"Amy" – Audience Theory Links:

I’ve recently seen Asif Kapadia’s documentary “Amy” on the life and death of global superstar Amy Winehouse for the second time. The director combined footage and clips of her, her family and friends to reveal how her life was moulded from an unhappy childhood, to a chaotic media frenzy, to a tragic death. It is a tragic fact Amy has become part of the “27 Club,” which are group of celebrities such as Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison died at the age of 27.

It documented how her intertwined addictions to love, drugs and alcohol resulted to her downfall. The power of the media was viewed within this documentary as it showed how her gradual rise to fame occurred and reached to the point that paparazzi followed her every move. This led to the media, such as newspapers and TV Shows like Jay Leno mocking her and her controversial habits.

We Media and theoretical links:

This is a case study for We Media. This is because, We Media, which is the phrase used to describe the relationship between the public and media, had evidently impacted Amy Winehouse's life.

Theorists can also be linked to it. For example, it could link to two Audience theories, one being the Cultivation Theory. This is a collection of ideas which suggests attitudes towards a certain person can be changed. How they are viewed, can be repetitively used to construct a reputation which the person in question may then feel the need to live too. As Amy is known for her frequent use of alcohol and drugs, it may be evident that the pressure of this constructed persona may have resulted in her living up to it more. Richard Dyer's Star Theory can also be applied to it. His theory was split into three categories:

1) Audiences and Institutions:
Stars are made for money purposes alone. Increasing the brand identity benefits the institution as they become a household name increasing sales in all of the media platforms they are in.  The institution then models the artist around the target audience they choose. For example, in Amy Winehouse's case she could have been moulded into a jazz singer, to a mainstream artist, to someone used purely for headlines.

2) Constitutions:
This is similar to the audience and institution part of his theory. 

3) Hegemony:
This is also known as "culture." It is the idea that the audience relates to the star because they have a feature they share or admire with the star. Some fans may attempt to replicate the star's image and behaviour. But, this could also be a negative impact as some stars may act controversially. In Amy Winehouse's case, many fans replicate her beehive hairstyle which has become an iconic representation of her. Many, may have also seen Amy's alcohol and drugs as something 'cool' at the beginning of her exposure too.

What I have learned:

It is evident that the public and media can become obsessed with people in the public eye. This obsession has resulted in the constant following of paparazzi which seem to constantly catch and scrutinise the behaviour of celebrities and their downfall. A tragic example would be Princess Diana’s heart-breaking death. She was continuously followed by the media until the day she died in a car crash. This was on such a large scale that their following was even considered to be a contributing factor in her death.

In the case of the musical world, another pop star to be considered would be Britney Spears’ and her “breakdown” in 2007. As a result of being a famous singer, she gained attention from paparazzi, but when her emotions ran high, mood swings developed and questionable actions were seen as a result of her, conveniently unmentioned bipolar disorder, they were constantly scrutinised as a result of the on growing media attention she constantly got.

In a recently released interview with NME, Justin Bieber revealed he watched the documentary on Amy. He compared himself and how he is viewed in the media to her and her maltreatment. Like Amy, the press mocked him and he faced a lot of backlash for his actions. Like Britney, he was caught lashing out, which became a viral obsession. J

Justin said of the documentary that he, “watched the Amy Winehouse documentary on the plane and had tears in my eyes because I could see what the media was doing to her, how they were treating her. People thought it was funny to poke her when she was at rock bottom, to keep pushing her down until she had no more of herself. And that's what they were trying to do to me". I thought this was really interesting as it shows how the media reacts to famous people and their actions. Although, I also believe it’s really sad they have the power to manipulate how celebrities are viewed, which is really cruel and an ongoing part of society. For example, Amanda Bynes’s controversial actions as a result of her bipolar disorder have recently come under scrutiny.