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Men’s Health essay plan

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Semiotics:

Dominant signfier – Vin Diesal

Dominant ideology – body image

Selective Representation – big, dominant, muscular (predominantly) white men

Iconic sign: The bold text tells you what you can find inside this magazine issue. It all relates to losing weight fast

Icon – picture of Vin Diesel

indexical signs: sweat = worked out

symbolic sign: The magazine’s colour theme is mostly blue which is seen as a stereotypical colour for men, influencing them to buy the magazine. Big bold texts all about losing weight “demolishing junk food cravings” and “Blast body fat”. The dominant signifier, Vin Diesel, is positioned in the middle showing off his muscles.

By choosing to represent big, dominant, muscular (predominantly) white men, Men’s Health has a reactionary representation. It adheres to the male gaze, and stereotypes people have. Vin Diesel is a pretty good representation of what society thinks men should look like… not what men actually look like. additionally, Vin Diesal’s ‘cool man’ persona (calm, in control, cool, strong) also plays into stereotypes of the way that men should act.

Use of capital letters – exclamation points – colours – dialogue “true grit” – all appeal to men

The use of the traditional boy colour, blue, further reinforces this.

Lasswell’s model applied to Men’s Health:

sender: Men’s Health is one of the largest health magazines on the market – directed at men – made by men for men

says what: wants to push healthy eating and gym workouts. It is aimed at men who want to gain muscle and lose fat.

what channel: through print – and also through the website (online)

to whom: Educated men with families, who spend big on travel, style, sports/gym, personal grooming, and live an active + adventurous life.

what effect: 9m print audience. 16.5 mill social followers.

89,000 average buys per issue

(66,000 paid subscriptions)

Two-step flow of communication

Vin Diesel is an opinion leader, who people actively follow. People will be more likely to buy certain products etc. if they know that an opinion leader such as Vin Diesel supports it.

Uses and Gratifications

Self-esteem – page 13 is aimed at improving readers’ self-esteem through getting back in shape and improving fashion style.

Men’s health is owned by Hearst (founded in 1887) who owns 40 different companies, making them a conglomerate.

Stuart hall

– Hall provides a framework for decoding messages:

1: Accept the dominant message

2: negotiate the dominant message

3: reject the dominant message

George Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory states that people who consume media often are more susceptible to the messages in said media

Two-step flow of communication

Vin Diesel is an opinion leader, who people actively follow. People will be more likely to buy certain products etc. if they know that an opinion leader such as Vin Diesel supports it.

Uses and Gratifications

Self-esteem – page 13 is aimed at improving readers’ self-esteem through getting back in shape and improving fashion style.

Essay draft

Men’s Health does not challenge the social and cultural contexts in which it was created. Instead, it takes a reactionary stance. This is telling when you look at the dominant signifier on the front page, Vin Diesel, who is standing in a dominant stance, which emphasises his size and muscle. Through choosing Vin Diesel as the face of their magazine, Men’s Health is subtly suggesting to its audience that he is the standard for what a man should look like and that all men should strive to be as strong, dominant, and muscular as him. The use of photoshop and Vin’s oiled-up muscles further accentuates this unrealistic body standard which is being set for men. One way they have altered the image is by clearly increasing the contrast, in an effort to further define his already-defined muscles. This is similar to the Score advert which also features this idea of a ‘perfect man’ who men strive to be like. This is a very common theme in media, which consistently uses ‘cool men’ such as James Bond, Don Draper, and Ryan Gosling as the standard for masculinity. These men are usually strong, confident, desirable, promiscuous, and cold, they never show their true emotions, and always act in a composed manner. These men usually tend to appeal more to the male gaze than the female gaze, as men are conditioned to believe that this is how they should look and act. Vin Diesel is another example of a ‘cool man’ with his large muscles and laid-back masculine persona. David Gauntlett refers to this as constructed identity. There are other examples of the ‘cool man’ on other pages of the magazine. For instance, on page 2-3 of the magazine, there is a double-page spread of an advert where a ‘cool man’ stands with a girl on his arm. His shirt is ripped to show off his muscles, and he is extremely tall, masculine, and handsome. Later in the magazine, Vin Diesel is shown in the editor’s letter, with the text “Diesel’s slant is one to aspire to” which again tells audiences that they should be like him. George Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory states that people who consume media often are more susceptible to the messages in said media, so Men’s Health showing Vin Diesel multiple times throughout the magazine and stating that he is “one to aspire to” sends the message to audiences that Vin Diesel is the standard for all men. The reason why Men’s Health seems to focus more on appealing to the male gaze rather than the female gaze is that the large majority of their audience are men, and more specifically, educated men with families, who spend big on travel, style, sports, and personal grooming. `These men also tend to live an active, adventurous life, with the majority playing sports. Further proof that the magazine is aimed at men, is the lack of sexualisation of Vin Diesel on the front cover. This is a common theme for all Men’s Health adverts, which put an emphasis on the men’s muscles rather than their sexual regions, with just 40% doing this. Compare this to Women’s Health, where 90% of front covers have an emphasis on their sexual regions. This suggests that both Men’s and Women’s Health have been created to adhere to the Male Gaze.

Exam Prep, Mens Health, Uncategorized

Men’s Health Essay Prep 2

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Institution

Owner – Hearst UK – 74% of the years circulation is physical print copies, whereas 26% is digital copies. A study showed that a lot of the people who buy the magazine are women – I think that this would be bought for men who would only read it if it was delivered, which shows the target audience of the product.

Alongside print copies of the magazine, Hearst have incorporated digital copies into their sales. This links to David Hesmondhalgh’s idea of the media industries as a “risky business” and this helps to mitigate that risk by appealing to a wider digital audience.

Language

Levi Strauss – Binary Oppositions – Link’s to Men’s health in that there is a clear disparity set in place between the Healthy/Unhealthy men (those who follow the guidance of the magazine and those who don’t).

Barthes – Stereotypical male representations in the magazine – men working out shows use of proairetic code to do with motion and movement. This serves to get the reader motivated for improving their own lifestyle.

Representation

Laura Mulvey talked about “The Male Gaze” which is a theory which relates to media products being produced to appeal to a heterosexual straight male’s viewpoint – PAGE 148 is an example of the male gaze as a strategy to appeal to the male audience. Shows women in the background, posed in a suggestive manner, of the dominant signifier – the man who’s wearing the Givenchy aftershave. This creates an unrealistic representation of reality for impressionable men reading the magazine.

Audience

Stuart Hall – Theory of preferred reading – accepting or rejecting the dominant reading – powerful media producers can enforce their opinions towards cultural minorities to spread their agenda. Men’s health – Some may accept the dominant reading of exaggerated physical features (as shown with the dominant signifier on page 18) and use it as motivation. However, some may reject this and see it as unrealistic expectations to compare themselves to and feel bad about. This also relates to Lazarfelt’s Two Step Flow model in that the message conveyed by Hearst through Men’s Health is subject to error or misinterpretation.

James Gerbner – Cultivation theory – the more we as an audience are shown a representation the more we associate it with reality and accept it. This suggests that the audience is passive and it will become mainstream in the media and among an audience. This links to Men’s Health in that, for example the front cover states tat men should “#Slay Winter Blues”. The use of a hashtag means that Hearst is trying to promote the spread of information around the product via social media. This viewpoint, combined with all the other comments on the front cover and inside the magazine with exaggerated physical features, has become a staple of the product and men working out to make them more confident and happy has become mainstream.

Exam Prep, Mens Health

Men’s Health Essay Prep

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Institution

Language

Representation

Laura Mulvey talked about “The Male Gaze” which is a theory which relates to media products being produced to appeal to a heterosexual straight male’s viewpoint – PAGE 148 is an example of the male gaze as a strategy to appeal to the male audience. Shows women in the background, posed in a suggestive manner, of the dominant signifier – the man who’s wearing the Givenchy aftershave. This creates an unrealistic representation of reality for impressionable men reading the magazine.

Audience

Stuart Hall – Theory of preferred reading – accepting or rejecting the dominant reading – powerful media producers can enforce their opinions towards cultural minorities to spread their agenda. Men’s health – Some may accept the dominant reading of exaggerated physical features (as shown with the dominant signifier on page 18) and use it as motivation. However, some may reject this and see it as unrealistic expectations to compare themselves to and feel bad about.

James Gerbner – Cultivation theory – the more we as an audience are shown a representation the more we associate it with reality and accept it. This suggests that the audience is passive and it will become mainstream in the media and among an audience.

Essays, Exam Prep

ESSAY NOTES

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Media Language
The magazine front cover and specified content should be analysed in terms of the composition of
the images, positioning, layout, typography, language

Key Notes:

dominant signifier – Vin diesel on the front cover of the magazine

dominant ideology – Body image

reactionary representation – A heterosexual man and what society expects on him.

negative stereotype – this creates a negative stereotype to men having to be seen as strong and loose weight

The blue background is associated with male stereotypes, a traditional boy colour

Laswell’s module:

Sender – Men’s health’s is one of the largest men’s magazine and is aimed mainly at “manly” men

Says What – The brand of the magazine called ‘Men’s Health’ aimed for active men who want a better control on their physique / appearance to impress society.

What Channel – Men’s health is a print lifestyle magazine and can also be accessed on their website and social media.

To Whom – Aimed at men who are ‘sporty’ or active. If a man wants motivation to get into shape then the magazine provides information on loosing weight to get that ‘perfect body’

What Effect – Selling the magazine to their target audience through shops, website or social media.

CS Peirce:

Iconic sign – The bold text tells you what you can find inside of this magazine issue. It all relates to loosing weight fast

Indexical signs – The only image is the dominant signifier placed right in the middle. The muscles relates to the text and the magazine.

Symbolic sign – The magazines colour theme is mostly blue which is seen as a stereotypical colour for men, influences them to buy the magazine. Big bold texts all about loosing weight “demolish junk food cravings” and “Blast body fat”. The dominant signifier, vin diesel, is positioned in the middle showing off his muscles.

Stuart hall – Hall provides a framework for decoding messages:

accept the dominant message
negotiate the dominant message
reject the dominant message

Laura Mulvey – The Male Gaze

PAGE 148 is an example of the male gaze as a strategy to appeal to the male audience. Shows women in the background of the dominant signifier, the man who’s wearing the Givenchy aftershave.

Steve Neale

What is the theory? Neale believes that films of a type (genre, like romance or horror) should include features that are similar, so the audience know it is a horror film or romance, but also include features that are different, to keep an audience interested. This is his theory of repetition and difference.

Narrative and Genre
Consider the way the front cover creates a narrative about character and lifestyle in order to
attract an audience

Lévi-Strauss – Binary Oppositions

Todorov – Stock Characters
Hero
Helper
Princess
Villain
Victim
Dispatcher
Father
False

Facts:

Men’s health magazine had an average monthly reach of around 1.8 million individuals in the UK between 2019 to 2020

The ages of people who buy this magazine between 2019 to 2020 were 15 years and above and could potentially be harmful for young teenagers because they feel this is how they should look like and that the magazine would help them with their goal to looking muscular.

The media chooses how people should look like. By adding a celebrity to the front page of their magazine it influences young people to buy and read it.

Mens health is owned by hearst who own 40 different companies founded in 1887.

Questions:

Essay:

In this essay I am going to discuss how print magazines have little appeal to the digital world, the CSP I will be talking about is men’s health. Men’s health is a magazine who is owned by Hearst who owns 40 different companies founded in 1887, making them a conglomerate. Men’s health, the print magazine rules out most of the potential audience due to the magazine being aimed mostly at Men who are trying to or are “professional men”. Some ways of identifying this is the dominant signifier, being Vin Diesel who is a famous celebrity and a reason for using him, is two things to make the appeal of magazines more significant, the first being is as he is a celebrity that will already increase the sales and minimize the risky business of owning a media company, another being that is can be seen as a sizeable man and creating a female gaze at the same time by being the cool man, he does this through showing no emotion with a cool stance and bulging muscles. Men’s health also tries to appeal to more audiences by it being a reactionary representation with society expecting a men’s health magazine to have a big strong man on it. However it can also have a negative stereotype and make people stray away from it by him suggesting the message that if you want to be a man you have to lose weight and been seen as strong.

I believe that Men’s Health does not challenge the social and cultural contexts in which they are created.

Postcolonialism is seen in Men’s health, this is seen with the dominant signifier on the first page being a white Caucasian male

Exam Prep, Revision

REVISION TABLE

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Theory/TheoristKnowledgeUnderstanding
Noam Chomsky– He wrote a book called ‘Manufacturing Consent’

– He said that the Media uses the so called ‘truth’ to persuade audiences to conform.

– He theorised the 5 Filters of Mass Media (propaganda model):

1. The role of advertising
2. Diversion (Flak)
3. Structures of ownership
4. Finding a common enemy
5. Links with the establishment.

– He theorised the idea that the government/ those in power are hand in hand with the media. 		– ‘Manufacturing consent’ encapsulates the idea that The Media needs to gain audience approval – The media uses audiences as a product for advertising.

– Often, the Media tries to find a common enemy that they can make out to be ‘bad.’ This could be: terrorism, capitalism, other cultures that we aren’t accustomed to. They use this tactic to divert audience attention away from the real problem, the spread of untruth’s and the fact that the media isn’t a “window into the world”, it is tainted by opinion and corruption.
Jurgen Habermas – Transformation of the public sphere
– Public vs Private sphere
– The Printing Press enabled one place that a different range of opinions and stories could be published at once.
– “Arena of public debate” – creating a ‘public opinion’
– Discussion vs Directorial
– Libertarian vs Authoritarian
– Free vs Slave
– He expresses his idea that “once the media is subject to regulation,” the public will lose their ability to share opinion in a public domain. 		– Libertarian is the idea that society shouldn’t be governed by dictatorship. The public should be allowed to dictate their own existence.

– Authoritarian is the idea that society should be controlled by those in power, everyone should be told what to do.

-Habermas’ ideas are fundamental to a society that is inclusive of all opinions.
James Curran – The role of public service broadcasting is to ‘diversify voices’ and create a wide range of programming to cater for age ranges, genders, different personalities.

– Regulation of the free press.
(LIBERAL FREE PRESS)
– Diversity: Ownership, industry etc.
– Role of the media -their power/ authority and influence on society.
David Gauntlett Gauntlett suggests that identity is nonlinear. It is non-binary/objective.

– Fluidity of Identity = The idea that identity is a changeable, unstable concept that is ever adapting based on experience and influence.

– Negotiated Identity = The ‘middle ground’ in which we find a balance within our identities. How can we display our self expression whilst also complying to societal norms.

– Collective Identity = The idea that groups of people who share interests or similar personalities are given a ‘stereotypical’ identity to typecast them into a category.

– Constructed Identity 		– He says that we live in a “post-traditional society” – Non binary existence Is becoming more of a normality.

Negotiated Identity is how we change/ adapt our identities based on the different situations we find ourselves in (who we are with, what we are doing, where we are etc.)

Semiotics– Sign
– Code
– Convention
– Dominant Signifier
– Anchorage
CS Pierce– Symbolic sign (Arbitrary/random)
– Indexical sign
– Iconic sign 		CS Pierce defines the difference between the different types of signs.
He says that a Iconic Sign has a physical resemblance to the object it is representing. A symbol has a random/arbitrary link to what it is trying to represent. It is a mutually agreed meaning eg. the fact that the colour blue relates to boys and pink relates to girls.

An indexical sign is one that codes for something else. They infer something relating to what is being represented eg. ‘smoke infers fire.’
Ferdinand Saussure – Signifier
– Signified
Roland Barthes– Signification
– Denotation
– Connotation
– Myth
– Ideology
– Radical
– Reactionary
– Paradigm
– Syntygm
Harold Laswell – Wrote a novel called the ‘Propaganda Technique in The World War’

– He created the Linear Communication in 1948. He breaks down this line of communication by identifying: (SENDER, MESSAGE, MEDIUM, RECIEVER, FEEDBACK)

Connection between the message sent –> message received.

Passive Audience – Laswell wrote around the time of the first world war and looked at propaganda/brainwashing/ how audiences don’t challenge or think about what they engage with.
– This can be described as a ‘HYPODERMIC MODEL OF MEDIA EFFECT’

‘Hypodermic Needle Theory‘– The idea that passive audiences are influenced by the media. They are ‘knocked into submission’ by the injection of the media. When audiences are being ‘injected’ with media, they are ‘knocked into submission’ and assimilate along with the messages promoted by the media.
Paul LazarfeldHe criticized Laswell’s model, saying that it was too simple and didn’t factor in the different ways messages can be interrupted whilst being ‘sent.’ Rather than looking at the ‘passive’ audience he looks at the ‘active’ audience (how audiences control how they think about what they consume).

Martin Moore: “people’s political views are not, as contemporaries thought, much changed by what they read or heard in the media.”

He theorises how those who influence us in daily life (parents, friends, teachers etc) can take the media and create their own perceptions. This makes this line of communication subject to bias, interpretation, rejection, amplification, support and change

– He created the ‘Two Step Flow Model’ in 1948.
Step 1: The media feeds messages to ‘opinion leaders’
Step 2: Opinion leaders influence the ‘masses’ with these messages.
Uses and GratificationsElihu Katz looks at the decision making process that audience go through.
He questions: “What do people do with media?” and “What does the media do to people?”

Audiences are becoming more active. Individuals choose what they consume based off of their interests and what they hope to gain from it.

He defines the different pleasures that media audiences try to extract from the content they engage with:

1. Information / education
2. Empathy and identity
3. Social interaction
4. Entertainment
5. Escapism
Shannon and WeaverNOISE, ERROR, ENCODING and FEEDBACK.
Exam Prep, Magazines, Mens Health, Notes

CSP 11&12: Men’s Health & Oh Comely!

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Men’s Health – Jan/Feb 2017

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is mens-health-contents-page.jpg
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is mens-health-article.jpg
LANGUAGESEMIOTICS
Dominant signifier: Vin Diesel – ready made audience, attracts fans
reactionary/stereotypical representation of a man: dominant stance, muscles on show,
symbolic sign, blue and black font: colour associated with male gender, connotes to manliness, signifies topic of magazine genre
anchorage indexical signs, headlines about losing weight, going to the gym, dieting etc…: highlights conventional elements of what it is to be ‘manly’, also provides anchorage as to what is in the magazine, attracting implied audience
genre is lifestyle magazine (aimed at men’s lifestyle) – all paradigm of signs which connote to the idea of manliness/masculinity – fulfilling genre expectations according to Neale ( genre is structured around a repertoire of elements,  which attracts audience based on their predictable expectations)
indexical signs ‘burn’, ‘blast’, ‘demolish’, ‘slay’, ‘wage war’: semantic field of aggression/violence
symbolic sign, big bold font: signifies aggression and masculinity

NEALE
He argues genre is is a mechanism which attracts audience based on their predictable expectations
He suggests that each genre is structured around a repertoire of elements, which fulfil an audiences expectation of a film and creating enjoyment
MH is a lifestyle magazine directed at men
conventional elements of the genre include: working out tips (28-29), healthy recipes(32-33), tips on grooming (44), etc…
these elements attract the target audience – a male audience interested in improving their lifestyle
REPRESENTATIONThe School of Life present a video called ‘How to be a Man’ – this presents the ‘cool’ man, and the ‘warm’ man. whilst this is not an academic theory, it is still possible to apply these representations in Men’s health:
‘Meet the men traversing war-torn Israel by bike on an epic three day endurance’ – portrays cool man

GAUNTLETT
suggests that identity is not fixed – instead is fluid, constructed, negotiated and/or collective
MH different versions of masculinity are presented:
– front cover shows stereotypical alpha male
– page 6-7 shows stereotypical classy businessman
– page 130-131 shows active/athletic/adventurous man
– page 101 shows the unconventional older runner
by using multiple representations MH can appeal to multiple audiences at once

BUTLER
claims that gender is stylised by a series of repetitional acts
there are stereotypical acts which make you female – wearing makeup – and stereotypical acts which make you male – playing football – and by repeating these acts on a regular basis you can construct your gender identity
MH clearly presents a stereotypical masculine identity through the ideas it represents
– front cover depicts stereotypical muscley alpha male who
– pg 6 depicts stereotypical hardworking/punctual businessman
– pg 128 depicts stereotypical adventurous/risk-taker male
this allows the magazine to feel relatable for other stereotypical male readers

GILROY
claims that colonialism is still present in media today through lack of representation of ethnic minorities
whilst MH doesn’t directly marginalise these minorities, their lack of representation of them highlights a post-colonialist ideology as it implies that the ethnic majority are more worthy and significant
there are some representations of the black community etc – eg page 25
however most representations are focused primarily on the white community – eg page 2, 6, 18,
therefore creates a misrepresentation which does not embrace other ethnicities
AUDIENCELASSWELL
hypodermic needle theory/linear model of communication
passive consumption
receiver simply accepting a message being given to them, rather than engage with it
SENDER: Hearst communications/Mens Health
MESSAGE: providing men with the tools to improve and control over their physical, mental, and emotional lives
MEDIUM: print/online lifestyle magazine
RECIEVER: men wanting to improve their lives, women buying for husbands/boyfriends etc…
EFFECT: to buy the magazine and make money for Hearst

LAZERFELD
two step flow of communication
active consumption
media messages are  filtered through influential opinion leaders who interpret a message first and then relay it back to the mass audiences
Vin Diesel acts as the opinion leader, promoting the magazine and the ideas being portrayed – getting healthy, getting fit, improving life – to make people want to buy the magazine and make Hearst money. people are more likely to buy the magazine if someone they look up to promotes it

MCQUAIL AND BLUMLER
uses and gratifications
active selection
 recognises the decision making process the audience take, highlighting how they seeking specific uses and gratifications when consuming media
audience may want to EDUCATE themselves on how to get fitter/healthier/better their lives
audience may want to IDENTIFY with ideas presented top them or seek a new IDENTITY – a healthier identity
audience may want to be ENTERTAINED by the magazine through interviews etc
INDUSTRYstarted in 1986 by Mark Bricklin
largest men’s magazine brand – 35 editions in 59 countries, best selling men’s magazine on US newsstands
quarterly magazine
1988 began selling subscriptions
consumer magazine – general men’s lifestyle

won both  Editor’s Choice and Reader’s Choice for the 2016 Hot List

average circulation per issue: 89,811, 74% from paid subscriptions (dec 2021)
Men’s Health magazine had an average monthly reach of around 1.8 million individuals in the United Kingdom from April 2019 to March 2020
between Nov 2021 and Feb 2022: 9M print audience, 16.5M social media followers
average reader is male with a media age of 44.7 and an income of over $92,000

result of rise in digital media:  circulation high of 228,000 in 2008, dropped to 160,000 in 2016
adapted through introducing online version and social media – 4.5m twitter followers (oct 2022)

Women’s Health was founded in 2005 as a branch of Men’s Health
currently has a higher circulation than Men’s Health – 96,350, (dec 2021)

in 2018 – owned by global publishing conglomerate HEARST UK – bases in NYC, ownes newspapers, magazines, TV channels, Tv stations, owns 50% of the A&E Networks cable network group and 20% of the sports cable network group ESPN, both in partnership with The Walt Disney Company
Hearst UK brands reach 30% of UK men and 25% of UK women
They sell over 4m magazines a month and have 17m UK digital unique users
2016, revenue $10.8B
publishes over 20 magazine titles: Cosmo, Elle
Hearst describe the brand as a “lifestyle manual for modern men”

HESMONDHALGH
claims the ‘cultural industries are a risky business’ – audiences tastes are continuously adapting making predicting their needs very difficult
to avoid this risk he claims major cultural organisations create products for different industries in order to maximise chances of commercial success – evident with regards to Hearst as they own multiple companies in multiple sectors – of one fails, they will still have other assets
star formatting is another way of reducing risk as it attracts a ready made audience – evident through the use of Vin Diesel on the front cover and a 6 page article about him – fans of diesel will be urged to buy the magazine

CURRAN & SEATON
highlights how the media landscape has fallen under the control of a small amount of global media conglomerates and how this type of ownership creates a lack of diversity for audience consumption
MH health is owned by global media conglomerate Hearst who owns 20+ magazine titles
arguable to maximise profits
however creates lack of diversity for audience as all names are owned by the same company, representing the same ideas
CONTEXTimpact of digital media on magazine industry:
Print sales fell by 42% from 23.8m to 13.9m between 2010 and 2017. 
Back in 2000, sales were over 30m – signalling a 55% decline in just 17 years.
Advertising in consumer magazines has fallen from £512m in 2010 to £250m in 2017. 
Google and Facebook now dominate online advertising (they account for 65% of the UK digital ad market).
As a result of these changes, many magazines have closed.

In a digital world, print magazines have little appeal.
To what extent do you agree with this statement?
You should refer to the magazine Men’s Health

  • ownership of MH – hearst, owns 20+ mag labels
  • average reader of MH – male, 45, $92,000+
  • circulation and drop in circulation since digital world – dropped by 68,000 in 2016
  • drop in circulation in mag industry as a whole – sales fell by 42% between 2010 and 2017
  • how they combat the drop in demand for print – interactive website and social media, appeals to contemporary audiences
  • hesmondhalgh – Hearst as they own multiple companies in multiple sectors – of one fails, they will still have other assets, 20+ magazines and owns 50% of A&E Networks
  • —————————————————————————————————–
  • Neale – genre is used to attract and maintain audience – lifestyle mag working out tips (28-29), healthy recipes(32-33), tips on grooming (44) – fulfilling audiences expectations
  • links to Blumler’s uses and gratifications – people read the magazine to seek education and identity
  • —————————————————————————————————–
  • Gilroy postcolonialism – post colonial ideology is still present in modern representations – whilst does not marginalise ethnic minorities there is certainly a lack of them – creates mis represntation
  • links to halls reception theory -audience will decode messages people of ehtnic majority will have a dominant response where as those in the ehtnic minorty will have an oppositional response possible effecting readership and sales

Oh Comely – Issue 35

LANGAUGEfront cover:
indexical signs:
‘Comely’ – attractive but not in a de-humanising way
‘power…poise…hard-won…strong’ – unconventional way to represent women
dominant signifier:
close up – unconventional way to represent women, less of a focus on her body, humanising rather then dehumanising
androgynous/natural looking – rather than heavy makeup and glamourous clothing
gazing directly at the reader – sense of power

PG 52, 53
‘fierce campaign’…’an unstoppable force’…’a Sister of which we can be collectively proud’

NEALE
He argues genre is is a mechanism which attracts audience based on their predictable expectations
He suggests that each genre is structured around a repertoire of elements, which fulfil an audience’s expectation of a film and creating enjoyment
Oh! is a female lifestyle magazine aimed at women, however, is more unconventional; instead of portraying glamour, diet tips, fashion, makeup it focuses on the underrepresented aspects of female identity such as feminism, gender, body positivity, ethnic minorities
REPRESENTATIONHOOKS
intersectionality – draws attention to lack of female representation in media and more specifically representation of black women, this could create misrepresentations of the black community or other ethnic minorities, as if they are not worthy of note
Oh! does represent the black community on pg56 – Deanna Rodger a Jamaican-Scottish Brit is
indexical signs ‘fearless’ and ‘mentor’
portrayed as powerful – radical representation of women

ZOONEN
feminist theory – suggests the over sexualised presentation of female’s bodies in media is a core element of western patriarchal culture, this creates a misrepresentation of how women portray themselves as she argues it is the media where people get most ideas about gender
Oh! contradicts this theory as the front cover portrays a woman who is presented as more androgenous, wearing subtle, natural makeup, who lacks any element of sexualisation
she is also gazing directly as the camera, rather than the camera ‘gazing’ at her
she is portrayed as powerful and more than just her body – unconventional way to represent women

GAUNTLETT
identity – suggests identity is not fixed and instead is constructed, fluid, negotiated, collective, people make individual decisions about who they are, media heavily affects this
Oh! presents many different identities for people to construct, negotiate, collect, adapt: the female Somali activist, the Jamaican-Scottish poet, the plus size body positivity blogger, former refugee, the women in the tech industry,
AUDIENCEeditorial staff listen to suggestions posted online
“We have made a lot more of an effort with diversity in the magazine because we have quite a lot of readers in the aftermath of BLM demonstrations raising that with us,” says Sykes. “It’s so important to listen to the recommendations of your readers.”
 targeted affluent young women who wanted a “stylishly presented” alternative to the cheap aesthetic of mainstream magazines
average reader, age 27, female (98%),

HALL
reception theory – media producers encode specific messages in product in hopes of audience decoding the message
have the intention of the audience absorbing/accepting a specific idea
Oh! represents many different people of many different backgrounds and ethnicities
Preferred reading – females, the ethnic minorities who are not typically represented in media

MCQUAIL AND BLUMLER
uses and gratifications – recognises the decision making process of theory audience, highlighting how they seeking specific uses and gratifications when consuming media
audience may seek to EDUCATE themselves on the type of issues portrayed EG – body positivity (55), refugee crisis (56), female right exploitation (53) and how all of these issues are being battled
audience may seek to gain or explore personal identity EG – becoming more body confident (55), gender (101-105)
INDUSTRYwomen’s lifestyle magazine –  a “mindful magazine with a fresh perspective”
published by Iceberg press, independent publishing company – ‘Iceberg exists to do things differently’
make two magazines – The Simple Things and Oh Comely – and also sell many other magazines via Pics & Link (online news stand)
clever use of its digital resources – eclectic blog on The Simple Things website, newsletter, social media
Pics & Ink grew during lockdown by 500 per cent, with 150 magazines, covering everything from coffee to cycling, now on board
during lockdown there was a demand for niche magazines
 £5 in a few newsagents, independent retailers, cafes and museums
also a subscription service available – £14 for six months (3 issues)
the magazine was impacted by the pandemic and the final issue was published in September 2021

HESMONDHALGH
claims the ‘cultural industries are a risky business’ – audiences tastes are continuously adapting making predicting their needs very difficult
to avoid this risk he claims major cultural organisations create products for different industries in order to maximise chances of commercial success – evident with regards to Hearst as they own multiple companies in multiple sectors – if one fails, they will still have other assets
evident in Oh! as being owned by an independent company who does not own a large portion of media products meant that the magazine went out of business in 2019

CURRAN & SEATON
concerns how the media landscape has fallen under the control of a handful of global media conglomerates – creates a lack of diversity
contrastingly, Oh! is owned by an independent company which only creates one other magazine
meaning the magazine has the space to be as diverse as possible, as in its ideologies/representations etc wont blend in with other magazines
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXTS 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 products often challenge the social and cultural contexts in which they are created.
To what extent does an analysis of Oh Comely support this view?

  • Oh! challenges the social and cultural contexts which it is created in – it is unconventional in its productions process, genre, and representations
  • —————————————————————————————————–
  • Unconventional magazine in its production – independent company Iceberg Press, contrasting C&S’s belief that the media landscape has fallen under the control of a handful of global media conglomerates, creating a lack of diversity – IP only produce two magazines giving them the aptitude be as diverse and unique as possible
  • —————————————————————————————————–
  • unconventional of its genre – NEALE – female lifestyle magazine ‘mindful magazine with a fresh perspective, instead of presenting ideas about fashion, diets, unattainable beauty etc it focuses on feminism (53), politics (56), gender(101-105), body positivity (55)
  • links to MCQ&B – audience may seek to EDUCATE themselves on the type of issues portrayed or audience may seek to gain or explore personal identity
  • —————————————————————————————————–
  • unconventional in the way it represents female beauty – VAN ZOONEN – front cover portrays the dominant signifier – a woman -who is presented as more androgynous, wearing subtle, natural makeup, who lacks any element of sexualisation she is also gazing directly as the camera, rather than the camera ‘gazing’ at her, she is portrayed as powerful and more than just her body – challenges mainstream beauty ideals
  • unconventional in the way it represents ethnic minorities – HOOKS – Samali feminist activist (53), described as ‘fierce’ and an ‘unstoppable’ force’, represents a female member of the black community challenges social and cultural expectations of women as emotional and passive, instead she is portrayed as powerful
  • —————————————————————————————————–
  • links to to Hall – by creating representations of women that are closer to reality audiences can understand themselves more – eg pg101-5 – dominant reading – transgender people may feel empowered by this representation, negotiated reading – people comfortable in their biological gender cannot relate to their experience but can appreciate it
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Command Words

  • Describe – to say or write what someone or something is like
  • Compare – to find difference between two things
  • Evaluate – to come to a conclusion and give evidence
  • Analyse – to pick out key things and explain why
  • Knowledge – would be an outline of an idea or concept
  • Understanding – to be able to apply knowledge to different situations
What do you know aboutWhat does it mean to you? How do you understand it and put their ideas to CSPs?
Noam Chomsky The five filters are: (1) ownership; (2) advertising; (3) official sources; (4) flak; and (5) marginalizing dissent. The author discusses the applicability of Herman’s and Chomsky’s propaganda model today.
James Curran Curran and Seaton – power and media industries theory. Definition from OCR. A political economy approach to the media – arguing that patterns of ownership and control are the most significant factors in how the media operate.
Jean Seaton
Habermas
Lasswellpassive consumption model, (who says what, though what channel, to whom, with what effect) To apply it to the passive people to get money from advertisement to encourage people
Lazarfield filtered through influential opinion leaders who interpret a message.
He created the ‘Two Step Flow Model’
Step 1: The media feeds messages to ‘opinion leaders’
Step 2: Opinion leaders influence the ‘masses’ with these messages.		People actively seek out information. links to men’s health by using opinion leaders for example using the household name ‘vin diesel’ on the front cover page to entice his audience in as well as men’s health buyers.
Uses and gratificationsHe defines the different pleasures that media people get from the content they engage with:

1. Information / education
2. Empathy and identity
3. Social interaction
4. Entertainment
5. Escapism		Men’s health
Stuart Hall Hall’s work covers issues of hegemony and cultural studies
Hall became one of the main proponents of reception theory, and developed Hall’s Theory of encoding and decoding
George Gerbner Cultivation theory is a sociological and communications framework to examine the lasting effects of media, primarily television

Mainstreaming – the excessive consumption of media products that more will conform to the medias ideologies eg men’s health 		In a similar vein, the cultivation framework has been applied to the study of body image effects on social media platforms, with research indicating that browsing through certain types of content relates to distorted views on the physical appearances of strangers.
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Command Words

Describe – Give a definition of an idea but not explaining why it is so

Compare – Describe two different ideas and give similarities and differences

Evaluate – Describe the benefits and drawbacks of ideas and give an opinion on which is better and why, with evidence to support it.

Analyse – Examine an idea closely in order to get an accurate explanation or interpretation about it

Knowledge – The ability to recall something and the obtaining of information.

Understanding – Achieving a deeper way of thinking about knowledge and being able to apply and form opinions about it.

What do I knowSo what?
Noam Chomsky5 Filters – 1. media ownership,
2. role of advertising,
3. official sources, 4. flak,
5. common enemy 		CSP Daily Mail – Has a kind of pre established viewpoint towards royalty and money. Lara Croft also has this in that patriarchy is prioritised.
Curran and SeatonDescribed how regulations can be weaved by big companies, and how media is only produced by a small number of powerful conglomerates who control it. Talks about how big companies are all about profit and power and will create repetitive products to ensure this.Blinded by the light – wasn’t part of this.
Daily mail contains lots of similar stories each day, often focused around celebrity news, death and sadness, and crime.
Jurgen HabermasCame up with the transformation of the public sphere. He argued that as newspapers grew and other media forms came to fruition society moved away from a representational culture, where the audience is passive and just consumes ideas. This transitioned to a society where ideas are exchanged and shared with both parties being able to form their own thoughts and opinions.Newspapers – They help to bridge the gap between the public and private spheres and so hold people to account.
Semiotics
LasswellHypodermic Needle model – audience are passive, not active and are taking messages in without hinking about them themselves. Wrote a book about communication during World War One called ‘Propaganda Technique in The World War’.World War One book was around all the propaganda present in the war in order to get people to enlist in the war.
Stuart HallSuggests that messages are encoded and decoded. He calls this the THEORY OF PREFERRED READING and puts forward the argument that audiences accept, reject or are in between when looking at the dominant reading of a text.
Powerful media producers are capable and do enforce their opinions towards cultural minorities, and represent them in demeaning ways to spread their agenda through the media. This can create flawed and untrue understanding towards these groups.		When applied to Men’s Health, many readers could accept the idea the producers were going for, and embrace the dominant reading of exaggerated physical features of the models and athletes, presented as motivation to improve themselves. On the other hand, the audience could take this the wrong way (an oppositional reading) and feel bad about themselves as they are forced to compare to unrealistic expectations.
George GerbnerCame up with cultivation theory – television shapes the way individuals within society think and relate to each other. Mainstreaming – audience is passive so they will eventually come to accept misinterpretations as reality.Men’s Health – The reality proposed is that all men should look like they do in the magazine.
Postcolonialism
Narrative TheoriesTodorov (Beginning Middle and End)
Levi-Strauss (Binary Oppositions)
Propp (Stock characters)
Freytag’s Pyramid
Chatman (Kernels, satellites, non-sequitars)
Barthes (Proairetic, hermenuetic, enigma code)		Todorov – Ghost Town – Through the tunnel in chronological order
Levi – Strauss – Letter to the Free – Black/White
GenreSteve Neale – Corpus/repertoire of elements.
Reactionary or innovative ideas for each genre.
Sub genres.		Innovative ideas – Maybelline – Male models
Industry/Institutional VocabularyMergers
Conglomerate
Horizontal Integration
Vertical Integration
Free Market
Gatekeeping
Commodification
Regulation
Production
Distribution
Exhibition
Globalisation
Hesmondhalgh – “Risky Business”		Blinded by the Light:
Globalisation – US/UK Co-Production
Production – Uses Bruce Springsteen music
PSB (Public Service Broadcasting)Public Service Broadcasting refers to broadcasting given to the public for entertainment or information free of charge, and is not created to make profits.
Curran and Seaton – “the media is controlled by a small number of companies that make products to create profit”.		Capital is a public service broadcasting program from the BBC that satisfies the ethos being to inform, educate and entertain.
David GauntlettFluidity of Identity
Negotiated Identity
Constructive Identity
Collective Identity		Fluidity of Identity – The idea that identity can change over time due to changes in circumstances.
Constructed Identity – The process of people developing certain ideas about themselves and their identity based on their experiences.
Negotiated Identity – The idea that many people can discuss and have different views about someone’s identity, and communicate this to change views.
Collective Identity – The idea that people are grouped into certain stereotypes.

In relation to Men’s Health we can see that there is a collective identity of men being powerful and muscular.
Paul LazarfeltPaul Lazarfelt developed the Two Step Flow model of communication in 1948.
This suggested that messages are subject to noise, error, and feedback when being sent to others, unlike the Hypodermic needle model.
This theory suggests that the audience are ACTIVE NOT PASSIVE, in that audience consumption is based on consideration of what others think not a PASSIVE process of unthinking.
Uses and GratificationsThis theory recognises the decision making processes of the audience themselves.
Individuals sought out particular pleasures from media texts, which can be categorised as:
information / education
empathy and identity
social interaction
entertainment
escapism
Made by Haas, Mcquail.		Men’s Health – Understanding self – By reading the magazine you might discover that you really like getting fit. Also, you could gain confidence and self esteem through getting fit and doing the things the magazines recommend, or by looking at the opinion leaders as role models.

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LANGUAGE

SEMIOTICS
Sausser
SEMIOTICS
Barthes		The idea that texts communicate their meanings through a process of signification

The idea that signs can function at the level of denotation, which involves the ‘literal’ or common-sense meaning of the sign, and at the level of connotation, which involves the meanings associated with or suggested by the sign
SEMIOTICS
C. S. Pierce
SEMIOTICS
Baudrillard		in postmodern culture the boundaries between the ‘real’ world and the world of the media have collapsed and that it is no longer possible to distinguish between reality and simulation.

The idea that in a postmodern age of simulacra we are immersed in a world of images which no longer refer to anything ‘real’.

The idea that media images have come to seem more ‘real’ than the reality they supposedly represent (hyperreality)		SIMS
NARRATIVE
Todorov		Tripartite narrative structure
begining/middle/end
equilibrium/disruption/new equilibrium

The idea that all narratives share a basic structure that involves a movement from one state of equilibrium to another

The idea that these two states of equilibrium are separated by a period of imbalance or disequilibrium

The idea that the way in which narratives are resolved can have particular ideological significance		NO OFFENCE
THE KILLING
METROID
TOMB RAIDER
MENS
OH!
NARRATIVE
Freytag
NARRATIVE
Bathes
NARRATIVE
Chatman
NARRATIVE
Propp
NARRATIVE
Levi-Strauss		The idea that texts can best be understood through an examination of their underlying structure

The idea that meaning is dependent upon (and produced through) pairs of oppositions – binary opposition drives the narrative

The idea that the way in which these binary oppositions are resolved can have particular ideological significance		METROID
TOMB RAIDER
MENS
OH!
GENRE
Neale		genre as audience recognition

genre is a mechanism which attracts audience as it is structured around a repertoire of elements

genres change as society changes		NO OFFENCE
THE KILLING
METROID
TOMB RAIDER
MENS
OH!
GENRE
Schatz		most films fit into one of two genres:
Genres of Order – western, gangsta, sci-fi
Genres of Integration – musicals, comedy, romance

REPRESENTATION

IDENTITY
Gauntlett		The idea that the media provide us with ‘tools’ or resources that we use to construct our identities.

The idea that whilst in the past the media tended to convey singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of male and female identities, the media today offer us a more diverse range of stars, icons and characters from whom we may pick and mix different ideas

Fluid – identity which has the potential to change
Negotiated – the process of people coming to an agreement about their identity and other peoples identities
Constructed – identity that has been built upon experiences and influences
Collective- identity you gain from being part of a group

suggests gender is fluid and ever changing 		SIMS
IDENTITY
Hall		The idea that representation is the production of    meaning through language, with language defined in its broadest sense as a system of signs

The idea that the relationship between concepts and signs is governed by codes

The idea that stereotyping, as a form of representation, reduces people to a few simple characteristics or traits

The idea that stereotyping tends to occur where there are inequalities of power, as subordinate or excluded groups are constructed as different or ‘other’ (e.g. through     ethnocentrism)

those to represent the media to us give their insight/view on the subject and therefore we learn more about them, than the subject

different representations cause different effects		NO OFFENCE
THE KILLING
TEEN VOGUE
THE VOICE
METROID
TOMB RAIDER
SIMS
MENS
OH!
FEMINIST
Mulvey
FEMINIST
Butler		The idea that identity is performatively constructed by the very ‘expressions’ that are said to be its results (it is manufactured through a set of acts).

the idea that there is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender.

The idea that performativity is not a singular act, but a repetition and a ritual

 Gender is a social construct		METROID
TOMB RAIDER
MENS
OH!
FEMINIST
van Zoonen
gender is constructed through discourse,   and that its meaning varies according to cultural and historical context.

The idea that the display of women’s bodies as objects to be looked at is a core element of western patriarchal culture.

the idea that in mainstream culture the visual and narrative codes that are used to construct the male body as spectacle differ from those used to objectify the female.		THE KILLING
METROID
TOMB RAIDER
SIMS
MENS
OH!
FEMINIST
hooks		The idea that feminism is a struggle to end sexist/patriarchal oppression and the ideology of domination.

The idea that feminism is a political commitment rather than a lifestyle choice. >The idea that race and class as well as sex determine the extent to which individuals are exploited, discrimination against or oppressed		THE KILLING
POST COLONIALISM
Gilroy		 The idea that colonial discourses continue to inform contemporary attitudes to race and ethnicity in the postcolonial era.

The idea that civilisationism constructs racial hierarchies and sets up binary oppositions based on notions of otherness.		SIMS
POST COLONIALISM
Lacan
POST COLONIALISM
Said

AUDIENCE

Lasswellhypodermic needle theory

passive consumption

Lasswells linear model of communication: sender, message, medium, reciever, effect

involves a receiver simply accepting a message being given to them, rather than engage with it

Propaganda Technique in the World War which highlighted the brew of ‘subtle poison, which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people until the smashing powers… knocked them into submission’
Lazerfeldtwo step flow of communication

active consumption

media messages are  filtered through influential opinion leaders who interpret a message and first and then relay them back to the mass audiences
McQuail, Blumler, Katzuses and gratifications

theory which recognises the decision making process of theory audience, highlighting how they seeking specific uses and gratifications when consuming media
hey go through processes of selection, interpretation and feedback
 processes

active selection

information / education
empathy and identity
social interaction
entertainment
explores/challenges how media messages are produced, circulated and consumed escapism
Hallexplores/challenges how media messages are produced, circulated and consumed

The idea that communication is a process involving encoding by producers and decoding by audiences.

The idea that there are three hypothetical positions from which messages and meanings may be decoded: the preferred reading, the negotiated reading or the oppositional reading.  

preferred reading is the producer’s intended message
negotiated is when the audience understand the message but adapt it to suit their own values
oppositional is where the audience disagrees with the preferred meaning

this is due to different audiences and different identities – different age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, backgrounds etc…

 a message “must be perceived as meaningful discourse and meaningfully de-coded” before it has an “effect”, a “use”, or satisfies a “need”		NO OFFENCE
THE KILLING
TEEN VOGUE
THE VOICE
METROID
TOMB RAIDER
SIMS
MENS
OH!
Gerbnercultivation theory

passive consumption

The idea that exposure to repeated patterns of representation over long periods of time can shape. and influence the way in which people perceive the world around them (i.e. cultivating particular views and opinions)

the idea that cultivation reinforces mainstream values (dominant ideologies).

examines the lasting effects of media – Looking primarily at the relationship between violence on television and violence in society

world syndrome – the cognitive bias whereby television viewers exposed to violent content were more likely to see the world as more dangerous than it actually is

suggest that ‘television cultivates from infancy the very predispositions and preferences that used to be acquired from other primary sources‘ (Gerbner et al 1986)

 ‘television’s major cultural function is to stabilize social patterns and to cultivate resistance to change‘ (1978: 115)

mainstreaming – media consumption leads audiences to accept mainstream ideologies

contradicted by Gauntlett – believes people only divulge in media that they believe will contribute to finding their individual sense of self – more active audience		NO OFFENCE
THE KILLING
METROID
TOMB RAIDER
SIMS
JenkinsThe idea that fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meanings. The idea that fans appropriate texts and read them in ways that are not fully authorised by the media producers (‘textual poaching’). The idea that fans construct their social and cultural identities through borrowing and inflecting mass culture images, and are part of a participatory culture that has a vital social dimensionMETROID
TOMB RAIDER
SIMS
ShirkyThe idea that the Internet and digital technologies have had a profound effect on the relations between media and individuals

The idea that the conceptualisation of audience members as passive consumers of mass media content is no longer tenable in the age of the Internet, as media consumers have a now become producers who ‘speak back to’ the media in various ways, as well as creating and sharing content with one another		TEEN VOGUE
THE VOICE
METROID
TOMB RAIDER
BanduraThe idea that the media can implant ideas in the mind of the audience directly.

‘modelled learning’ The idea that audiences acquire attitudes, emotional responses and new styles of conduct through modelling.

The idea that media representations of transgressive behaviour, such as violence or physical aggression, can lead audience members to imitate those forms of behaviour		SIMS

INDUSTRY

Chomsky-Manufacturing of consent
-5 filters of mass media
-very small amount of very powerful owners dictate the industry
Habermas
Curran & SeatonThe idea that the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and power

The idea that media concentration generally limits or inhibits variety, creativity and quality

the idea that more socially diverse patterns of ownership help to create the conditions for more varied and adventurous media productions
Livingstone & LuntThe idea that there is an underlying struggle in recent UK regulation policy between the need to further the interests of citizens (by offering protection from harmful or offensive material), and the need to further the interests of consumers (by ensuring choice, value for money, and market competition)

The idea that the increasing power of global media corporations, together with the rise of convergent media technologies and transformations in the production, distribution and marketing of digital media, have placed traditional approaches to media regulation at risk		SIMS
HesmondhalghThe idea that cultural industry companies try to minimise risk and maximise audiences through vertical and horizontal integration, and by formatting their cultural products (e.g. through the use of stars, genres, and serials).

The idea that the largest companies or conglomerates now operate across a number of different cultural industries

idea that the radical potential of the internet has been contained to some extent by its partial incorporation into a large, profit-orientated set of cultural industries		THE KILLING
METROID
TOMB RAIDER
MENS
OH!