Heavenly Bodies

This week I choose to read “Heavenly Bodies” by Richard Dyer. I found this article very interesting. It has a lot to do with many of the readings we have recently read in class. They all relate to movie stars or super starts and how they are portrayed. Heavenly bodies focus on movie stars and how their image is built. Stars are produced by the media industries and Hollywood. Dyer discusses the development of a movie star, he explains that star are ultimately made for profit. Dyer states above all they are part of a labour that produces films as a commodity that can be sold for profit in the market place. He basically explains that stars star out as raw material and are built into these version of “heavenly bodies”that producers wants them to be. Just to  later use to produce another community, a film. Dyer compares the making of a movie star to Karl Marx idea of capitalism. How the individual is lost and how a star is just a machine. Stars are built for profit and are just a product to sell. When I read this article I couldn’t help but connect to many celebrities we see in pop culture. One of the celebrities I thought of the most was Miley Cyrus. I think Miley fits into this category because she has so many producers and whole team of people who work to build her imagine. She started out as raw material and now is transformed into a star. Everything that Miley Cyrus is has been built by her team. She is no longer a singer/ actress she’s a brand.  The whole Cyrus Corporation is a huge factory and I related this to the thoughts of Richard Dyer.