Media Evaluation - Representation

How does your media product represent particular social groups?HowhOW hOW

My product involves the social group of teenage girls. These are often represented in many various ways depending on the magazine. However in indie music magazines the girls in there are represented as being quite unique and quirky, quite fashionable yet relatable. The backgrounds are often plain so as not to take attention away from the artist but can be used to help represent them or associate something with them. My front cover image of the model represents teenage girls as being fashionable but not too much so that they are unrelatable. Her clothes are black and white and quite quirky which relates to the stereotypical outfits of those in the indie music magazines. Therefore it is stereotypical of them. I have used minimal make up and natural hair to also represent her as being an average girl. This makes her easier to relate to. I have also shown her as being quite shy because of the position of her hand near her face but the hand of the hip also displays confidence. This represents teenage girls as having both of these sides to them. The background used was rustic and natural, showing and urban background where the artist is from. When contrasting this with the double page spread article it can show where she started and where she is now – getting to the city from a small urban area. This background representing an urban background also allows her to represent a relatable average girl which helps the audience associate with her.  My representation of teen girls is pretty stereotypical of these types of magazine as she looks average but still quite quirky. However my background is unconventional but I have used it to my advantage to represent my model more effectively and appeal to my target audience better.

In the main image on my double page spread, teen girls are represented slightly differently. The clothes are still quite fashionable but given a personal style to suite the person. This shows her as being relatable but unique. Once again the make-up and hair is quite minimal and natural to make her look more like an average girl. This is easier to relate to for the audience as it represents someone like them. The pose also represents the same thing, clinging on to the scarf shows a more vulnerable size but she also looks quite confident. This represents teen girls in a more realistic way. The iconic city background also represents her as being quite successful as she’s made it from the urban background, represented from the first photo to the city represented by this one. It makes it easier to relate to her from the background since it’s iconic. 

The second photo on my double page spread was of the model and her sister. This therefore represents her as being a very loving family girl and by representing teen girls in this way, the audience can relate to it. The hair and make-up is once again minimal to make them more relatable as it represents them as being fairly average.

When comparing my photos to that of magazines similar to mine, they are fairly unconventional because of the difference in target audience. Most photos in similar magazines to mine have photos of boys and the ones of girls are often in their mid-twenties as they’re the people the 18-25 target audience would know. The representations of these mid-twenties girls are slightly similar to mine but also have differences.

The representations from these pictures are similar in that they both have iconic backgrounds to represent the artist’s nationality and relate to the audience. The pose in the Q photo also represents confidence like mine does. However the different target audiences explains the difference in clothing. A much more confident look with minimal clothing is much more likely to appeal to a mainly male target audience. As opposed to my fashionable model who is more appealing to a young female audience.

The representation of the photo in the professional magazine is similar to mine in that they also have minimal make-up and natural hair, so as showing teen girls as more relatable and average. They also look confident in their facial expressions, like the artist in my photo. The slight differences in representation can be explained by the difference in gender of the target audience. Representation must be changed in order to appeal to that specific target audience.

I think my representation from photos of teenage girls is quite stereotypical compared to gossip and fashion magazines which are interests of my target audience. However since magazines similar to mine are aimed at men, the representation on there is slightly different.

Language:  

Language: Since my audience is that of 16-21 year old girls, the language I used was quite young, fresh and feminine. For example; ‘what are the starts wearing this month’, ‘don’t miss this amazing issue!’ and ‘Ellie lights up our world with her starry eyes’. These quotes show quite casual language with the last one showing reference to the artist’s music in the coverline. A quote like that is quite stereotypical. For example I used one that was ‘rihanna’s new album, we can’t stop playing it. Loud’. A music magazine similar to mine ‘rock sound’ had the coverline ‘panic at the discos album, pretty odd? Pretty great’. They both reference the name of the artist’s album in the coverline therefore drawing them in.  Also all of the coverlines on the front cover were about female artists to appeal to that group. It also represents teenage groups as stereotypically being interested in female artists because of this.

In my double page spread, the language used was quite informal to represent a casual chat with the artist, which is more relatable for the audience. The article used lots of slang to represent her age and the teenage girl social group. This was also a great way to appeal to the audience at the same time as creating a realistic interview. Examples of this speech are:

Magazines similar to mine also use this kind of language. For example, replacing yes with yeah and no with nahh. This is a stereotypical feature because most young people use slang in their everyday speech. This way, the language relates to them. It represents young people as being quite relaxed in their speech and casual in conversation. However, most of the language in my interview is quite chatty while also being quite mature because of my target audience being mature. This style is also stereotypical of most music magazines as even though slang is used and they are informal interviews, the artist is usually quite mature in their speech. This therefore also relates to the target audience, being of the same kind of age.

Overall, the language in my magazine represents teenage girls as being very feminine and fresh in their speech (e.g. using slang words). This shows that they are quite casual in conversation so this is how to appeal to them. The artist in my double page spread is represented as being quite a unique character, representing all teenage girls as being different and unique.