The constructed images of miley cyrus as american teen celebrity on miley cyrus official website

Oleh :
Nunik Sri Wahyuni - C0305051 - Fak. Sastra dan Seni Rupa

ABSTRACT America is a land of cultures. Many cultures grow and maintain there. Some of them are popular culture. Celebrity is one of the products of popular culture. They are half real and half imaginary. They exist in three dimensional form-living and breathing like the rest of us- but their hyped up, fabricated star persona is often so distant from the real person as to be more properly considered type of fiction. Their popularity depends on the constructed images which are made and maintained by their creative team. Constructed images are one of the crucial things for every celebrity in gaining and maintaining their popularity. It is because these constructed images give tremendous effect to celebrity in getting attention from society. The constructed images of celebrity are the construction of stereotype which relates to the society’s beliefs and values. Therefore, the constructed images of celebrity must be based on the cultural mindset of society in order to get popularity. The research was conducted within the boundaries of American Studies. It was descriptive qualitative type of research. The main data were taken form Miley Cyrus Official Website on www.mileycyrus.com, which also link to www.mileyworld.com. Miley Cyrus is a teen celebrity who is popular among American teenagers. The main data were taken in the range time between April 22nd 2009 - May 6th 2009. The supporting data were taken from other sources which were useful for supporting the main data, such as from Miley Cyrus music, Miley Cyrus movie, Miley Cyrus fashion, etc. To collect the main data, the researcher used purposive sampling technique in which the categories of the main data were determined deliberately. The analysis of the research used visual social semiotic theory to find out the constructed images of Miley Cyrus on Miley Cyrus Official Website’s page and popular culture theory to find out the cultural beliefs and values reflected by her constructed images which make Miley Cyrus can gain and maintain popularity in society. The researcher concludes that the creative team of Miley Cyrus constructs certain images in Miley Cyrus Official Website in order to help her maintain her popularity in society. The creative team of Miley Cyrus constructs certain images, such as a happy teen girl, a pure and innocent teen girl, a feminine teen girl, and a family teen girl. These constructed images which are put in Miley Cyrus can help Miley maintain her popularity since these constructed images reflect American beliefs and values.