Task 3, Part 2 - essay

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

Over the last few years magazines have been blamed for the sexulisation of teenage girls. However I disagree with this assumption; I believe that the celebrities are to blame for this not the magazines.

Kim kardashian is a celebrity used in many magazines such as cosmopolitan; people aspire to be like her; she has a ‘good’ physique and the media are only presenting what is being given to them, if kim is happy with her body and works hard for to keep it why shouldn’t she flaunt it? Magazines have advised how to get a body like this and lets be honest who will complain, being told how to eventually own a good body will only boost your confidence. You will smile from the outside and be comfortable in your own skin. She has said things like

“For me, skinny is just a style of jeans – not a goal.”

“I love curves. Being super skinny just isn’t attractive to me.”

“if paris hilton thinks my butt is gross, i dont care, at least i have a butt!”

However when these magazines use woman with perfect hair and perfect make up this natural look goes to waste, it seems to put pressure on the young girls reading them to feel that they shouldn’t go out without make up and perfect hair, to know and understand about such as "The Sex Factor" when the average reader is aged 14 and the magazine itself aimed at ages 11-15.

      

According to associated content [1] if you look at the cover of virtually every magazine, especially teen magazines, you will see that a majority of the headlines revolve around making yourself look better. "Dress to impress." "Easy hair makeovers." "Find the perfect hair, makeup, and style for you!" "Be a knockout!" These are just a sampling of the headlines featured on the covers of teen magazines. If you take what all of these magazines have to say to heart, which most teenage girls do, than a more appropriate quote to live by might be one by Antoine Berryer, "There are no ugly women; there are only women who do not know how to look pretty." This again puts pressure on these young girls to constantly look their best, to constantly wear makeup, and to constantly worry about how they look making them uncomfortable in their own skin. This article suggest that the social content of these magazines are unacceptable ‘she has a very provocative look on her face, she has quite a bit of eye makeup on, and her shirt is very low cut. This issue also happens to be "The Sexy Issue!" What does sexy mean to teenagers? Do we really want our teenagers walking around trying to be sexy?’  And the answer is no, we don’t want this generation to fall into such a state of girls aged 11 upwards looking sexy! What happened to playing with a Barbie? Or painting pictures not painting your face.

The telegraph says [2] ‘parents would be shocked by much of their content.’ And ‘These magazines are pushing the boundaries of what parents would consider acceptable.’ Meaning that the parents do not know what their children are reading about, and would be horrified if they found out.

In conclusion I begin to wonder who is actually responsible for the social ramifications of today’s society; are the magazines to blame? The parents? The celebrities? I hold all these factors responsible not just one, the magazines for their choice of headlines and celebrities used, the celebrities themselves for thinking they are role models to young girls by ‘caking’ their face in makeup, starving themselves and wearing seductive clothing to a teen magazine shoot, yet I find the parents to some extent responsible for not looking and accepting what their child is reading and spending their pocket money on.

1-    http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/30544/popular_teen_magazines_and_their_possible.html

2-    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/4990907/Teen-magazines-are-sexualising-readers-says-watchdog.html

 

Task 3, Part 1 - teen magazine analysis

                                   

All these magazines are aimed at 'teenage girls'. You notice that all the covers have a young inspirational girl on; by doing so it draws the teenage girls’ attention, as these are the women they aspire to be like. You may also see that there is an aspect of fashion on each cover, showing the latest style trends, patterns and colours. this is evident in not only the clothes the stars wear, but also the cover lines. They have very feminine colours like pinks and yellows, however ‘more’ has taken a grown up look and feel to the magazine rather than the typical younger composition. The cover of bliss has also used a ‘heart throb’ of the time to grab the girl’s attention by giving the idea of having a large poster to stick on their wall; a convention that no others have used. A few of these magazines have said they include a quiz inside, yet another way to lure the girls in, they feel as if they can become involved within the magazine.another area to consider is the representation of young girls on the covers is concerned with looks and celebrity status. all these stars are young, slim, attractive, and successful; but are they setting the right example for young girls?

Task 2 - magazines and audiences

This is cosmopolitans may 2011 cover. This magazine is aimed for woman aged 17 – 30. This cover draws the reader in by selecting a large front image of a girl with a ‘fit’ body, this image immediately makes the reader think that she wants this body and assumes that the instructions of how to get a body like that will be inside the woman has apparently also stated that she has cellulite too, which is a main section on the front of the cover; plus the fact that’s it’s a body issue with a subheading of ’96 ways to love yourself naked’ invite those who may be less confident about there body and it states ‘say good-bye to all your body hang-ups’ ties in with these assumptions.  The cover also says ‘ you! ‘ Which automatically gets you involved with the magazine even though your not a part of it.  The colour theme of pink, black, yellow and white create a feminine feel. The headline ‘mens sex secrets can you handle the truth’ is a rhetorical question and although we are females we want to read about men, know what they are thinking, and the question attracts the reader making them want to find out more. Down the side of the magazine illiterates ‘ for fun fearless females’ which portrays the meaning that this magazine appeals to not just the typical thin pretty woman, but also those who are different and who enjoy abit of celebrity gossip.

Terminology

Glossary 

Masthead - the name of the magazine displayed in the typeface in which it is designed. this is the visual branding of the title and is usually done in a unique typeface to be very recognisable. 

Dateline - month and year of publication, often with the price. note that a monthly ,magazine usually hits the news-stands the month before the cover date.

Model credit - this says 'shania: so hot !'. it is unusual for such a credit to appear on the cover.

Coverlines - Cosmopolitan uses a lot of coverlines, which are distributed around the main image without detracting from it to much.

Main cover line - this is very large - taking up about a quarter of the cover area - and comes in three layers, each with a different colour. it promotes the use of naked male centrefolds, a feature of cosmopolitan in the UK since its first issue. note it is positioned against the model's shoulder so it shows up easily. 

Left third - in western countries, the left third of the cover is vital for selling the issue in shops where the magazine is not shown full-frontage. the title must be easily recognisable in a display of dozens of competitors. the start of the mast head in important here.

Bar code - standard barcode used by retailers.

Selling line - short, sharp description of the title's main marketing point ('the worlds number 1 magazine for young women')or perhaps setting out its editorial philosophy

Gutter -in double-sidded documents the combination of the inside margins of facing pages; the gutter should be wide enough to accommodate binding. 

Verso - in a double-sidded document, the page that appears on the left side of the spread. an odd numbered page. 

White space - in designing publication, the areas that there are no text or graphics.

By line - in magazine layout, a credit line for the author of an article. 

Character - any letter, figure, punctuation, figure or space.

leader - a line of dots or dashes to lead the eye across the page to seperated copy 

Logotype - a symbol, mark or identifying name. 

Research And Planning, Task 1, Part 3

How will blogger be useful for my coursework?


i think blogger will be very useful for my course work as it can be made personal, i can lay things out how i want, post the things i need in my own way. noting seems to be fixed so you can move things around, change the colour and make it unique.

Research And Planning, Task 1, Part 2

things you can do with blogger..


http://www.recognizedexpert.com/blogger/amazing-things-you-can-do-with-a-blog-333.html


this website explains some of the things you can do with blogger, like videos and slide shows. 


it explains how blogger is similar to a website, but is made personally to you. 

Research And Planning, Task 1

i found this video on you tube, it teaches me all i need to know about how to blog.