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perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Research Background America is a land of popular culture. It is because popular culture “was invented in the great cities of the United States, and above all in New York” (Maltby in Storey, 2009, p. 8). Moreover, American popular culture has dominated the global markets through certain products including movie, music, celebrity, lifestyle, food, and many more. Those products have been successfully marketed to the worldwide society through the label of American products. Therefore, American products become popular in the global society and become the parameter of the world‟s products standardization. Since America becomes the center of popular culture products, it can be said that America becomes the point of references for many people (Kroes, 1996, p.75). As one of the American popular culture products, American celebrities become my focus in this research. American celebrities are persons who become the representation of American dream. Their lives are surrounded with beauty, fame, and money, thus, they become the representation of American Dream. For American celebrities, their lives and popularity depend on their constructed images appeared in media. And then, their constructed images will bring them to the wider audiences andlet them become the role model of the society. Moreover, American celebrities are being presented “as a model of consumption practice and aspiration for the reader” commit to user 1 perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id (Turner, 2003, p. 40). Therefore, the existence of American celebrities is necessary in our lives. In this research, I take the case of Miley Cyrus‟s changing images as an American celebrity which is represented in her music videos as the main focus. Miley Cyrus is an American singer/actress who is popular due to her images. It is to say that image is a crucial thing within a celebrity‟s life, because celebrity is a person who lives in images construction. “Images are structured messages…It is a conventional visual arrangement, based on a visual code” (Kress & Leeuwen, 1996, p. 25). Moreover, Miley Cyrus was known for her successful Disney Channel series entitled Hannah Montana. ThroughHannah Montana series, Miley becomes the role model of the ideal teen girl in America. The popularity of Hannah Montana series has led to a successful franchise for Disney with merchandises ranging from dolls, digital cameras, cloths, lunchboxes, playing cards, electric guitar, etc. Hence, the popularity of Miley as Hannah Montana character has been known to the world. Within the character of Hannah Montana, Miley describes herself as a goofy, sassy, hardworking, talented, funny, considerate, honest, and chaste teen girl. She was a good role model that she empowered little girls to dream big and taught them how to behave toward family, friends, and strangers (http://www.parents.com/blogs/parents- perspective/2013/10/24/the-parents perspective/the-5-real-reasons-behind-the-miley- cyrus-backlash). That is how Miley‟s image as Hannah Montana has been constructed in media and society. However, Miley Cyrus' constructed images I have mentioned commit to user 2 perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id before have transformed into other constructed images. Miley Cyrus has officially changed her images construction from the girl of Hannah Montana into the real Miley Cyrus, precisely in 2013. She clarified that she had left her Hannah Montana images and changed into the new raunchy images. The term of “real Miley Cyrus” which is depicted with raunchy images, has been identified through the portrayal of Miley‟s sexualized body and illicit slut images in her music videos released in 2013(http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/family/articles/2010/06/24/miley_cyruss_imag e_switch_gives_parents_pause__and_provides_a_teachable_moment/).By looking back at Miley‟s character in Hannah Montana, indeed this new constructed image of her is against the previous image. The changing images of Miley Cyrus happened in 2013 and it was identified for the first time through her music videos released within the year. Within the year, Miley released an album namely, Bangerz with three songs. The songs that have been successfully made into music videos become the root of Miley‟s controversy. The controversy relies on how Miley is showing her sexualized body and slut images inside the music videos. Even more, she has shown us directly how her constructed images from a cute Hannah Montana into the wild Miley Cyrus. Since Miley‟s music videos gained controversies and critics for her 180 degrees drastic changes, I take her music videos as my object of study. There are three reasons why I employed music videos to analyze Miley‟s changing images. Firstly, it is because her music videos become the origin vehicle to carry out her changing images to the public recognition. commit to user 3 perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id Thus by using it, I can have an original source of analysis for her changing images. Secondly, it is because music videos are very popular in society, especially with youth. Thus, music videos can be used as effective tool for entertainers to promote themselves. People nowadays have easy access to see music videos by only visiting popular video sharing sites namely www.YouTube.com. Moreover, “music videoas the media has the power to influence its audience” (Thomas, 2014). Thirdly, it is because music videos directly or indirectly will become the signifier of the singer or performer‟s identity. Generally, “music videos can be referred as the combination of song and imagery within an integrated short film produced for promotional purpose, not only by displaying the performers but also creating their identity” (Moller, 2011; Peeters, 2004). Celebrities are unlike heroes; heroes are gaining popularity by having achievements; while celebrities are not. For celebrities, “the way to develop the capacity of fame is not by achieving great things like hero, but by differentiating their personalities from their competitors” (Turner, 2003, p.5). This is to say that celebrity needs refreshment for their images to stay popular. Their popularity depends on the amount of media representation about their images. Moreover, the relation between celebrity and media is very close. They are having reciprocal relationship. Celebrity gets fame and recognition from the media which carry out their images, while media get income revenue by publishing the celebrity‟s images. It is to say that there will be no celebrity without media (Altman, 2005, p. 9). commit to user 4 perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id Along with her controversial changing images, the popularity of Miley Cyrus shows increasing, instead of decreasing.“There‟s no longer a question surrounding how long Cyrus could sustain popularity with her shocking performances. She‟s done more than just sustaining” (www.forbes.com/sites/jesselawrence/2014/04/01/as- bangerz-tour-reaches-halfway-point-prices-for-miley-cyrus-tickets-rising/).This condition portrays the shifting condition in the American society in receiving the contemporary popular culture. Turner (2003) states that “modern celebrity as a symptom of a worrying cultural shift” (p. 4). The changing images of Miley Cyrus as American celebrity indeed can be used as the signifier of the cultural shift in American society. “The modern phenomenon of celebrity reflects an ontological shift in popular culture”(ibid., p. 6). The ontological shift in popular culture relies on how the cultural meanings are perceived differently by the society. Previously the idea of celebrity is related to the entertainers, who become the aspiration for other people watching their shows, but then, the idea of celebrity is not merely about that anymore; it is likely enclosed to the idea of how celebrity as key-role media aspiration contributes inmaking cultural meanings in society (ibid., p. 6).This shift is clearly represented in the Miley‟s changing images phenomenon asseen in her music videos. As a role model of youth in America, indeed Miley gives significant influences to the American society. Moreover, she has contributed in creating and patterning the way the society think about an ideal teen girl in America. However, she has changed the way she presents about the ideal construction of American young women. She presents a type of pornography images which she never had before; hence, her commit to user 5 perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id changing images are full of controversies. Knowing that her changing images gains controversies, the media competes to each others anxiously, to report the latest information about Miley Cyrus‟ changing images. Everything related to Miley Cyrus‟ changing images was becoming the headlines of many media in 2013. However, Miley Cyrus changing images are still considered as valuable news to be reported in 2014-2015. She stays popular and still to be considered as a valuable American celebrity. By knowing this phenomenon, therefore; this research is necessary to be done. B. Scope of the Study The scope of this study is to describe the changing images of Miley Cyrus as American celebrity represented in Miley Cyrus official music videos released in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2013 under the American Studies, popular culture and gender studies framework. C. Research Question The aim of this research is to find out the answers of the following questions: 1. How are the changing images of Miley Cyrus represented in her official music videos? 2. What triggers Miley Cyrus to change her image to stay popular? commit to user 6 perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id D. Objectives of the Study The objectives of this thesis are: 1. To describe how the changing images of Miley Cyrus are represented in her official music videos. 2. To describe what triggers Miley Cyrus to change her image to stay popular.

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