Bo Kelly - Star Construct

Star Construction


The ‘star image’ is a popular aspect to look at when studying a topic such as film or media. It can also be known as ‘star vehicle’ or ‘star power’. It is always helpful to analysis the star as well as the music video and can be referred to in media context.

Star imagery is constructed from a variety of elements. As an example the materials for pop music include…
The song itself – under this category it includes the lyrics, the music structure of the song and the genre.
The record cover for singles and albums will present the stars themselves introducing them to the audience; this will also give off their style and image.
Media coverage – these are aspects such as interviews about the stars and maybe how they launched their career. The media can also leak gossip about them through the tabloids and from paparazzi images.
Live performances – This gives the stars opportunities to promote themselves through lives shows and exaggerate their image.

Other materials help to present a stars image but most of all a music video is debatably the most successful and affective promotion for a star and their image.

Unknowingly the artist themselves and the media combine together developing a certain image for their career and this is how the audience will perceive them. A team will help to construct the image of the person however they can only promote them positively up to a certain point when the media are then able to manipulate that star however they want. As an example rumours may be spread from the media and features in all the top magazine or newspapers therefore constantly changing the views of that person so they fight back through music videos as this allows them to express emotion through the camera and also in lyrics, this can be known as ‘iconography’ which also relates to visual features which often accompany performance by the star such as costumes, jewellery and settings.

Video biographies are another way to help the star face the media to strengthen their weaknesses and clear up any negative rumours that may have been in the tabloids. A good example of a video biography is Jennifer Lopez’s – The real me (2003). It reinforced a lot of bad publicity and the audience we able to listen to the lyrics and see it as a reflection to the star’s personal life and life to fame it was also enhanced through the music video itself.



Star Vehicle

This is a product that in constructed around the image that the star has created. This really helps to promote the star. Again a music video is a prime example as this presents the star and emphasises their overall image and can maybe even develop into a new style/image that the artist wants to come across to his or hers audience. This type of promotion is appropriate if this star as a long term career going through many years. Even if the star is known for a certain type of image they cannot live up to this forever, eventually they will have to change their style to keep their audience interested. An example of this is Brittney Spears, her career started off as perceiving her as an innocent young girl who sang pop music and was known for her signature outfit as a school girl. As the year went by she developed into a young woman and started to sing much more dub and bass songs and started to wear for exposing outfits. She too had hit a rough time in the media industry for shaving her head and going to rehab several times. Soon after this she released songs and music videos that stated to the public that she was not mentally unhealthy. Another example was her song ‘hold it against me’ which was aimed mainly at the media for their rumours.



Star Power

Star power on the other hand has several forms to it. These consist of…

Their economic power through earnings which are added up through their sales that are related to the promoted products e.g. concert tickets, cinema, CD’s, merchandise…

The artist themselves and how they put forward their image as a person. Success comes from the type of person the media portrays them as.

Ideological power – this means how they have influences their audience on aspects such as their morals, fashion, attitude etc. Madonna was a good example as the influenced so many people who wanted to be her and dress like her and act the way she acts making her a huge role model to a wide range of people.

You are able to analyse a star’s development from just watching their music videos over the years and seeing for yourself the development and how they have changed their styles and image over time in relating to their music and the media. The term most commonly used is known as‘re-inventing’ themselves.