Stars As Specific Images

Richard Dyer makes some really compelling arguments in his piece describing the relationship of the celebrity in relation to the media. Dyer states that this relationship is made up of key components, including the promotion/publicity, the body of work (or films that they have been in), and criticism/commentary on that body of work or actions taken by that celebrity. I believe that all of these qualities are essential for the relation of celebrity and media, but we must also account for the fact that the media is not always accurate; by that I mean the celebrity may put out a false image that is not necessarily who they actually are as a person. Dyer doesn't really account for this, and there seems to be some confusion as to whether he is using his description to achieve a total knowledge of the celebrity. However, I think if posed with the question he would argue that the actual persona/o of the celebrity is not essential to their meaning in a cultural sense, and that the message formed by the media is all that really matters, be it good or bad in the end, due to a social removal or disconnect from the celebrity to their fans. Their identity becomes synonymous with their careers and they are socially isolated as people. Perhaps this is why so many celebrities seem so lost in their personal lives.