of a performance element, it is all about his voice and not his image. The lyrics in this song state "With the love of their life who feels what I feel when I'm with you girl" suggesting the innocence to his music choices at such a young age. He is speaking about love rather than sex portraying his image in a positive way.
 

In 2009 he then goes on to release his first single entitled "One Time". Justin is 15 in this year, he has remained with the same hair style but has become trendy with what he is wearing. However his persona still comes across as a very "normal" teenage boy. At this age most of his songs still held a lot of innocence as he confessed his crushes and feelings for a lot of teenage sweethearts. The lyrics state "Girl, ima tell you one time, girl I love you" suggesting the remaining innocence he still has.
 

The way he looks into the camera gives a pure innocent look. The writing on the album is childlike due to the bubble font. The way he's dressed in the pictures adds to his childish look. In his first album he is seen as young and innocent.

Here we see an innocent young boy, singing cute teen pop love songs about losing his first love in his song 'baby' and making there 'one less lonely girl'.  Justin Bieber's start image was originally established as a teenage heart throb, through his sweet voice, to his famous hair do.
 

The next change in Justin came along with one of his most popular singles he has released; "Boyfriend" in 2012. In "Boyfriend" it is evident that he has got rid of his babyface looks and is coming out with a much mature approach. It is also clear that he is growing with his audience which would help his career as they will feel as if there is a closer bond between them and their idol. Within this video Mulvey's theory is becoming more apparent showing that he is maturing more as a young adult and his thoughts and views towards women are adjusting. The lyrics state "I can take you places you ain't never been before" suggesting that he has become a man and is now able to treat his girlfriend like a lady. This shows the transformation Justin has made from innocence to experience.

 

The new hairstyle gives him a sexier look and the unbuttoned shirt adds to the elder look. The font used on the album cover is simple yet catches your eye and is less childish. 

In early 2015 Justin took on being a model for Calvin Klein where he was shown without any clothes apart from the underwear. This promotion gave Bieber a drastic change in image as he exposed his body covered in tattoos globally. This change allowed him to gain much more publicity as he was now being portrayed as a young man and not a 'boy'. The fact that Justin agreed to being a part of the successful campaign for Calvin Klein showed his masculinity as he was not afraid to show his body in a sexualised manner.

Below are shots of Justin in music videos. As you can see, the use of close ups within Bieber's videos have altered over the years: at the start of his career his close ups were just of him being goofy and cute whereas, as he's gotten older they've changed to appeal to an older audience. For example in his "As Long As You Love Me" video, this video had a narrative therefore there were a lot of close up shots showing the serious side of Justin; this was a stategic move from his management as they knew that casting directors would see this and could perhaps bear him in mind for future products.

Moreover, his latest videos also seem to show him with other people, as his management are no longer trying to sell him as he has a loyal audience, they're selling his company, whether its a collaboration with Juicy J- to target a hip-hop loving audience or showing him in an intimate embrace with a woman appealing to an older audience, suggesting that he isn't a little boy anymore.