Tuesday, 24 April 2012

Evaluation - Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?


I had to keep in mind who I was trying to represent when making the magazine and the way I construct my mode of address. As my demographic are young teenage girls, they perceive friendship to be the most important thing in their lives. They value their friendship with others a lot, which is why I have used two artists on the front of my magazine. They are best friends which will appeal to my demographic. The main images in my magazine are of the two best friends. On the double page spread there is a full length picture which shows their whole outfit. Both of the girls are wearing the same shoes and the same colour top (blue). I did this purposely because the social group I am aiming for, if they have a best friend, they would normally dress similar in order to make them look like one. Also, the pose of each picture is in line with the male gaze and the stereotypical image of young teenage girls. This is because the poses are very childish and seen all the time on social networking sights when young teenage girls take pictures of themselves. This also links with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as friendship is seen as ‘love/belonging’ however because the girls in my magazine have a sense of achievement and confidence as they ‘hit number 1 in the UK charts!’ (Contents page) which puts them in ‘esteem’, it shows that they are identifying with my target audience as my demographic will be able to relate with the artists as young teenage girls have friendships and confidence.

My images are not airbrushed and the girls are not wearing anything fake (e.g. fake nails, hair extensions). This is so I don’t represent my demographic in a hyper-reality view. Hyper-reality is used in semiotics to describe a hypothetical inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a situation of reality. Airbrushing would have shown the girls in the main image in a non-realistic way and therefore make the images and magazine not relatable to young teenage girls. As shown by the Britney Spears image, where it adopts the hyper real theory of airbrushing and making the model look better than reality.  From data that I have collected from the ONS website. I have found that in a survey of girls aged 9-10, 40% have tried to lose weight. I have also foung that 10 year old girls and boys are dissatisfied with their own body after watching music videos. This shows the impact of  airbrushing and hyper reality on young girls and boys. Another report on young teenage girls in America found that 53% of American girls aged 13 were 'unhappy with their bodies'. This grew to 78% by the time the girls reached 17. This could be interpreted as a result and effect of the use of hyper reality in the media industry.

The typography I have used is mainly in lower case and seen as fun and cute. This is to help the typography and magazine relate to my target audience as it is a representation of femininity. Everything on the front page, contents page and double page spread has been placed there for a reason which is mainly to identify and attract my target audience. This is mise-en-scene.

Uses and Gratifications theory assumes that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting and integration media into their own lives. It suggests that people use the media to fulfil specific gratifications. There are 4 categories for the different uses of media (diversion, personal relationships, personal identification and surveillance). I have used this in my magazine as my magazine has used personal relationships in order to represent my target audience. The personal relationships used in my magazine were the girls used in my magazine (best friends) and some of the stories on the contents page (Justin Bieber, dedicated new album to his new love and Demi Lovato, reveals secrets about her love life and ex boyfriends). Also surveillance has been used as the demographic will be ‘following’ the artists in the magazine by reading the articles and looking at the latest pictures of them.

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