Star Theory

Voyeurism

• The concept of looking and overseeing
• Visual pleasure from looking at someone else when they don't know they're being watched
• Objectifies and displays women for the sexual pleasure of the male audience
• The male gaze

Example of voyeurism: Rihanna 'Stay' music video

The video shows Rihanna's body in a voyeuristic way: it provides visual pleasure without the subject being aware of being watched. 

Objectification

• To reduce someone exclusively to the level of an object.
• Media which objectifies women portrays them as physical objects that can be looked at and acted upon.
• Women are often failed to be represented as subjective beings with thoughts, histories and emotions.
• Viewed often as sexual objects, with no consideration for women's thoughts and feelings.
• Men can also be objectified, but the objectification of women is far more common.

Example of objectification: Robin Thicke 'Blurred Lines'

The 'Blurred Lines' music video was deemed very controversial as the women are objectified. The women appear as objects for the men in the video to enjoy, providing visual and physical pleasure. Their costumes, or lack of, further enhance this.

Star Persona

• A star is a person whose image embodies a set of meanings that are instantly recognisable by an audience.
• Their image means a range of things that are separate to their actual personal and individual identity.
• Image is a construct.
• A person's image is represented and reproduced across a range of different media.
• They may have distinct elements such as their clothing or a certain type of behaviour which constructs their star persona.
• There is a real person behind a star, but they just provide the source of the star persona.
• A star is not a real person.
• The star persona may be very complex, drawing on the star's personal life, childhood, current relationships, behaviour with friends, as well as their performance or appearance on stage and screen.

Example of star persona: 

Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. 

Name changes are not uncommon with celebrities. For example, Rihanna's real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty. 

Empowerment

• Gender empowerment is turning objectification on its head.
• Feminist readings of music videos would suggest that women are often objectified and sexualised in music videos.
• Most apparent in the pop and rap genres.
• Post feminism suggests that these sexual images can sometimes be dominant.
• Empowerment encourages women to take control of their sexuality and allowing them to feel they can be sexually dominant and in control.

Example of empowerment: Beyonce 'Run The World (Girls)'

The song's message is empowering and the music video enhances this. 

Beyonce is known for creating empowering music videos, showing women to be dominant and owning their sexuality.

Commodities

• Using an artist's brand and associations to promote products and themselves.
• This can relate to the star's image.
• The concept of stars as their own marketing tools and products that can be bought and sold.
• A music video can be viewed essentially as an advert for the artist and can encourage the purchasing of not only the music but associated merchandise.