The discussion of a star as a public figure whose image appears both on the big screen and across various mass media channels provides an accessible topic through which people can express and exchange their understanding of cultural identification. In 1979, Richard Dyer published his influential book on the star phenomenon, which fundamentally challenged the way in which the extent of star studies could be understood across disciplines and media texts. What is particularly valuable in Dyer's work is his effort to contextualise the interpretation of star images and his recognition of stardom as a phenomenon of both production and consumption. Rather than restricting the star persona to the big screen, Dyer demonstrated how the discourses surrounding a star's off-screen life could impact on the construction of stardom. By so doing, Dyer recognised that star image is not just a simple reflection of social type, but that star image is instead a site where different social and cultural perceptions negotiate with each other. However, seeing films as ‘the most important of the texts’ (Dyer 1998: 61), Dyer reduced other media texts, such as a film's promotional materials, media publicity and the audiences’ reviews, to the status of auxiliary or secondary tools. As such, Dyer's emphasis on a star's symbolic meaning and charisma has invited criticism. For instance, Barry King (1987: 147) argued that Dyer has ‘apparent “proneness” to star-worship’. For King, Dyer's studies of the representation of star image do not fully engage with the specific market conditions through which stardom is mediated.

Responding to the inadequate attention to the market specifications of star image, a number of film scholars, including Dyer himself (2004), started to seek solutions in reception studies by investigating the role of audiences. This analysis of reception catalysed a debate concerning spectatorship and the viewing experience. Analysing the star–audience relationship, Jackie Stacey (1991: 159) argued that the study of audiences distinguishes ‘the cinematic identification, which refers to the viewing experience’ from the ‘extra-cinematic identification, referring to the use of stars’ identities in a different cultural time and space’.