Some media texts on Lana del Rey to describe her meta narrative

1. Representation of...
 Stars 

2. Representation
 An image and an idea.

3. Stars & Stardom
 ‘Sometimes I just wish I could put
records out anonymously’ – Lou Reed

4. Think about Stardom
Meta-Narrative
Myth
Star
Qualities
Super Star Commodity

5. Create a Pop Star’s Life Story
 Where were they born
 What sort of life did they
have before stardom
 What sort of stories
circulate about them?
 How is their life event
reflected in their music?
 How are their personal
values and beliefs
expressed in their music?

6. Synergise the Star
 How can you use the
star image in other
media products?
 How can you use the
music in other media
products
 What benefit may be
gained by exploiting
the star in this way?

7. The Myth of Stardom
 In our society what
do we believe about:
• The nature of stars
• What benefits do they
get from being a star?
• In what ways are they
like us?
• I what ways are they
special?

8. Qualities of Stardom
 What sort of people
are stars?
 What attitudes and
beliefs do they hold?
 What do they do?
 How are they
‘allowed’ or
‘supposed’ to
behave?

9. Retaining Stardom
 Why do some stars
seem to go on and
on and on….
 Why do some stars
seem to be around
for the briefest time?
 What does a star
have to do to stay
around?

10. ...STAR IMAGE?
Your task: analyse a...

11. Task - Using a range of
materials...
..describe the representation of a star/band
image similar to yours...
 Your evidence comes from:
• Biographical information
• Videos / Album Art
• The style / design of promotional materials
• The content of those material
• Material in other media texts about the star(s)
(Meta-narrative)

12. Lana Del Rey

13. Album Art

14. Official Videos

15. Other Media

16. Websites (Official and Fan)

17. Stars & Stardom
Some Star Theory 

18. Richard Dyer
 Dyer has written extensively about the role of
stars in film, TV and music.
 Irrespective of the medium, stars have some
key features in common:
• A star is an image, not a real person, that is
constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) out
of a range of materials (eg advertising, magazines
etc as well as films [music])
• Stars are commodities produced and consumed
on the strength of their meanings.

19. Richard Dyer
 Stars depend upon a range of subsidiary
media (magazines, TV, radio, the web) in order to
construct an image which can be marketed to
their target audiences.
 The star image as commodity is valuable and
can be positively attached to other products
 Music can be consumed in many different
ways and appear in a variety of different media

20. Richard Dyer - Meta-narrative
 Stardom is a meta-narrative and can be
described as ‘mythical’
 Meta-narratives are something we will be studying in
G325 Postmodernism and is something you need to
learn.

21. Stars & Stardom
Some Superstar Theory…

22. Richard Dyer
 Fundamentally, the star image is
incoherent, that is at once ‘incomplete’
and ‘open’. Dyer says that this is
because it is based upon two key
paradoxes.

23. Paradox 1
 The star must be simultaneously
ordinary and extraordinary for the
consumer

24. Paradox 2
 The star must be simultaneously
present and absent for the consumer

25. Fulfilling the promise of
stardom…
 The incoherence of the star image ensures that
audiences continually strive to ‘complete’ or to ‘make
sense of’ of the image
 Completion is thought to be achieved by continued
consumption of the star through his or her products
 In the music industry, performance seems to
promise the completion of the image, but it is always
ultimately unsatisfying
• This means that fans will go away determined to continue
consuming the star in order to carry on attempting to complete
their image

26. Hegemony
 Finally, it can be argued that the star image
can be used to position the consumer in
relation to dominant social values, this is
called ‘hegemony’
• Depending upon the artist, this may mean that the
audience are positioned against the mainstream
(though only to a limited degree, since we are still
consumers within a capitalist system) or within the
mainstream, or somewhere in between.