MEDIA LANGUAGE
- Dominant signifier (Vin Diesel), we know this because he is the main focus within the front cover, being the biggest and most outward object on the page.
- The title “Men’s Health” – indexical to men’s health and the gender performance of the male gender.
- The page is reactionary, as it can be argued to support the typical view of strong, independent men.
- The syntagm of men’s gender performance and what men should be like. Suggests that men should be fit and strong with muscular developments. “Lose 8kg fast”, “127 ways to build a stronger core” “103 shortcuts to t-shirt arms”
- The way he’s standing (stance) is a way as such to ‘flex’ / show off his biceps and triceps.
- The font is in bold which can come across as stronger and more masculine.
- Suggests to the target audience that if they read the magazine they can look like Vin Diesel
Contents page
- Dominant signifier of Vin Diesel, however is significantly smaller than the front cover
- Semantic pattern of physical power and strength
- Repertoire of elements (men)
- Shows a reactionary representation of exercise and fitness through links to articles. Shown through signifiers such as pictures of trainers and weights. This could be suggested to be creating an unrealistic view that to be considered a ‘real’ man you must be physically at top performance.
- Radical representation through the use of men of different ages and races
MEDIA REPRESENATIONS
The school of life present a video called ‘How to be a Man’, in it they present the ‘cool man’ and the ‘warm man’, while not an academic theory, it is possible to identify these two representations in Men’s Health.
Cool man– Vin Diesel (big, muscular, confident)
Warm man– Phillip Howells (compassionate, ‘your only limit is your self-belief’)
1.The emphasis on male beauty and grooming challenges some conventions of traditional stereotypes of masculinity
Changes in lighting on Vin Diesel’s biceps/triceps in front cover to enhance the definition suggesting that his male beauty has been emphasized as it is to fit the stereotypical view of a male (muscular, confident, strong, big)
2. How gender is represented through processes of selection and combination
3. Men as object of a homosexual and heterosexual gaze
Vin Diesel could be subject to male gaze from a homosexual or heterosexual view.
4. The reasons for the choices made in the representation of gender
MEDIA INDUSTRIES
| WHAT WE KNOW | WHAT WE UNDERSTAND |
| Men’s Health magazine= joint ownership from 2012 – 2017 with Hearst and Rodale. From 2000 – 2011 Men’s Health was owned by Natmag Rodale. Hearst is the owner of Men’s Health, it is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded by William Randolph Hearst on March 4 1887. They also own a gender opposite magazine named Woman’s Health= very similar style as Men’s Health although, there is use of stereotypical colours like pink to attract the target audience of women. The Woman’s Health magazine includes a dominant signifier of an attractive model= creates the same idea as Men’s Health of ‘if you read this magazine you will look like this’. Average age of consumers for Men’s Health have been displayed, showing the ages of the readers from April 2019 to March 2020: Most common age is adults aged 15+ 365,000 woman 708,000 men 519,000 adults aged 15-34 554,000 adults aged 35+ 391,000 readers with households with children Men’s Health has won these awards: James Beard Award for Cooking, Recipes, or Instruction | Hesmondhalgh argues that major cultural organisations create products for different industries in order to maximise chances of commercial success, for example Hearst (owner of Men’s Health) have different products for different target audiences, these products include Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health, Country Living and Inside Soap, which range in a variety of different interests such as women’s lifestyle, home interests and tv listings. Demographic graph shows that Men’s Health successfully reaches the target audience, however, there isn’t that much of a significant change between the number of women reading the magazine to the number of men reading the magazine. |