Question: Media products often challenge the social and cultural contexts in which they are created.

The women in general are dressed appropriately unless there is specific reason to not be. An example of this is the page of the plus size model, Megan, who is promoting body positivity. They present a radical representation of women in the sense that on the front cover, the woman is wearing natural makeup, unlike most magazine front covers where the woman is posed in a lot of makeup and displaying her body to attract the ‘male gaze’.

The front cover also entails words such as ‘power’, ‘hard-won’ and ‘strong’ which is oppositional to the ‘normal’ woman as it is stereotypically the men who are labelled as ‘strong’ and ‘powerful’ rather than women.

The woman on the front cover is being humanised rather than objectified which applies to Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze in the sense that it goes against her thesis and completely contradicts her ideas. The magazine doesn’t allow any application of the male gaze. The only thing that could be connected to ‘the male gaze’ is the fact that she is a female model who is the dominant signifier on the page and she is posing.

Links to Butler’s theory as it questions the belief that certain gendered behaviours are natural. She also created the theory of performance which links to this CSP in the way that the women in the magazine use their gender to feed the audience ideas about confidence and body positivity. It could be argued that these women could be over-exaggerating their beliefs to encourage others to agree with their optimistic view of life.

Oh Comely is owned by Iceberg press (Lisa Sykes) and was launched in 2010. It is a mindful magazine with a fresh perspective. It 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.

Typically, Women’s magazines often use content that focuses mainly on appearance, whether that be makeup, weight or clothes.

Owned by Iceberg Press – an independent media organisation that just has a few members of staff.

Front cover- woman dressed more conserved with a mid shot angle and short her contrasting to the stereotypical voyeurism presented when representing females in the media countering the male gaze, Laura Mulvey.

A syntagm of indexical signs throughout the words in conjunction with the picture not conveying to stereotypical portrayal of women convey a semantic field of strength and power, for example the adjectives “strong” and “wise” create a counterstereotype to the weak and vulnerable traditional representation that has been exploited throughout media.

Oh, Comely is an independent media organisation that targets affluent young women who wanted a “stylishly presented” alternative to the cheap aesthetic of mainstream magazines, the magazine explores things that conglomerates usually divert attention from, such as Gauntlets idea of identity such as some androgynous style choices on the front cover model, such as the clothing that doesn’t exploit the models body for sales and profit attracted by the male gaze.

The magazine includes a diverse range of religion, race and age: Gerbners theory on mainstreaming suggests the excessive consumption of media products the more you will conform to the medias ideologies, therefore by promoting a range of diversity throughout Oh Comely’s magazine’s they’re recreating the dominant reading (via theory of preferred reading by Stewart hall) that has been mass presented throughout media as reactionary stereotypes to create a common enemy in the media (common enemy via Habermas’s five filters of mass media). Gerbners can also be used to show representation throughout the magazine, he argues that nothing has a representation until the media represents it to try and create a fixed meaning to which the audience can argue against; for example people being perceived as trouble makers from repeated stereotypes of them represented in the media- we can see how Oh Comely tries to oppose the reactionary representations that have been displayed in the media and recreate them as strong. An example is page 15 where someone from Somalia wearing a headscarf (which is represented in western media as “terrorists”) is surrounded by a syntagm of signs such as the iconic signs of colour that have high connotations to positivity and a semantic field of strength through words such as “unstoppable force” and personal pronouns to extenuate her achievements to redesign the stereotype into a counterstereotype- a person of power and positivity. The capitalised “Sister” creates a group identity towards the target audience, a group- a sisterhood where readers come together and create.

“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.”

first published in 2010 with only 6 issues a year.

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:

Challenging social and cultural contexts:

• the woman throughout the magazine are presented in a radicle way it can be argued because they aren’t being sexualised as a way to sell the magazine (Mulvey)
• they are dressed in casual clothing and natural make up
• representation of plus size women with the article from Megan Jane Crabbe
• tires to push the idea that women can work in tech and be CEOs of companies in a patriarchal society.
• takes a radicle stance

Stuart Hall applied: article from Megan Jane Crabbe

dominant readings – agree with what she is saying and understand the importance of her message

negotiated readings – they may understand her message about body image but may have differing views on her argument and may disagree

oppositional readings – may completely disagree with what she is saying and not understand her message and why it is important.

Media Language
Semiotics: CS Peirce, Ferdinand De sassure, Roland Bathes
Narrative Genre: Steve Neale
Countertype

Media Representation
Feminist critical thinking
hall
bell hooks
Van zoonen

Media Industries
Niche audience
Small company

Media Audiences
Race
‘a genuinely alternative read for creative young women.’

Facts:

Average age of reader – 27 – with high disposable incomes (£5)
The final issue was released in September 2021
100k on social media
25k readers per issue
Owned by Iceberg Press – an independent media organisation that just has a few members of staff
The absence of men as part of the representation of masculinity in Oh Comely magazine.
Iceberg Press, a small London publisher which publishes only one other title.

Essay:

focus on creativity, environment

femininity

The first issue of Oh Comely was published in 2010

woman as artists, athletes, entrepreneurs

editor is Lisa Sykes-used to work for hearst Uk

front cover- comely: old word meaning attractive. model- little makeup, modest clothing, radical haircut.

Institution

the dominant signifier can be seen to be the target audience of the magazine, with minimal makeup and modest fashionable clothing it is implied to the viewer that this product doesn’t follow common print conventions which attempt to maximise sales while minimising risk, by not following this Oh! doesn’t follow David Hesmondalgh’s theory. David Hesmondalgh said big media companies and conglomerates use tactics in order to maximise sales while also minimising risk of loss of sales. link to uses and grats

Representation

By looking at the front cover and page 15 it is clear that the magazine does not align with Laura Mulvey’s theory of the ‘male gaze’. The ‘male gaze’ is when media products attempt to appeal to a heterosexual male’s perspective. On page 15 the viewer can see a mid shot of a woman wearing a hijab, hijabs are not massively represented within mainstream media but with use of the bright colour in the background it is clear Oh! is representing Fahma Mohamed in a positive light, the article gives an insight to her academic past and her successful career.

Audience

With use of the empowering symbolic signs spread throughout the magazine, seen on page 14 and the front cover. It’s clear, using Katz’s, Gurevitch’s and Haas’ theory of uses and gratifications Oh!’s readers may read the product for social needs such as confidence and self-esteem

1st page- speaking out, revolution

-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”

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. It describes itself:

“Oh Comely is a curious, honest and playful independent magazine. It’s a place to meet strangers, hear their stories and look at life a little differently – where our readers are our writers and our models, too.

“Each issue we pick a theme and see where it takes us. We try something old, something new and something that scares us a bit. Then we present our findings in a beautiful, artbook style, putting new writing, photography and illustration talent at the heart of it.”

There are many potential audience pleasures for Oh Comely readers. Applying Blumler & Katz’s Uses & Gratifications theory, three in particular would be:

Personal identity: Readers enjoy having their quirky, creative lifestyle and feminist viewpoint endorsed and reflected by the magazine.

Personal relationships: Oh Comely is presented in a particularly personal way. It is the creation of three university friends, the magazine offers background on the contributors and readers are encouraged to ‘get to know’ the editorial team.

Surveillance: Oh Comely deliberately looks to inform its readers about niche stories, events and

According to hall stereotypes are part of representation but Oh Comely overturns the usual stereotypes of females

Social and Cultural Contexts

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.

Comely Definition

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