:Audience

“Pop stars are, to some extent, symbolic vehicles with which young women understand themselves more fully, even if by doing so they partly shape their personalities to fit the stars’ alleged preferences” (Paul Willis 1990)

This quote to me shows that Willis believes that Pop stars are created in a way in which young women feel connected to the pop stars, as they believe that the pop stars reflects emotions and ways in which they are feeling or have felt before . This is achieved through Pop stars lyrics, songs and even music videos. By doing this the target audience feel more of a connection between them and the artist, which cause them to feel inspired as the pop star may also influence the way in which they think or deal with current situations. This then benefits the pop star as the have restrained a committed fan which will continue to listen and support this pop star in the further.

I personally disagree with Willis on this quote as a young woman, as I can think of no pop stars that I feel “symbolic” with in the charts today. I understand his point but I believe that pop stars don’t encourage the way in which young women relate themselves too. I would say that young women probably feel more pressured in some respects to compare with the pop stars as many younger girls may feel the pressure to look similar to them by hairstyles, fashion style and body shape.  However I don’t find this a negative thing either as it also may appeal to the target audience as they may want to copy the image of the pop star which causes another way in which an artist may sustain a fan.