Task 3 : Essay

Task
Find 5 examples of magazine covers for magazines aimed at teenage girls. Study them closely and identify what seem to be the conventions of this genre of magazine. 

To what extent should magazines be held responsible for the social ramification of the representations they offer ? 

Magazines have a very powerful influence on their readers over the years they have made a great impact on society in terms of how peoples views are reflected, and general entertainment.

One of the main contrevcies about magazines is their impact on young audiences. Whether they are feeding the young males and females with the right information in their lives. Most magazines represent the glam celebrity life, the pretty girls and the hot hunks. The front cover magazines always have flawless skin with a nice slim body, and from then on its almost automatic that young female readers may start comparing them selves or thinking of ways to look like the celebrity. The standards that they have to try to live up to are very high they can not even be attained. 
              Magazines contain sexual content, explicit images, relationship issues and attractions to the same sex which are all very highly inappropriate for the age groups that they are presented to. These are all issues that shouldn't concern their age groups, and as they face the questions, and images being presented, its as though they are being drawn to things that are not relevant to them in any sort of way. Young readers tend to be more vulnerable and easily influenced, some of them look up to this media as their source of advise, almost like a guideline to their lives. 

The cultures of generations seem to have changed massively. In earlier years it was completely inappropriate to see nudity but now this all appears in magazines that can even be bought by a 10 year old ! "Some  feature photos of shirtless male celebrities and a picture of Justin Gaston, an underwear model, who appears to be naked except for a panel covering his private parts." Young people go through puberty stages when hormones start to have a drive, as for a female audience this may make them look at guys differently and make them feel as though they have to dress a certain way or look a certain way to get the attention they need from these guys. I think this is completely inappropriate and shouldn't be offered to them. Parents would be completely unsatisfied and shocked at what these magazines obtain. 

None of these magazines ever encourage young people to be satisfied and appreciate the life they have, its only all about the fame and the glam. These magazines never stress the importance of education, how to treat people well or making the right decisions in life. They are worthless and do nothing more than destroy the integrity that a young person may hold."The very blatantly sexual ethos expressed in them is becoming normalised among young girls. Then we wonder why we have such high teenage pregnancy rates and a booming ladette culture".The more you view something or associate yourself with it, the more that you are likely to become it yourself. So the more that these magazines are saying ''be sexy, love the guys, flaunt yourself'', the more that these young females are likely to act on it and eventually end up at the wrong turn in life. 


These magazines have a lot of influence on young audiences especially the girl, its almost like a guideline of how the should dress look and what they should wear. Most of them seem to have a demand on relationships and what they should do/ tricks to getting a to like you ect.

Task 2: Magazines & Audiences

Part 1: Terminology 

Text:Any media product e.g magazine,adverts,movies ect
Niche:Specific
Code & Convention:What you expect to see in the magazines
Semiotics:Reading and understanding of signs
Cultural Psyche:What you connotate and what you signify
Masthead:Title
Denotation:The literal meaning of a word in contrast to feelings or ideas that the word might suggest.
Connotation:Concept/ idea through signifier
Signifier:Object e.g a cross, love heart ect
Signified:What you think when you see it
Plugs:Information about the contents of a magazine
Puffs:A word or a phrase on the front cover used to engage the audience
Cover line:Information about the articles to be featured
Number: Used to draw audience attention
Bar Code: Found on the magazine


Part 2: 500 word analysis

The cover from Vogue magazine issued in March 2011 has a predominant powder blue background, which contrasts well with the additional pink thats in the font. The colours enhance the hair and the outfit that lady gaga is wearing. It all links making it look a bit more interesting. There is a mixture of serif and sans serif copy.The background and colours within the magazine connotate that it is targeted to a female audience.
               The title Vogue is large and takes up the top of the magazine.It is the iconic font that is used on every Vogue magazine. The masthead is slightly covered by Lady Gaga, making the reader focus more on the contents of the magazine.An image of Lady Gaga takes up most of the image,this could be because she is the main selling point of the magazine. It also shows that she is dominating the magazine, with the text'Born this way Lady Gaga' aligned to the right.
               There is quiet a lot of detail but the mixture of colours within the text makes it seem as though there is less writing, therefore making the reader not feel as though they are being swapped with a lot of information. The coverline aligned to the left '574 pages of show stopping spring fashion' followed by 'the must have looks' shows that the magazine knows exactly what the target audience want, and what they are expecting to see.The number 574 is roughly the same size as the masthead even though it is not in bold it shows that there is a great importance to it, showing that the editor wants it to be seen and paid attention to.
                The words placed ontop of the masthead 'the power issue'sells the magazine to the reader as it connotates that the magazine has an advantage over others and may have great influence.
                Under the text Born this way there also appears to be a cross which is a semiotic. Crosses seem to be particularly in trend nowadays especially in the fashion industry.

Task1:Getting to know blogger

Task
As your first blog entry, complete two bullet-point lists. The first is a list of "Things you can do with the Blogger", the second list is 'How I think Blogger will be useful for my coursework'. 

 

Things I can do with Blogger 

There are plenty of things that are available to do on blogger. I think that it gives a more fun, exciting and personal experience. There are different forms of multimedia that can be easily accessed and shared. You are freely able to edit layouts for blogs and choose your own images to suit you. 
I am able to:

• Do research 
• Reviews on film, music and fashion
• Articles 

How I think Blogger will be useful for my coursework
Blogger will be very useful when it comes to my course work because it very easy to access. I am able to view things and post things frequently either from home or college, so when ever i have something i need to add in its not an issue