Stars Identity In The Media Analysis

Richard Dyer, a film critic, writer, and professor talks about stars as images. Stars have the ability to be a “symbol” or icon to the society. People look up to celebrities for guidance, and they represent what the society is supposed to look like. Celebrities represent everything from fashion, to love, to success. They also represent what people are supposed to buy, what the most comfortable clothing is, and the healthiest foods. Celebrities in a way decide for the people; oftentimes, people tend to buy something if a celebrity is advertising it. Other theorists have an extension of Dyer’s ideas on Celebrities power and effect on society. Despite the fact that Dyer’s theories may be aged, they are still applicable to today’s society as shown

Cashmore talks about the Taylor-Burton affair, one of the first times a photographer dared to enter the private life of a star (53). People loved the idea of a closer look at the hidden lives of stars. In the modern day, everything one knows about stars comes from the media, and scandals have become so normal than it was at the time of Taylor-Burton affair, yet it is still significant. Lawrence has been involved in many scandals, although usually to defend herself and others. According to the magazine Billboard, in September 2014, she speaks out after nude photo scandal surfaced on the web. She was quick to remind people that her being a celebrity, does not mean she isn’t a human. It brings out Cashmore’s argument that, celebrities are just like us, but they are special. On February 2018, she talks about the controversy at the BAFTA awards that she was very “rude” to the host Joanna Lumley. She explains that it was an inside joke between the host and her. She is also known to be very vocal about issues concerning the public. For example, she speaks out against sexual harassment by Harvey Weinstein, encourages people to be vocal about election results, the wage gap in the film industry, and she also advocates against body criticism. She also maintains a role as a model or a persona to be looked upon. She is not just an exceptional role model in the character she plays on-screen, but outside in her public life.

Barthes set forth the idea that, even a simple picture has more than one meaning. Art and culture especially could always be reinterpreted. A particular text can have an endless array of meanings consequently, each reader can develop their own opinion about a text. Marshall also incorporates the ideas of a Swiss linguist, Ferdinand De Saussure of the signifier and the signified. The signifier is the word cat itself, and the signified is the Cat itself, he argues that the signifier and signified in itself have no relationship. There is nothing in the word Cat that says or represent that it is addressing the feline, Cat. According to Marshall, “as a sign, the celebrity sheds its own subjectivity and individuality and becomes an organizing structure for conventionalized meaning” (56). He explains celebrities to be the tools of media as well as the producers. They signify something that is told by the media, that is decided by the