The star which I have analysed for the element of star image is Miley Cyrus as she embodies the ideologies and desires of the modern day consumer and mainstream materialistic and aspirational audiences. At the beginning of Cyrus' career she embodied the title of a pop-princess and icon for children across the globe. Her hit series Hannah Montana was aired by the Disney Channel which provided a link to the most idolised, influential and lovable fictional characters known to children. Conclusively, Cyrus' audience was primarily young girls/teenage girls.
By adopting the alter ego of Hannah Montana, Cyrus was able to embody the stereotypical Americanised features of a youthful, healthy and beautiful young girl i.e. long blonde hair, blue eyes and the voice of an angel. However this was soon to change. As Cyrus was about to embark on her new life as a young adult, the demands of modern day consumerism and mainstream perceptions of beauty, physicality and sexuality altered her star image dramatically. Cyrus no longer wanted to be viewed simply as the childhood sweetheart that is Hannah Montana, she wanted to be taken seriously and therefore aspired to broaden her demographic of audience through the manipulation of her genre of music, but ultimately her star image.
Andrew Goodwin states that the audience knows it's own tastes in music, conclusively the audience are used to the genre of music produced by Cyrus' alter ego Hannah Montana. However the music industry has been able to work around this theory - the construction of Miley's new image is one of the ways in which they have able to alter the audience's taste in music.
Cyrus has become a phenomenon of modern day consumerism and culture as her broadened demographic of audience feel a loose attachment to her and change their image in conjunction with the alteration of her image.
Sexual connotations - delicacy of the bird feathers could connote the idea of the juxtaposing of Miley's more delicate, fragile and naive perception as pop princess Hannah Montana with the sexually more dominant and womanly Miley Cyrus. The fact that she is laying on peacock feathers could indicate that Cyrus, as an artist, has a degree of unseen vivacity and rarity that has not been exposed until now.
Here the artist's hair is darker, her makeup is more seductive, dark and smoky which could indicate at Cyrus' desire to appeal to an older demographic of audience such as aspirational admirers and anti-authority rebels. The fact that the artist crawls on a mirrored floor could highlight that vanity is a central focus to the work of Cyrus.
Cyrus now uses the conscious manipulation of her star image to make controversial political statements. The pole represents promiscuity and connotes fairly derogatory ideas. Cryus' new image has sparked a colossal debate about how suitable Miley's image is as according to Andrew Goodwin's theory star loyalty is key; therefore millions of young admirers across the globe will alter their own image and aesthetic to mirror their favourite artists.
There is substantial difference in institutional contexts such as the branding of the star, synergy, marketing and also filming styles. The difference in filming styles is evident in the above music videos, one from the alter ego that is Hannah Montana and one from Miley Cyrus as an independent artist. The filming styles in Cyrus' new more modern music videos differ as they are more dark, with sharp cutting and edits to market her in a different, more diverse way to create controversy.
I will use this research to inform my production work in order to successfully portray the message of which our song conveys, and to ultimately depict the morals, values, ideologies and opinions of our artist and also meet the demands of the modern day culture of consumerism and materialistic desire.
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