MAGAZINES: GQ LANGUAGE AND REPRESENTATION!

 

MAGAZINES: GQ LANGUAGE AND REPRESENTATION:

Language: Media factsheet

Complete the following tasks using Media Factsheet 252 - The Codes and Conventions of Print Magazines available in our Media Factsheet archive here. Answer the following questions:

What are the different magazine genres highlighted on page 2 and how do they link to our magazine CSPs?

General interest: typically covers topics like food, fashion or home and gardening. They have a combination of stories pictures and advertising and are bound together with a glossy cover.

Special interest: appear to be doing well now in a time of decreasing print sale because they target a smaller, more specialised audience. 

Professional: A periodical published by the governing body of a profession. The standard of quality of such periodical may be similar to that of a scholarly publication. 

Look at the section on GQ on page 2. How do they suggest that GQ targets its audience?

They are targeting men through fashion and image but also appealing to their intelligence and needs for information. Magazine covers politics technology and trends. It employs leading writers and experts on a wide variety of topics appealing to activators, achievers and seekers. 

What does the factsheet say about GQ cover stars?

They select their cover stars very carefully. 

Pick out five of the key conventions of magazine front covers and explain what they communicate to an audience.

- Masthead: the publication name is at the top using a san serif font type for maximum impact. Price, month and year are usually added.

- cover line: offers different content of interest with varying size, colours and styles of typography.

- sensationalism and language: intertextualised to create an emotional response

- numbers: offers a quick read for busy people 

- main image: airbrushed, this type of editing has come under a lot of criticism but still appears to be the conventional way of representing women on front covers. 

What is a magazine’s ‘house style’? How would you describe GQ’s house style? 

The house style of a magazine refers to its conventional look n relation to its writing and formatting. The house style establishes brand identity and helps to distinguish one magazine from the other. GQs home style is to use fonts and catchy cover lines to excite the audience and make the audience question about what the magazine will be about. 

Extension tasks: Look at the final pages of the magazine factsheet that focus on creating magazine pages for coursework. What can you take from this to help future coursework projects? 

To help in the future with my coursework, id consider the length of the text that a magazine usually has. I would also consider to use quotes that are catchy to the audience and making sure they are visible to the audience by using different lettering and fonts that suit the magazine.

Language: CSP analysis

Write a summary of our annotations on the media language choices on the cover of GQ - e.g. colour scheme, typography, language, photographic codes etc. 

• Colour scheme 
• Blue/ black background 
• White/ black text 
• Conventional representation of masculinity 
• Central image 
• Direct address: quite aggressive challenging expression 
• Most mise- en- scene (hair, makeup, costume, jewel)
• Creates unconventional subservsive representation of masculinity 
• Element of 1970s punk to image 
• Unconventional for GQ 
• Typography 
• Ink effect 
• Typical cover lines used sans serif typography in past to create sleek, modern look 
• Unconventional for GQ.
• Text hints at unusual identity

• Robert Pattinson
• Actor, known best for twilight 
• Conventional masculine role 

• Title
• GQ brand identity- well established conventional, obscured by cover image 

• Art and fashion issues 
• GQ readers, educated, interested in culture fashion 
• Succeedors or aspirers (psychographic)

Identify three specific aspects/conventions/important points (e.g. cover lines, colour scheme, use of text, image etc.) from each page/feature of the CSP that you could refer to in a future exam. Explain why that particular aspect of the CSP is important - think about connotations, representations, audience pleasures, reception theory etc.

Front cover: Robert Pattinson image - Art & Fashion issue

• Colour scheme 
• Blue/ black background 
• White/ black text 
• Conventional representation of masculinity 
• Central image 
• Direct address: quite aggressive challenging expression 
• Most mise- en- scene (hair, makeup, costume, jewel)
• Creates unconventional subservsive representation of masculinity 
• Element of 1970s punk to image 
• Unconventional for GQ 
• Typography 
• Ink effect 
• Typical cover lines used sans serif typography in past to create sleek, modern look 
• Unconventional for GQ.

Inside pages: Jonathan Bailey feature and fashion shoot

• Narrative 
• Opening creates enigma and introduces Bailey as part of the GQs new masculinity approach to identity 
• Bridgeton is a post modern text that challenges traditional genre expectation 
• “Gender swapped reimagining”: subverting gender and identity stereotypes 
• Mental health: personal identity: Blumer and Katz 
• “A glow up for the character”: subverting masculine stereotypes 
• Fashion shoot: expensive GQ reader 
• Wealth and succeeder 
• Image
• Typically feminine pose
• Indirect mode of address
• Mix of traditional and new masculinity 
• Old and new to post modernism
• “Queer anthem”: representation of sexuality and identity goes against traditional hyper masculine stereotype 
• Blurring of high and low culture: postmodernism

Apply narrative theories to GQ - Todorov's equilibrium, Propp's character types, Barthes' action or enigma codes, Levi-Strauss's binary opposition. How can we use narrative to understand the way the cover and features have been constructed?

Opening of the inside page creates narrative enigma and introduces Bailey as part of GQs new masculinity approach to identity. Narrative can be used to communicate the meaning of the text much quicker to the audience. 

Analyse the cover and inside pages of GQ. Does this offer an example of Steve Neale's genre theory concerning 'repetition and difference'?

The colour scheme of the front cover represents a conventional representation of masculinity 

Representations: applying theory

We have already covered many relevant theories in our work on Advertising and Marketing (for example, David Gauntlett's writing on Media, Gender and Identity). We now need to apply these theories and ideas to GQ and specifically the CSP pages allocated by AQA.

How can Gauntlett's ideas on masculinity, gender and identity be applied to the GQ CSP pages we have analysed?

The views of gender and sexuality can be seen on the images of the fashion shoots when we see that it is unconventional for GQ with what Jonathan Bailey is wearing. One view of Gauntlett is that traditional stereotype of men has been shaken, we can see this in the interviews of the magazine where Bailey talks openly about his life and experience. 

How could van Zoonen's work on feminist and gender theory be applied to GQ? Does the magazine challenge or reinforce these ideas?

In the CSP gender roles are not traditional and they are also not reinforced by the media.

Does bell hooks's work on 'corrosive masculinity' apply to GQ? 

No, I believe bell hooks work does not apply this is because GQs representations are constantly changing.

                            

How does the Jonathan Bailey feature represent masculinity and sexuality? 

Bailey is an actor who is openly gay and stands for GQ's "New Masculinity." Bailey is introduced in the feature's start as a representative of GQ's 'New Masculinity' approach to identity. Natural background; non-traditionally manly appearance. Low-angle photography is typically seen as more masculine, although body language subverts this.

Representations: wider reading - GQ and the new masculinity

Read this CNN feature on how GQ is redefining masculinity and answer the following questions:

Which GQ issue is discussed at the start of the article and what was notable about it? 

GQ magazine, staring at an image of Pharrell Williams. The Grammy-winner is wearing a lemon yellow Moncler coat that flows well past his feet. It looks like an upside down lily flower waiting to bloom. His hands are clasped at his chest, his facial expression is soft and the overlay text says “The New Masculinity Issue.”

How did Will Welch view GQ when he took over as Editor-in-Chief and what did he want to offer readers? 

In his leadership role, he’s grappling not just with the changing landscape of the media industry but with new perspectives on men and masculinity. He saw the need to redefine what a men’s magazine could be. He wanted GQ to help its readers — whether men, women, or gender non-binary — with their “personal evolution,” 

How has publisher Conde Nast responded to changes in the magazine industry and how did this impact GQ?

Magazine monolith and GQ parent company Condé Nast, now under the leadership of former Pandora chief Roger Lynch, has been trying to recoup losses by cutting costs and redefining its business for the digital era.

What did the GQ New Masculinity edition feature? 

Journalist Nora Caplan-Bricker leads a package titled “Voices of the New Masculinity” in which actor Asia Kate Dillon, NBA player Kevin Love, rapper Killer Mike and others share their perspectives of what masculinity means today. There’s a beauty section, featuring men in glittery makeup and a profile of Billy Idol.

What did journalist Liz Plank say about toxic masculinity?

She writes, “No matter where I turned, masculinity wasn’t something that was intuitive or intrinsic; it was carefully learned, delicately transmitted and deliberately propagandized. Toxic masculinity wasn’t just a problem in America. I saw it everywhere.”

How did Welch respond to suggestions GQ was responsible for toxic masculinity?

When asked if GQ helped perpetuate toxic masculinity, Welch was quick to dismiss the notion. “It’s not like GQ was harmful until I took over.

Finally, read this short GQ feature on masculinity and answer the following questions:

What does the article suggest masculinity involved at the start of the 20th century?

it stood for all the solid, earthy expectations of boys and men: strength, independence, courage, confidence and assertiveness. And that was an easy package at a time when men were the sole breadwinners, working largely in manual labour, while women would tend to the home  and children.

What social change occurred from the 1930s?

From the Thirties onwards, the UK lost its industrialisation heavyweight status with manual worker jobs, and the masculinity status attached to them, in favour of an office-based deindustrialised economy. 

What is suggested about masculinity today?

Any boy or man who feels that they cannot showcase their emotions or, indeed, a gentleness, is one who needs re-education on what it is to be a man. Showing your softer side is not weakness or shameful. It is smart. Besides, paradoxically, the very qualities that an outdated "masculinity" parades (strength, independence, courage, confidence and assertiveness) are present in all of us – men and women. 

Why does it suggest these changes are important? 

we still need to see change in men’s relationship with their mental health. Suicide remains the leading cause of death in men under the age of 45 years. That’s three times higher than rates in women, with 84 men losing their life a week.