REPRESENTATION OF GENDERS AND SIMILAR PRODUCT RESEARCH (HARRY SHORT)

In western culture beauty if the main focus of women, more so then any other quality. Where as men are generalised as being dominant characters who are supposed to show off their masculinity.

Feminism has been a recognised social philosophy for over 30 years and great changes in women's roles in western society have occurred over time.

Women are often represented as being part of a context, a family, friends and colleagues as well as working as part of a team more often than working alone.

The representations of women that make it into media are all similar they are all supposed to highlight the beauty and sexuality of a women and make these two quality's seem more important than any other. In any magazine the editors seem to focus more on the sexuality of the women by dressing them in as little as possible or put the women in provocative poses and try to make them look as naturally beautiful as possible. Many magazines tend to use the women's eyes as a direct address to draw in a reader. Here is an examples of women in magazine covers annotated to show how women are represented

In this example of a magazine cover the model is looking at the camera to make direct address with the reader as well as playing with her hair in a flirty pose to try and draw a reader in.

Where as men in the media are supposed to show off how dominant and muscly they are, especially with younger men. Males are stereo typically supposed to show off their physical and intellectual power as well as sexual attractiveness, physique and independence of thought and action. Male characters are often represented as being as isolated and not needing to rely on others ( a lone hero type of figure).  However men are expected to groom themselves and look after their appearance now more than ever. Older men are expected to have a buffness to them where as younger men usually have a slight edge of geekyness to them.  

For example this cover highlights that men are kind of expected to spend some time in the gym keeping in shape as well as looking after their appearance through grooming. one of the only similarities with this cover and the cover with a women on is that they both use the models eyes as direct address to the reader.

In my chosen genre of music (electronic+dance) the artists on covers tend to hide some of their appearance leaving the reader to imagine what the artist fully looks like, some artists even cover their whole face (DeadMau5). Most males artists of this genre tend to have a geeky edge to their appearance. This music genre is predominantly male dominated so if women are featured on magazines they would focus on sexuality. 

In my music magazine i will follow a lot of the conventional representations of men or women by adding mystery to the image of a male model as well as a slight edge of geekyness. i will maybe highlight the sexuality of a female model like a lot of dance music magazines do.

SIMILAR PRODUCT RESEARCH

This magazine follows a lot of typical conventions you see in most music magazines. The mast head is located at the top of the magazine usually for display purposes. The mast head goes behind the main image suggesting that mix-mag is a well established and recognisable magazine.

The main image is located in the middle third and relates to what the main story will be about within the magazine. There is use of a puff in the top right corner giving an insight to what else may be in the magazine.
The cover stories and majority of text found on the cover intrude on the central image giving the magazine cover more depth. There is a use of AIDA through the use of two freebies on the front cover. The model (DeadMau5) has a mask on which further backs up the idea that electronic and dance music magazines add mystery to the identity of male models. The magazine uses the eyes on the models mouse head as a mode of address as well as using the models face in the mouth of the mask to catch the readers eyes. The strap line is located above the mast head so the reader can read it and recognise it whilst on display in a supermarket, the strap line is also the motto for the magazine. Most of the front cover texts are sans serif fonts which give a boldness and modern look to the front cover. This magazine looks like it is aimed at a slightly younger audience maybe 15-20 years of age because of the crowding on the front cover.

This front cover uses a lot of typical conventions you will find in a music magazine. The masthead goes across the central image probably implying that the magazine is not well established and they need the masthead to stand out more. The central image uses the rule of thirds placing the image in the right hand third and a lot of the text and cover stories in the left hand third. The writing on the front cover is angled slightly, this is to make the magazine stand out more as the text is not flat on the page. The magazine uses AIDA to grab a potential readers attention through the use of a freebie across the top of the cover, the freebie is advertised across the top of the magazine cover for display purposes. The magazine front cover also uses a lot of conventions in terms of the representation of gender as it uses sunglasses to hide some of the models identity which is usually seen when representing males on the front cover of magazines of this genre. The front cover does'nt really have a mode of address as the models eyes are covered in sunglasses, to address the reader it looks like this magazine uses the contrast of colours (pink, white and yellow). This cover uses sans serif fonts which are a typical convention in this genre of music magazine as it looks more modern and bold. The target audience this music magazine cover is trying to stand out to is probably from about 16-20 years old.

For my product I will probably use a lot of the conventions that are seen in this magazine cover as they stand out to the target market.