Magazine 1 - Woman Magazine

Magazine 1 - Woman Magazine

Component 1:

Unseen products + A couple of things out of the selection you have studied.

Component 2:

Everything you have studied.

- Media language

- Representation

- Audience

- Media Industries

Question 1 Component 2:

You need to include your opinion - weigh up evidence and the reliability.

There is a historical context to the magazine you need to be aware of.

For component 2 you need to make up the question yourself. - Set out your argument to begin with.

You DO NOT need to give a balanced argument.

This is 30 marks, spend around 10 minutes planning and 40 minutes writing.

Roland Barthe - Semiotics (Recap)

Proairetic - Somethings gonna happen

Symbolic -

Hermeneutic - A mystery

Claude levis Strauss - Structuralism (Recap)

Binary oppositions - We see the world through what it isn't rather than what it is.

You can use this for comedy (e.g. Friends)

Name of magazine:

Maximum RockNRoll

Images/photographs:

Crane shot of singer of band 'Anxiety', the photographs are candid, not staged. This creates movement and excitement as opposed to structured layout of the magazine.

Mise-en-scene:

The dirty floors, beer stains and the unkept clothing.

Typical codes and conventions of magazines:

Often magazines have a glossy cover, which has connotations of quality and there is an expectation that you will possibly keep it. Also the type of advertisements in a magazine, and full page photographs - newspapers don't do this because people care more about the articles. Magazines are much more about the look and design than content. This design can change from issue to issue, unlike a newspaper of which stages the same from edition to edition. Often magazines come with free gifts/samples. The lexis style is more gossipy and contains a different mode of address than a newspaper - coloquial. Editorials are at the start they can get away with writing like a letter than an article, and display their POV. They can take an exclusionary mode of address - this can help sell editions.

Woman Magazine - August 29 1964

The mature woman pictured on the front cover suggests this magazine is aimed at a more mature audience. The price is very cheap (7p = 80p modern days), of which suggests this is for a middle class audience. The pink background has connotations of romance and love which suggests that this magazine is trying to argue that more mature woman are still as beautiful ad can be as glamorous as younger women. The handwritten style sans-serif font has a homely connotation of which suggests that she is a housewife and in combination with the pink background could suggests is it romantic and sexy to be a stay at home wife. the title about the kitchen suggests she is a stay at home wife - audience response. 

The model is quite plain and uninteresting of which allows the audience to identify with her. The lighting is delicate an bright which suggests women should be delicate, bright, optimistic and pretty - key light. The ideology that women should wear makeup 'a level beauty' - they might respond that they want to change the way they look (hermeneutic code). The use of 'your kitchen' is very demanding and enforces a stereotypical 60s housewife role.

This magazine is exclusive to women, men wouldn't buy it s they feel embarrassed as they want to be a stereotypical 'manly' 60s man. Seven star suggests that women need to improve the home, they are currently inadequate, not even a 5 star one. Another secondary audience is young girls, that they should aspire to be like her because mum has a copy. She is marketed as the 'special' British woman and it is anchored by the happy image of her face, next to the image saying they are special and magic.

The models teeth have been airbrushed white, this makes them stand out and makes them want to be like the perfect woman, this gives them an approachable ambition. Her clothes are traditional and feminine, this reinforces hegemonic rules about the way the women dress, the flowers connote being feminine. The big flowy white font could empower women a thy have a magazine dedicated to their gender. the women looking straight at the audience is a mode of direct address, it is a friendship look.

One of the biggest selling women's magazines in the 60s, sold 3 million copies per week. (approx 1 in 9 women every week)

The list of columns of stereotypical women's role reinforces their role in society. The title of 'beauty' instead of Health suggests they are only valuable for their looks and without make up they are ugly.This is a form of hegemonic power. It has a picture of Jackie Kennedy of whom was an icon for many women, and she is American which is 'exotic'.The picture of the woman and the little girl suggests that women should be mothers - hegemonic power, you should do this to be a good woman.

Women were often objectified in the 60s society, women were to stay at home whilst he is to go to work. Women's aspirations were changing, they felt like they could achieve more (e.g. higher education.). This suggests women have more power and money, spendable income.

David Gauntlet - Theories of identity

Audiences are not passive, and media products allow the audience to construct their own identity. This is why sub-cultures exist.

Pick n Mix - audiences pick and chose exactly what they want from media products (ideology).