Compare the representation of gender in both Mens Health and Tomb raider. 

This essay is exploring the stereotypical representation of both male and female ideologies. I am going to be comparing the portrayal of a woman and how the male perceives a female in tomb raider. On the other hand, I will state how the male is illustrated in ‘Men’s Health’ in relation to the subject matter and the images conveyed. 

Let us start with the front cover of ‘Men’s Health’, and the iconic sign being ‘vin diesel’ (the man centred on the front page). This will entice people to buy the magazine as a celebrity is on the front cover making it a primary selling point. There are a number of reasons why he has been chosen for the front cover, mainly that he has a muscular frame that other males can aspire to. This signifies that the male gender is stereotyped into being this broad muscly man. The title which is in blue is another attempt to stereotypicalise males as blue is for boys and pink is for girls. There are several captions all either in blue or black.  The font size on one of the captions, the phrase ‘BLAST BODY FAT!’ is exceedingly large in comparison to the rest of the captions as it is in bold and capitalised. This symbolises that men must be a certain shape with no body fat, and they are made to feel ashamed with the terminology used about fat. This is again leading to gender specifications in order to be masculine and dominant. With the use of the words ‘fat, flab, lose 8kg fast’ can make certain vulnerable readers anxious leading to mental health disorders. Therefore, this is a misrepresentation as the idea of fitness is positive, however the male demographic is unsustainable. On the other hand the index shows different articles in the magazine , it uses specific page numbers to target the valued and important topics in the magazine and puts a positive slant by stating that fitness has a positive health and wellbeing, There is an article on page 84 saying “Could your iPhone aptly treat mental health ills?” The use  of this puts the audience in a position of positivity for males who struggle emotionally. Age discrimination is also tackled in an article on page 96, giving a positive representation for the male gender at all ages regarding fitness.  

In contrast Tomb Raider is specifically targeting a gender specific audience which is a stereotypical male. The front cover of the game identifies a female in a provocative position in order to entice the male demographic. The mise-en-scene being body language and costume shows Lara Croft in tight clothing, short shorts in order to accentuate her butt. The female is being represented as a sexualised symbol, the connotation of Lara Croft as a sex symbol makes men appeal to the game more. This is representing males and females both in a negative light by using this advertising especially with the camera angle that has been shot enlarging certain parts of her body as well as centering the chest at eye view. The typography of the big bold wring ‘tomb raider’ is angled towards her chest. The selective representation is of Lara Croft has negative connotations for a women and males use this ideology gaining an advantage over women. On the back and the front of the gaming cover the parental guidance sign shows age 12 appropriate, aiming at young adolescents who are easily influenced and are grown into adulthood to expect women to conform to this body image. Inferences can be made from the back cover showing for images all showing different angles of her body and some closeup shots of her. 

In comparison both ‘tomb raider’ and ‘men’s health’ use the same typography of bold lettering to draw the audience in. They both appeal to men in the sense that one is aimed at body image and one is aimed at female idealisation. Both stances of the man and women are positioned in such a way. Lara Croft is twisted to reveal all aspects of her features, but this is not a natural way to be positioned. The dominant signifiers (man) stance shows a commanding presence as his arms are in front of his body, so the focus can be mainly on his arms and the size of them. Both also stigmatise male and female roles in society as the image conveyed of men are dominant, masculine and virile and these traits are supposed to attract women. In ‘tomb raider’ Lara Croft shown as a sexual object for men to idealise and this is degrading to women thus making them feel inferior. 

In conclusion, I believe that ‘tomb raider’ and ‘men’s health’ are portraying gender discrimination as both of them show that body image is the main factor. This discriminates because men are put under pressure to have the perfect body which can be unsustainable. It discriminates against the women as the body image that is shown is sexual in nature and can undermine women’s confidence. Both are aimed at people who have leisure time to get fit and play games, however the symbolisation is having a detrimental effect on how we think men and women should look and behave in today’s society. 

Statement of intent 

 Clache  

The typical audience would be young males aged between 19 and 25. Young professional workers employed by corporate organisations, have an expendable income. Generally, youthful and active members of society have high sociable interaction. During breaks or lunch they are likely to read the physical copy of the magazine and conform to the new affluent workers. 

The front cover draws the specific reader into finding out more through the use of the index sign (body image) represented on the front. The title is in a bold dynamic colour, which will attract this demographic. The red colour signifies energy proving the point of the magazine as energy is needed in boxing. The body image stance portrays dominance which will attract this age group. This is because in their spare time they will go to the gym and wind down/relax by gaming. 

As there are relatively few gaming magazines for boxing, I chose this style of gaming and added the title clache as a play on words with clash. Clache will appeal to this audience as the word clache evokes violence and males tend to like violence in games. This is symbiotic of the aspiring group, aiming for body perfection believing that image is important to them. 

I use the word “knockout” which symbolises a knockout punch in boxing, major references to boxing terminology are annotated. Words like “heavyweight, low blow”, appeal to the reader as transference from the boxing game to the boxing ring can be deduced  from the use of these words. Mainly informal wording was used so that their interest would not be lost. 

I aim to represent boxing to the young professional classes rather than the stereotypical working class ideology.  This magazine is aimed at white collar workers. There is a definite trend for white collar boxing, whereby the proceeds are given to charity 

I am able to photograph a member of my family who typifies the image we are trying to create and his experience in the gym. This proves him to be the perfect candidate for this project. I have a console myself and understand how gaming works. By using the images and the words this can create aspirations joining the game and gym fraternity.  

Barthes- An influential French philosopher and literary critic, who explored social theory, anthropology and semiotics, the science of symbols, and studied their impact on society

Pierce- American philosopher, logician, mathematician, and scientist

Saussure- A Swiss linguist and semiotician

Semiotics- The study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation

Sign- Something that signifies something else 

Signifier- A sign’s physical form (such as a sound, printed word, or image) as distinct from its meaning(saussure)

Signified- The meaning or idea expressed by a sign

Icon- Person or thing regarded as a representative symbol

Index- A sign that has a link to its object 

Symbol- Thing that represents or stands for something else

Code-  A system of words, letters, figures, or symbols used to represent others

Dominant Signifier- Main accepted meaning of sign 

Anchorage- Words “pin down” the meaning of an image 

Ideology- Set of opinions or beliefs by an individual or group

Syntagm- A set of linguistic forms that are in a relationship to one another

Signification- The representation or conveying of meaning

Denotation- The literal or primary meaning of a word

a reactionary text– text that supports the dominant ideology

a radical text-texts that challenge the dominant ideology

Connotation- An idea or feeling which a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning

paradigm– a typical example or pattern of something; a pattern or model

Myth- A widely held but false belief or idea

The reason why i chose to put this as a front cover of a magazine is to show that all professions should not be gender specific. Also i wanted the audience viewing this not to have pre conceived ideas about non stereotypical professions. Ballet especially can be seen as a female domain. I wanted to challenge the ideals of gender inequality.