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| Amy Winehouse's death sadly fitted the rockstar cliche all too well. |
The myth of a rockstar is a guideline for lives, and for creating movies about the lives of rockstars. Pop culture keeps recycling the old myth recreating the (movie) rockstars over and over again. Such films like "Control" and "The doors" portray the era's visions of a rockstar. The lifestyle of a rockstar includes tours, band rehearsals, long hair, leather jacket, lots of sex, drugs, booze, creative crisis and burning out. Pop culture has established a vision of a true rockstar.
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| Homer Simpson:"I had finally realized every rockstars dream - hating being famous." |
According to Barthes a myth distorts and naturalizes a term, while being a compromise - signifier creates the signified. Myth is being perceived as a system of facts, when it's really a system of equal relations and values. (Barthes 2004: 253–255) That's exactly what the myth does with the "rockstar" it creates a certain image of it. The cliche of a rockstar is projected to all the artists and bands of different genres of rock. It becomes a mythical biography. It's a conception based only on assumptions, which functions as structure that describes the life of all the rockstars.
The lives of rockstars are portrayed using a reoccurring structure. The Doors and Control are according to Glenn Smith based on the myth of the american dream. There success is followed by cheering crowds and fame (Smith 2009: 8). Leo Lowenthal finds by comparing the language in biographies that celebrities are described through superlatives, which should convey their importance in culture (Lowenthal 1956: 100–102). Everything is pictured in excess according to the myth of the rockstar: big concerts, willing girls and constant use of drugs and booze. This shows us the extraordinary nature and position of rockstars in the society.
