Research and analysis of a star- Dyers theory

1) Consider the messages and values in more detail. Consider what Madonna is aiming to portray to her audience in further detail

 2) Who is her target audience? is it the same audience? or has it changed? 

3) Focus more on Madonna's clothing and image throughout the 3 videos 

4) Relate Dyer's star theory to your analysis

The term 'star', according to Dyer, refers to the mythological set of meanings constructed around music performers in order to sell the performer to a larger and loyal audience. In Dyer's Star theory, he states the most common values of stardom include: 

• Youthfulness 

• Rebellion 

• Sexual magnetism 

• Originality 

• Creative/talent 

• Aggression 

• Success against the odds

• Disregard for social values such as drugs and sex

• Conspicuous consumption of sex, drugs and material goods

Dyer also states that stars are commodities, not people. Commodities of which are constructed with a combination of a range of materials for example: advertisements, magazines and films. Dyer also states these commodities are produced and consumed on the strength of their success as an artist.

Lastly, Dyer states the star image is 'incomplete' because it is based upon two key paradoxes. The first is based upon the star being simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer. An ordinary person with an extraordinary talent to becoming an extraordinary person with the opportunity to sell and benefit from performing their extraordinary talent. Secondly, the star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer.  Absent due to a break in the artists career/not receiving much attention from the Media but then present due to a single/album release which needs promotion, therefore making the artist present in the industry once again. This theory is only relevant after the first jump from ordinary to extraordinary.

Over the years, artists update their appearance and style in order to create trends and please their fan bases. Artists can also be heavily influenced by their record label, who may decide when it is time for an artist to reinvent themselves, possibly due to the change in the genre of music or needing a new image due to being absent in the Media. It is fascinating how an ordinary person can become extraordinary due to their raw talent as a musician or just their general image. By an individual becoming extraordinary and in the Media constantly, they become highly influential to other ordinary people who may choose to buy into their lifestyle, purchase merchandise or concert tickets; only to witness someone who used to be ordinary perform extraordinarily in an extraordinary venue filled with ordinary people wanting nothing more than to follow their footsteps into a lifestyle of fame and fortune. Arguably, an artists role is not just to produce and perform music but to manipulate audiences in aim to create a vast profit, benefitting their career even more so.

The artist I have chosen to focus on is Madonna for numerous reasons I will explore in this post. Selling more than 200 million albums in a music career which has lasted over 2 decades, Madonna has stayed on top by constantly reinventing herself and image. From one "scandal" to another, Madonna is undoubtably one of the most successful female artists, making history as an iconic figure of popular culture. Over the years, many have disagreed with some of her artistic choices whilst others admire her ever-changing and controversial image.

In Madonna...
genre .... pop to dark pop.... pop

 target audience has changed throughout the years

Holiday, Madonna (1983)

"Holiday" was the first the world heard of Madonna as she broke through the industry in 1983 and is now one of her signature songs. Only just arriving on the music scene, Madonna was presented to be a “girl next door” type figure which was popular amongst her audience in the 80's. Although the content of the video and the lyrics of Holiday are inoccent, her styling suggests something different. The artist is styled like a stereotypical goth, wearing black lipstick, a short black skirt and a black fishnet shirt which may initially denote her sexual nature.

The video to Holiday follows Goodwin's theory as she supports his point regarding dance routines. Madonna is accompanied by one male and one female dancer either side of her central position. This video is 100% performance focused due to the lyrics implying having a good time. No narrative or concept is presented. This may be because the artist wanted her audience to focus on the fun of the song and not necessarily her image, unlike many of her other videos to come where she aims to please and shock. The video also uses parallel editing in relation to the beat of the soundtrack as there is an occasional cut to a mid-shot of the artist or one of the dancers facial expressions. This follows Goodwin's theory because a relationship between the visuals and music is evident through the simplistic editing.

The message of this video is absent due to it being very simplistic. Arguably, her record label wanted the artist to  “play it safe” for her first video in aim to receive a response from an audience, soon to be people to target and please. 

If this music video was played in modern Britain, it would be surprising for an audience younger than 30+ to continue watching as they may be uninterested by the lack of excitement displayed in this video as it is focused purely on performance. However, a more mature audience or Madonna fan base may consider to continue to watch in aim to reminisce. This video would certainly not be played on any modern channels such as Heat TV or MTV but possibly a channel used for 80's music of any genre. There are often music channels which display countdowns from decades ago due to the demand of reminiscent music from older audiences who now chose to pay for music channels in their bills. 

Like a Prayer, Madonna (1989)

Whilst the video to Vogue is classical in black and white, illustrating attributes elegance and purity of the artist, a video in the middle of her career was far from angelic, despite the irony of the song title: “Like A Prayer” 

Like a Prayer was released in 1989 is undoubtably one of Madonna's biggest hits of all time. However, the video consisting of sexual symbolism, burning crosses and the artist kissing a male black saint was extremely controversial. 

The video caused an outrage within religious and ethnic groups with the lyrics containing subtle sexual references. According to various sources, conglomerate Pepsi had signed a deal to use Madonna and the song for a commercial, but they withdrew the offer when they saw the scandalous video. Despite the outrage, Like a Prayer topped the music charts worldwide and then the video won an MTV Viewers Choice Award, ironically sponsored by Pepsi!

The release of this video was the moment that audiences knew to expect nothing but new changes from Madonna. The artist admits in an interview that her interests include “sex, religion and death”, unheard of someone so famous in the 1980's! Mary Lambert directed the video who is known to direct horror videos, hence the dark influence she had over the Like a Prayer video. Undoubtably, she made it notorious. 

This video has a high narrative element: the video shows Madonna witnessing a murder on a white female. When a black man is wrongfully accused of the crime, she is there to defend him. She prays for him in a brightly lit church full of candles, possibly symbolising the firey side to her image.

Madonna is also seen dancing in front of burning crosses, as a response to racist discrimination. This caused an uproar and an outrage within the Catholic churches, initially in America who were highly offended by the artist using signs of stigmata (cutting her hands) This controversy then spread worldwide, where many religious groups protested against the video because they deemed it to contain blasphemous use of Christian imagery. Moreover, inside the church she kisses a black saint, which was seen as a controversial issue at the time of it's release whereas if it was released nowadays, it would be accepted. 

This video follows Goodwin's theoretical point of showing a relationship between the lyrics and visuals. An example of this is when she sings "I close my eyes. Oh God, I think I'm falling" there is a shot of her slowly laying down on pew inside the church after a sequence of mid-shots showing her singing to the saint stood behind the bars. This could be a sexual reference to her ecstasy but also be noted as pleasure she receives from religion. 


At the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards, Like A Prayer won the Viewers Choice Award, and was nominated for Best Video of the Year despite the outrage it caused and 'evil' it promoted. Madonna is living proof that controversy can lead to upmost respect as an artist and success. 

In conclusion, the Like a Prayer video is 60% focused upon the artist and the church choir performing and 40% narrative based following the story of the wrongly accused murder which we see and the love displayed between the artist and the saint. 

Give Me All Your Luvin', Madonna ft. M.I.A & Niki Minaj (2012)

Many audiences believed Madonna's career in music was over after being absent in the industry for some time after the release of her hit single 4 Minutes featuring Justin Timberlake. She then released her MDNA album which included the single Give Me All Your Luvin'

At the age of 55, it seems unnatural for a woman of that age to be dancing and dressing provocatively and is generally unseen by women in the music industry as many popular female artists are between the age of 18-30. This therefore meant Madonna fulfilled a vital aim: to shock people, create a controversy of some level to become present in the Media, selling more singles. 

Madonna may have chosen to collaborate with current female artists associated with music of the rap/hip-hop genre in aim to appeal to a younger audience, who may not know of Madonna due to the different eras of music. However, Madonna to date still has a loyal fan base who witnessed her at the beginning of her career in the 1980's. This song draws in a new target audience due to the collaboration including M.I.A (a modern day controversial artist) and also Niki Minaj who is also either “loved” or “hated” by audiences.

To start the video, the audience see a brick wall with a spotlight on it and italic blue writing appears reading: "Fans can make you famous, a contract can make you rich, the press can make you a superstar, but only luv can make you a player" For each part of the sentence which appears there is a cut to show the next part. The noun "player" is used to not only describe the artist as an individual who is apparently skilled at manipulating males but is a direct reference to the use of an American football team followed by supporting cheerleaders consisting of M.I.A and Niki Minaj. The football team seemingly worship the artist throughout. Examples of this worship is when it rains, they cover her head with umberallas and put their jackets on the street for her to walk upon which may imply that because she is an extraordinary figure, an artist, the grond of which she walks upon must be 'holy'.

Intertextual references are displayed throughout, a fundamental point to Goodwin's theory. This includes the subtle promotion of three very different but major brands: Swarovski jewellery, Adidas and Red Label Smirnoff Vodka. Close-up shots are not used to promote the brands however, but it is evident that they are presented to the audience. We see one of the featuring artists Niki Minaj wear a red corset like top which has an Adidas logo on each side therefore promoting it. This may encourage audiences to buy into the artists lifestyle, specifically the brands target market: people aged between 10-30 who enjoy an active lifestyle as it is a sport brand. The target audience for Adidas is very similar to the people who would enjoy this song and video, hence the good working relationship between the artist and the products they are promoting. 


Although there is not a close-up shot of the Red Label Smirnoff Vodka, it is evident that the video promotes it. We see a line of around 10 individual bottles in the background of the artists performance which is recognisable enough for the audience that a closer look is not necessary. The Smirnoff brand appeals to youthful, fulfilled young adults from the legal drinking age of 18 to 34 years. This target market is similar to the target audience of this video and the featuring artists other music works. This brand however does not offer the advice of "drinking responsibly" in correlation to their adverts which could be a critisism. By including the well-known brand it follows Goodwin's theory of intertextual references and again promotes it to the audience of the video. 

Swarovski jewellery is another example of Goodwin's point of intertextual references being a convention of a music video. Swarovski jewellery is worn by Madonna throughout in addition to many of her previous videos. (I was initially unaware about Swarovski jewellery appearing but was informed by Madonna's stylist Arianne Phillips in the following video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEfmIoub-L4) This brand unlike the others promoted isn't perceived as being affordable for the videos target audience but still encourages watchers to potentially buy into one the branded items. 

MESSAGE OF THE VIDEO? 

MORE OF GOODWINS POINTS MISSING !!!!

throwing baby at the end= lacks responsibilty wants to make the most of her career 


Madonna: an influential icon 

(left to right) Madonna in her original cone inspired bra and Gaga's "copy"

It could be argued that many modern day artists have been influenced by Madonna, a main example being Lady Gaga, who has received critsisms for image being very similar in some of her phases. Gaga, much like Madonna thrives off of attention from controversy, bizarre outfits and her constant reinvention. In Gaga's music video to Alejandro, she is dancing in a cone bra, an identical idea to Madonna's stylists. This could be seen as Gaga being heavily influenced by a star she had grown up listening to and admiring as a pop idol. 

(left to right) Miley Cyrus in her Disney days and Miley at the 2013 VMA's

To conclude, Madonna, much like many artists in the ever changing music industry constantly reinvent themselves to stay current and popular amongst audiences. Although Madonna may have upset religious/vulnerable audiences and many people have disagreed with her artistic choices embedded within her career, without her dramatic decesions, she would not be as controversial therefore she would not be the iconic pop figure she is today. It could be argued that many artists have followed in Madonnas footsteps in regards to echoing her habit of reinvention including Rihanna, Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears, all of which have changed dramatically throughout their music career. This could be due to their record labels wanting change, themselves growing older with their fans therefore older and maybe explicit content is more appropriate of the artist themselves wanting to make history/to be viewed differently.