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Magazines

infoWhy this? Magazines provide opportunities to explore identity, consumerism, gender and audience targeting within print media. The contrasting magazine CSPs allow students to examine how media representations differ across institutions and audiences.

scheduleWhy now? Following television, students can transfer their understanding of representation, audience and industry issues into a different media form. This broadens their experience of the specification and demonstrates how theories apply across platforms.

neurologyYou need to know

  • GQ and The Gentlewoman are in-depth magazine CSPs.
  • Magazine covers use visual and written codes to communicate meaning.
  • Composition, typography and hierarchy help establish brand identity.
  • Semiotics can be used to analyse magazine covers.
  • Cover lines create enigmas and implied narratives.
  • GQ reflects contemporary fashion, lifestyle culture and masculinity.
  • Genre conventions are established through content, layout and mode of address.
  • GQ both follows and develops men's lifestyle magazine conventions.
  • GQ challenges some traditional ideas of masculinity.
  • The Gentlewoman is an independent, design-led magazine.
  • The Gentlewoman offers an alternative to mainstream women's magazines.
  • Minimalism and white space are key features of The Gentlewoman.
  • The Gentlewoman constructs narratives of authenticity and cultural value.
  • The magazine foregrounds empowerment and agency in representations of women.
  • Hall's theory can be used to analyse selection and ideology.
  • Butler views gender as performative.
  • Van Zoonen and bell hooks provide feminist perspectives on representation.
  • Condé Nast is a multinational media conglomerate.
  • Magazine brands operate across print and digital platforms.
  • Ownership, audience and brand identity shape magazine products.

rocket_launchYou must be able to

  • Analyse magazine covers using media language.
  • Identify and analyse visual and written codes.
  • Analyse composition, typography and hierarchy.
  • Apply semiotic analysis to magazine covers.
  • Analyse implied narratives and enigmas.
  • Explain how magazines construct desirable lifestyles.
  • Apply genre theory to magazine products.
  • Compare repetition and difference across magazine covers.
  • Analyse representations of masculinity and sexuality.
  • Analyse representations of femininity and empowerment.
  • Apply Hall's representation theory.
  • Apply Butler's theory of gender performativity.
  • Apply Van Zoonen and bell hooks to magazine representations.
  • Compare GQ and The Gentlewoman as magazine brands.
  • Analyse how magazine conventions are followed and subverted.
  • Analyse audience positioning and mode of address.
  • Explain the impact of ownership on magazine production.
  • Analyse audience targeting strategies.
  • Construct audience profiles using textual and industrial evidence.
  • Create and justify magazine products using CSP conventions.


Revision Quiz

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