-Owned by a small company called “IceBerg Press” which is only a small amount of staff running a full magazine. -The editor of “Oh! Comely” worked at Hearst as deputy editor of the “coast” magazine. -Sykes recalls. “We didn’t like the fact that print dying was becoming a self fulfilling prophecy” -The world of magazines has never been more vibrant and innovative, but you wouldn’t know it from the average newsstand today. From Iceberg Press website -Feminist Magazine
-The front covers words “Power”, “Strong” and “Hard-Won” gives a powerful representation of woman, feminist critical thinking. -The girl is wearing covering clothing and short hear, showing that she is not being sexualised and in fact is being displayed as her, not a body, as a human. -Lack of huge amount of makeup, making it more like she is being displayed for her and her humanity, rather than her “beauty”
Devoted to the artists, bands and outsiders that it loves, Oh Comely is peaceful and disarming, a magazine that wants you to take your time with it. The first issue of Oh Comely was published in 2010 and co-edited by Des Tan and Liz Bennett, with Rosanna Durham and Dani Lurie as art and music editors. Collectively the four worked as Adeline Media. Oh Comely publishes craft, DIY, creative non-fiction, photography and illustration, as well as reader submissions. In 2014, The Independent identified Oh Comely, alongside Delayed Gratification and Apartment, as part of a change in magazine publishing led by younger editors launching print titles for a generation of readers raised on digital media. Iceberg Press announced their purchase of Oh Comely from Adeline Media in 2016.
Lisa Sykes- “We didn’t like the fact that print dying was becoming a self fulfilling prophecy and we felt strongly there were plenty of people who want to read magazines if you made them worth the money.
Oh Comely owned by iceberg press, Lisa being the editor.
The magazine is represented as highly unconventional with the lack of sexualisation and presentation of women of being dominant and speaking out.
Radical representation of women in the media as on the front cover she is not over-sexualised. She is not wearing revealing/tight fitted clothing. Her make-up is light and very natural looking helping to create a humanising picture of a woman. her posture is slumped back and wide as she takes up space in the environment showing her confidence. Her hair is short which is counter typical for the stereotype of femininity. Links to Butler’s theory of gender as performance. She is not the stereotypical representation of women but rather shows some masculine features.
Encountering more diversity. Inclusion of women from different cultures and not shown in the stereotypical way. (poverty/terrorism) She is a campaigner fighting against FGM showing her as a strong independent woman. Capitalisation of the word “Sister” showing emphasis of how she wishes to unite women. Focusing on real world problems instead of common conversational topics such as fashion, cooking, cleaning, and weight gain/loss. Focusing of empowering women rather than gossiping.
Promoting body positivity and acceptance of all bodies. Counter typical to the common passive aggressive remarks which are often made towards women and their body changes. Creating emphasis around this as an inclusive magazine.
Industries:
Owned by Iceberg Press- Iceberg press set up Oh Comely in order to bridge the gap between the more mainstream magazines and the vibrant and innovative content of independent magazines. They are strictly print.
Independent media organisation
Only a few members of staff
The EDITOR, Lisa Skyes, spent further stints at Hearst Magazines UK, working as a deputy editor of coast magazine
Print Language: Her eyeline is directly at the audience, the picture is poised however it still has the quality of being candid. close up shot to draw audience to look at her face. Language used is unconventional for women and words normally associated with masculinity, e.g strong, mischief, revolution. Creating a sense of empowerment – linking with feminism. The Headline is “Oh comely” which is an old fashioned word meaning “attractive” this links into the classiness/elegance of women without sexualising them.
Representation:
Audience:
Social Media Reach: 100,000
Readers Per Issue: 25,000
Average Age of reader: 27
Sold through independents, WHSmith and international outlets
‘Oh is a reimagination of Oh Comely magazine and is still a place to meet new people, hear their stories and hopefully leave you looking at life a little differently. And every issue will still have beautiful photography and illustration at its heart’.
Female lifestyle magazine through the lens of a ‘strong feminist perspective’. On their instagram page, Oh Comely is described as an “indie mindful living mag with a fresh perspective”
Minimalist and simplistic style through publications.
Language
The adjective ‘comely’ means to be pretty/ attractive.
“admire, follow, and inspire your own reflection”
Diversity through representations of women. Moving away from stereotypes associated with certain ethnicities (Hall) and providing positive representations that are hardly focused on.
“Sister” – David Gauntlett, collective identity (sisterhood)
‘Speaking Out’ article – Follows the same structure for each story it focuses in on, perhaps this could singify the magazines importance on representation of equality and diversity throughout their issues.
Representation
A-typical representation of femininity. Often, women are objectified/ sexualised in print products. Through the anchorage (“power and poise” “hard-won” “strong”), the magazine challenges societal representations of females that present women as weak or passive. Radical representations which challenge mainstream media forms
Front Cover: Mid shot, muted colour palette, connection with nature? Even though she is wearing makeup, this is natural (juxtaposes the typical conventions of a front cover). Even though she is posing for the camera, she is not conforming to the male gaze because the image is not sexualised.
Masthead – Synthetic personalisation through the font which looks like cursive handwriting, implying that this magazine is handmade rather than a overly glossy, perfect production. Oh Comely is a place where many diverse voices are given a platform to share opinions.
Time of writing, during the 4th wave of feminism. This is when women were starting to hold the patriarchy accountable for misogyny and over-sexualised representation of femininity in the media.
Audience
Clearly, through their content, the magazine is trying to connect with a niche, feminist audience. The average demographic was females aged 27.
Perhaps, trying to project to such a narrow demographic, the magazine was not able to generate enough engagement, leading to it’s end.
Psychographics –
Industries
Oh Comely was founded in 2014 following the establishment of ‘Iceberg Press’ (a independent company created by 3 friends who left roles at “big media companies” to pursue a “better way” of creating magazines.
The last issue was produced in September 2021 before the company went out of business.
Each issue £5 each or a subscription (3 issues) for £14.
Iceberg Press produces The Simple Thing and Oh Comely
In an interview, editor Lisa Sykes said that “we (Iceberg press) didn’t like the fact that print dying was becoming a self fulfilling prophecy”
Clearly, Oh! magazine was for the continuation of print production, opposing the development of an “online world”
‘Oh is a reimagination of Oh Comely magazine and is still a place to meet new people, hear their stories and hopefully leave you looking at life a little differently. And every issue will still have beautiful photography and illustration at its heart’.
“published without the financial support of a large corporation or institution in which the makers control publication and distribution…“independent”
Iceberg Press: an independent publisher – Oh Comely and The Simple Things
Iceberg press set up Oh Comely in order to bridge the gap between the more mainstream magazines and the vibrant and innovative content of independent magazines
Iceberg Press (they are strictly print)
Average age of readers is 27, 98% young female readers
A high social class because the magazine is £5 which is quite expensive for a magazine
Sold through independents, WHSmith and international outlets
Oh Comely claims that their magazine ” is a breath of fresh air for a creative audience desperate to find something that speaks to them directly in an accessible, intelligent and interesting voice.”
Oh Comely is the work of Liz, Dani, Rosanna, Gemma and Beth
Launched 2010, September 10th
Social and Cultural implications
Oh Comely is part of a development in lifestyle and environmental movements of the early twenty first century which rebrand consumerism as an ethical movement. Its representation of femininity reflects an aspect of the feminist movement which celebrates authenticity and empowerment.
Media language
Semiotics – The dominant signifier in this image is very clear as we can see the female presented in the centre of the image in a medium shot suggesting that they are not sexualising her as she is wearing light make up and unrevealing clothes. This could suggest how the ideology of the world should function and women should be seen as powerful and be seen as leadership that would influence our behaviours and actions. The pose of the dominant signifier explains how the anchorage in this cover is the text based feature such as the header ‘oh comely’ which annotates the meaning of an attractive person.
Narrative and Genre
Steve Neal – He argues that genre is labelled and create a narrative image for a media product, as genre is presented to show pleasure to their audience. Steve Neal says that genre is crafted to create an appeal for specific audience segments. As we can see in ‘oh comely’ there is an iconography that refers to mise en scene expectations as well as camera and editing styles that convey their audience to worlds that are escapist. Audience’s gain enjoyment from identifying moments that de4epart from those expectations. Neale argues, provide moments of audience pleasure or deliver products that have unique selling points such as on page 57 there is a quote by ‘Amali De Alwis’ that says “why aren’t there more women in tech? It shouldn’t just be a boy’s club”, that suggests representational effects where genre might be recognisable through the application of gender specific representations.
Structuralism
Levi-Strauss – He suggests that humans naturally explain the world in terms of oppositions is a structuralist argument. He proposes how humans encode and decode the world using universally shared principles. He also says that genres and forms are popular within the contemporary media landscape explain how oh comely is targeting specific individuals by creating genre based oppositions that could lead to more profit.
Narratology
Todorov – He explains how narratives are significations even though the construction of that reality is symbolic – offering us a version of the world that is ordered by the ethical, moral or ideological viewpoints of text’s author. In ‘oh comely’ we can see many different ideological viewpoints of a varies of different women that have been portrayed to suggest the reality of narrative lies in the way that characters or the worlds inhabit are transformed at the end of a story.
Media Representation
Looking at the construction of being male and female. It is about civil rights and focused on issues of equality and discrimination.
Stuart Hall – Stereotypes are mostly found where there are huge social inequalities. They exclude and demonise groups in a manner that both reflects and reinforces social hierarchies. ‘Oh comely’ can be linked to this theorist as media representation focuses on power and they are trying to portray our views of the wider world where women can be given the opportunity to do many things rather than in the second wave feminism where civil rights where focused on issues on equality and discrimination.
Bell Hooks – His theory is to give a voice to invisible social groups where he wants to outline economic oppression that draws attention to the huge wealth gap that exists between privileged white groups and the rest of society as well as drawing attention to the privileges that economic power generates for those groups. This refers to ‘oh comely’ as they are seeking out audiences to construct positive as well as critical effects. They are creating social diversity and giving voice to the social groups that have been marginalised by white male power.
Judith Butler – Butler talks about how gender is not stable but is constructed through repeated actions that reinforce our identities. For example in ‘oh comely’ the act of wearing makeup is an illusion that we have a seamless and permanent male or female identity. Thinks leads on to the fact that behaviours work as learned micro performances and signal our identity to ourselves and to others.
Media Industries
Oh comely is an independent magazine published by Iceberg Press, a small London publisher which publishes only one other title. It is an independent media company, that suggests new technology that small companies can also use the internet to communicate and target audiences. Iceberg’s branding includes a commitment a print over other media forms.
Oh Comely magazine is a bi-monthly British magazine published by Pirates Ahoy! a subsidiary of Iceberg Press, publisher of The Simple Things magazine
The first issue of Oh Comely was published in 2010 and co-edited by Des Tan and Liz Bennett, with Rosanna Durham and Dani Lurie as art and music editors.
The CSP Oh Comely has changed its name to Oh. The update on the magazine’s website states: ‘Oh is a reimagination of Oh Comely magazine and is still a place to meet new people, hear their stories and hopefully leave you looking at life a little differently.
Oh Comely magazine is a niche women’s lifestyle publication with a strong feminist perspective. It launched in 2010 and publishes six issues a year
emphasis on inclusivity – representing femininity, multiple cultures
owned by Iceberg press – small company
focus on creativity and quirkiness
about accepting and celebrating your differences to others – rather than attempting to change them
minimalist style
launched in 2010
last issue – September 2021
bi-monthly British magazine
editor – Lisa Sykes
average age of readers – 27 years old
selling to higher social class – magazine costs £5
WHO
Iceberg press
SAYS WHAT
Oh Comely constructs a representation of femininity with its focus on creativity and quirkiness. The focus is on women as artists, entrepreneurs, athletes and musicians and female empowerment is a major theme. The absence of men as part of the representation of masculinity in Oh Comely magazine.
CHANNEL
print through lifestyle magazine
TO WHOM
affluent young women
WITH WHAT EFFECT
10,000 average buys per issue
(3,000 paid subscriptions)
Two step flow of communication
Oh Comely’s decision to represent lesser-known individuals means that the two step flow of communication is not as evident. With fans of Oh Comely having to actively seek the magazine out rather than buying because their favourite actor is featured.
Semiotics
Representation – diverse. Features various genders, races, sexualities, and skills.
Oh Comely magazine is a bi-monthly British magazine published by Pirates Ahoy! a subsidiary of Iceberg Press.
The first issue of Oh Comely was published in 2010 by Adeline Media.
Iceberg Press announced their purchase of Oh Comely from Adeline Media in 2016.
Iceberg Press is an independent publishing company originally set up by three friends who all worked together in a large magazine publishing company. They wanted to find a “better way to create and publish magazines – where the readers were as important as the advertisers, where the paper quality and design were valued and where the words and pictures weren’t always trying to sell stuff, didn’t portray perfection, didn’t tell people what to do and made them feel better, not worse.”
the averages age of 27 · 98% female readers ABC1 demographic
ABC1 – a consumer from one of the three higher social and economic groups, which consist of people who have more education and better-paid jobs than those in other groups:
Semiotics Dominant Signifier – (iconic) fashion model
Masthead – the adjective “comely” means attractive and pleasing, but it also denotes sophistication and conformity, becoming a celebration of feminine beauty without reducing women to objects used to satisfy the male gaze.
Narrative non-hegemonic model, anchored by power and poise
Challenging Social and Cultural Contexts
Many of the women featured within the magazine take a radical stance on the representation of women as they are not being sexualised and do not play into the male gaze.
