Women Magazine
Representation - How something is shown again by the media
Producers re-presentation of a reality
- Airbrushed skin, whitened teeth. In order to display convection. This has been done to represent what the ideal women should look like
- Short hair was the stereotypical hair style of women from that generation.
- Portrayal of the stereotypical woman through the phrase ' For your kitchen' This is enforcing the stereotype that women are expected to be housewives
- Woman are still being oppressed through this stereotype
- Sans serif font, more informal as woman are seen as being less educated. To reinforce patriarchal hegemony
- Font creates an informal mode of address. Also the audience to relate with the magazine and context
- Simple and straight language on the poster suggesting a working class audience is being targeted
- 'For YOUR kitchen' direct mode of address which targets the audience
- Colour purple used in the background is a romantic, feminine colour to help target the audience
- Large close shot up of the woman's face directly in centre may be connotated of by power and importance
- Older woman featured suggests that this is targeted towards an older audience
- Lexis of are you an a-level beauty, functions as a hermeneutic code which encourages the audience to find out. The lighting is delicate an bright which suggests women should be delicate, bright and optimistic
- Selection of model clearly informed people of a conventionally attractive woman
- Her clothes are traditional and feminine, this reinforces hegemonic rules about the way the women dress
- The women looking straight at the audience is a mode of direct address
- Consistent use of anchorage: title of the magazine, selection of the model and choice of language
- Cover lines reinforce a very clear target audience
- Preferred reading that the female target audience is supposed to identify with and feel comforted with the direct mode of address
- Fake smile - Modest and quiet mode of address may have appealed to a contemporary audience. (Audiences from 1964)
- Published by a company called IPC media.
- First published in 1937
- Set edition: 23rd - 29th August 1964, weekly newspaper
- Price was 7d (7 old pennies, approx. 80p in 2018)
- Woman magazine became very popular in the post-war period and, in the 1960s, sales of women's magazine reached 12 million copies per week, Women's sales alone were around 3 million copies per week in 1960s.
After world war 2 women started being magazines
THE CONTENTS PAGE:
Content page clearly reflects the ideology of the producer and also reflects the hegemonic expectations of the time.
Knitting:
- Extremely stereotypical. 'made for romance ' two for you, one for him
- Done at home
Fashion - Dressing for other people or dressing other people. Expected to make other peoples clothes
Beauty - 'Makeup to work miracles' Assumption that women who don't wear makeup are unattractive
Heteronormative - the assumption that everyone featured in a media production is straight
David Gauntlet - Gauntlet (glove) Audiences are not passive, but we can create our own identities.
'So any girl can assemble it quickly' - Ideology that they will reject as it is reflects gender stereotypes that women are weak and unable to do things themselves
- 'Any girl can do it' Condescending mode of address Not referring to them as women.
'Get the man in your life to glue'
'Heteronormativity - The assumption that everybody is straight. Assumption in this article that women will buy choose this themselves and will be unable to do things themselves
Article is written by a women
Picture of women and her son cooking together. - Boy is helping his mum doing the cooking
Picture of women washing up - Very happy reinforces the ideology that not only women should be in the kitchen but they should be happy whilst doing it.
- Fashion, hair and makeup advice
Audiences can completely reject the dominant ideology.
Interview with Alfred Hitchcock: - Famous director,
Having a feature with Alfred Hitchcock in this magazine generates exposure creating lots of viewers
' To me they're the most unobtrusively seductive creatures in the world'
' After years of selecting, grooming and directing some of the most beautiful actress in the world'
'I quickly snapped her up thirty-nine years ago'
' The first signs of indifference in a wife is when her cooking suffers'
'Perhaps its because I'm such a happily married man that I can look at women quite objectively'
'The time I spent grooming actresses has never been wasted' - Predatory way of viewing women reinforces his significant position of power he is in. Fair example of objectivating women. Grooming women to present them in a way that is appealing to different audiences
By referring to his wife is another example of patriarchal hegemony
"They're like snow-capped volcano"
On the outside British women are cool and soft on the outside but passionate and sexual on the inside.
Alfred Hitchcock positions his audience into an uncomfortable position.
The assumption that the middle age target audience would not be interested about the technical information abut his films.
Instead the assumption is that women are more interested into how men perceive them.
"I've come to these conclusions after years of selecting and grooming some of the most beautiful women in the world" - the symbolism of the word 'grooming' is problematic. While it may OK to groom a horse, this is a clear example of objectification. Additionally he sees his job as more finding, raising and rearing women that anything to do with film making...
"naturally I chose an English girl for a wife..." - Hitchcock referring to his older wife as a 'girl' is condescending and potentially predatory. It also infers and reinforces the idea that men have the power in selecting a wife... another example of patriarchal hegemony
"this variety of sex appeal provide the ideal complement to the other thrills" - clear example of sexualisation!
"they're like snow capped volcanoes" - here, Hitchcock is inferring that British women are sweet and innocent on the outside, yet are sexually promiscuous and daring on the inside. An example fetishism, an obsession with race and nationality
"Personally, I find this far more intriguing than the Latin brand of sex appeal that puts everything in the shop window" - here Hitchcock suggestions that Latin (presumably Mediterranean women?) are far more overtly sexually promiscuous than British women, which is an explicit example of stereotyping
"The time I've spent grooming actresses has never been wasted" - lexis of the word 'grooming' creates a connotations of a predatory, and at least dismissive relationship with women. It reinforces the significant position of power that Hitchcock is in. This is a clear example of objectification (a process of comparing a person to something that is not human, usually used to belittle)
"perhaps it's because I'm such a happily married man I can look at women objectively" - an admission of objectification?
- The anchorage provided by the caption reinforces the view that Kelly's success was purely down to being discovered by Alfred Hitchcock
- Grace Kelly is represented as being powerful, and even intimidating.
- A direct mode of address is presented, with Kelly literally 'looking down' on the audience, inferring her superiority and status
- Grace Kelly was at this stage a princess, a glamorous role that only really be achieved by marrying a certain man
- MES of makeup, the shininess of the lip-gloss and the pouting open lips are symbolic of sex, and a proairetic code, inferring that she is about to kiss someone
- Kelly is an aspirational figure of sexuality and glamour for the target audience
- This reinforces the notion that in order to be successful, women should be hegemonically beautiful and sexually available to appeal to rich and powerful men (like Alfred Hitchcock)
Subversive representation /Stereotypical representation
There are no subversive representation of women in the women magazine. Women magazine is a simple straightforward representation of the stereotypical representation of women. There are no subversive representations of other sexualities, genders (non- binary). No people of different races in the magazine. No people with disabilities featured.
Symbolic analysation - Where a group is completely excluded from a media product
Advertising allows the magazine to gain revenue
For many audience members, adverts are annoying, But for many media producers, adverts are essential. Without advertising, it would usually not be possible to produce and distribute media products.
About 30% of a magazine's revenue in 1964 would come from advertising. This is huge. Without this revenue, the cover price would have to be increased significantly, which in tern would lead to lower sales And, while there are other ways in which print magazines can create revenue in the 21st century, print advertising is still essential.
For magazines like Woman, advertisers would pay a premium to advertise in the magazine. Why? Because it sells an absolutely massive amount, and it sells to a dedicated audience. We keep discussing how the target audience for Woman is
- White
- Working class
- British
- Middle aged
- Heterosexual
- Women
That's pretty specific. Additionally, around 1964, Woman magazine sold approx. 3million copies a week. In terms of reach, this is incredible. Therefore, advertisers will pay a massive premium in order to target such a specific audience
Van Zoonen
- Representations of men and women are constructed through media language
Bell Hooks
- The representation of women becomes more complex if they belong to different groups
- Codes and conventions
- Layout and design
- Composition
- Images/photographs - camera shot type, angle, focus
- Font size, type of font (e.g. serif/sans serif), colour
- Mise-en-scène – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up
- Graphics, logos etc.
- Language – slogan/tagline and copy
- Anchorage of images and text
- Elements of narrative
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