Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Target audience Age Range: Teenagers between 16-24 and

usually still in some form of education e.g. college or university. They probably have some form of job e.g. part time waitress and therefore have a disposable income to spend on the magazines.

My magazine would appeal to both genders.

Jicnars Scale: C1/C2. Their socio-economic background is between average to above average intelligence and come form a working class to middle class background. They a part of a normal family with a normal house, car, jobs etc.

Psychographic Profile: The profile for the readers of my magazine are; Hedonists - 'to play and enjoy life now', Radicals - 'really individual, do what they want, when they want to', Post materialists - 'to be something later' and Post modernists - 'to have, to be, to play'.

They don't care what others think and live in the moment rather than planning out their future.

They prefer Indie bands such as Taken By Trees than established artists like Girls Aloud however they also follow such mainstream Indie bands like Coldplay, Owl City and Kasabian.

They prefer underground gigs than sell out concerts, buy all their bands albums rather than download the singles, are good with technology as many of their favorite bands may only have access to sites such as Myspace and Facebook etc, love going out to parties and staying out all night and wear tight shirts, skinny jeans and most likely play an instrument such as drums or guitar.

Ideology and Representation

The dominant representation of teenagers today is that all young people are lazy, always up to no good, disrespectful towards adults and usually causing trouble or drinking.

The residual ideology is that children and young people should be seen and not heard and should be respectful to authority i.e. their parents.

This construction of reality also shows that men are dominant over women and that women should stay at home.

Alternative representation However the rise of women’s rights and the

rebellion of teenagers against oppressing adults provides a new emergent ideology which has alternative representation of both women and young people.

In my magazine the main sell is of three teenage girls who are the newest, hit Indie band.

By using females on my front cover it changes the stereotype of the male controlled Indie music industry and aspires women towards new careers instead of relying on men to be the main breadwinner.

This flips the usual dominant ideology by making some male groups aspire to be as successful as the female band rather than the other way around.

Feminists such as Ann Oakley argue that this allows women to become more independent and less subservient to men.

By using an absent of males from my front cover, my magazine shows that women are just as important as men and that their bands can be just as successful.

Representation on Front Cover•I try to challenge the dominant ideology of women as sexual objects. To do this I have dressed the band in non revelling clothing, neutral colours and natural, non sexual, poses. •These factors show the reader that the band is not sexualised and primarily for a male gaze. Also it shows that the importance of these pictures is the fact that they are in a band and not the fact that they are young women.•The shots are MLS which connote a sense openness yet not enough to focus on their bodies or try and sexualise them.• The strong gaze held by the band connotes a sense of dominance and intimidation which also gives them a sense of power over the male readers.• However on a subconscious level they are aspects of the front cover sexualising women. The slightly sultry look and pouts and the hands on hips which accentuate her figure could be seen as for the male gaze. Yet this I believe reminds the reader that they are women and being successful in a male dominated culture and society.

Representation on Contents Page•In my contents page there are many points that show this emergent ideology of women.•The shot of the band is a MCU, which connotes a sense of friendliness and openness. The band are not wearing revelling clothes and are wearing neutral colours. No stereotypical sexual colours such as red or black. •The band are not pulling sexual poses, in fact they are almost playful.•Also by the size of the pictures it shows that women are more dominant than men. The female band is the biggest pictures and is relatively close up, whereas the male band/artist pictures are all taken from far away which connotes aloofness.•However it some ways it reinforces the residual ideology of men dominating over women. There are more male artists and bands inside the magazine contents and in general the font style could be shown to be more masculine.

Representation on Double Page Spread

•In my double page spread there are further indications of this emergent ideology.•The photos of the band are not sexual, they are using fun poses and they are wearing non revelling clothes in neutral colours.•Women are shown to be young, free and single. Not in the shadow of men and just live to have fun.•The shots are MCU which suggest that the way they look is not the most important but the style and the music that they make. This also links back to the indie music genre.•It could be argued that the leg over the table is a sexual pose yet the strong gaze of the band could be viewed as almost making a mockery of the sexual poses that women use.•The strong gaze also connotes independence and strength and that women are not dominated by men.

•However it could be said that the font style is generally stereotypical of men yet this could also be shown as women changing and challenging the stereotypes of men and women

After (Women independent from men, focusing on

careers rather than having a family):

Before (Women subservient to men):

My magazine also tries to change the dominant and residual ideology of societies view on teenagers and young people.

My magazine provides a positive view on teenagers and young people as they are a successful Indie band and, whilst some would say that they are not good role models as they would be out drinking and causing trouble, they are shown to still be at college and in education.

This tells young people that it is OK to stay in college and have a back up plan for their life in case they don’t make it in the music industry. This also gives the magazine a sense of realism and a taste of the emergent ideology of young people.

The magazine shows that teenage girls are now strong and independent from males and are able to cope within a generally male centered genre. This gives them a sense of power in society as they are able to turn down help from famous males in the music industry and are able to go at it alone rather than having to spend their life.

The location and mise-en-scene similarly connote the Indie music genre as it is kept minimal and simplistic, also connoting a sense of realism within the magazine as it's reader will be able to relate to the band.

Representation of young people in my media product

In my media product young people are shown to be normal teenagers that care about music; not the money and fame hungry trouble makers who spend their lives skipping school and drinking.Their social economic group is C1/C2 as they are wearing simple, plain clothes; nothing fancy as this would take the emphasis from

the music, something that Indie music believes is the most important.

Their jicnar rating would be Hedonists, radicals and postmodernists, who unlike many young people are respectful

towards some forms of authority (as long as they don't reject their style of music) and don't spend their time drinking or being violent.

They are shown to be independent, both as females and as teenagers, from any dominant influences. This is shown by the

simple photographs of the band, stood alone in an open classroom and their simple make up and props.