Answering Q1B: The Essay

M - Media Language

R - Representation

N - Narrative

A - Audience

G - Genre

One piece of coursework

Genre

John Friske

“Attempts to structure some order into the wider range of texts and meanings that circulate in our culture for both the convenience of both producers and consumers.”
John Friske's theory fits with my own product because I have used conventions that will be convenient for both the producers and consumers.

Andre Basin

“Genres make magazine covers more efficient (by allowing the re-using of fonts, images and the like) and more marketable (by using generic conventions as a way of ‘selling’ the magazine covers to the target audience)."

I agree with Andre Basin's theory because I made my product efficiently and quickly because I knew what a fashion magazine looked like because of the genre and conventions that they follow.

Todorov

“Scientific method does not require us to observe every instance of a phenomenon in order to describe it; scientific method proceeds rather by deduction.”
I agree with Todorov's theory because we wouldn't need to see every fashion magazine cover to tell that the magazine is of that genre.

Narrative

Roland Barthes

“Linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution”

In some respects, my magazine cover follows Roland Barthes theory because of the enigma in the image. However, my image on my cover does not show linearity or show much of a narrative because it is an image that has captured one moment.

Claude Levi-Strauss

(“binary opposition”) – night/day, good/bad, light/dark, good/evil etc. He observed that these oppositions tended to structure text's narratives. 

I agree with Levi-Strauss' binary opposites to structure text's narratives in my own product; for example within my colour pallet, I have used colours as an opposition so that my text would stand out against the colours in the image. I have also used this idea within my choice of fonts so that they compliment each other.

Tilley


Tilley (1991) ‘Action Codes’ are a short hand way of advancing a narrative. Action codes are part of the ‘Continuity Editing System’ and are used to signal to the audience that something is about to happen, helping the audience to predict what is going to happen next.

My magazine cover supports Tilley's theory because my image shows the audience that my model is calm and peaceful.

Representation

Hall and Holmes

“All media texts are re-representations of reality…they may be stereotypes or they may be complex representations but it is important to remember that they have been constructed to appeal to a particular target audience.”

My image for my magazine cover represents my audience though my choice of model because it supports Hall and Holmes theory that all media texts are re-representations of reality and it has been constructed  to appeal to a particular audience.

Stanley Hall (1904)

“Adolescence is inherently a time of storm & stress when ‘all’ young people go through some degree of emotional and behavioural upheaval, before establishing a more stable equilibrium at adulthood.

He thought that

1. Common mood in teenagers was depressed
2. Criminal activity would increase at the ages of 12 & 24

I have gone against this theory in my imagery because I have chosen a model that doesn't follow the stereotype of teenagers.

Laura Mulvey (1975)

“As erotic objects of desire for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic objects of desire for the spectator within the auditorium.”

My model in my image supports Mulvey's theory because she has been turned into an object that the audience will desire or will want to be like. Make up and photo editing has been done to my image so that my model appears to be more 'attractive'.

Audience

Hall and Holmes (1998)

“Any media text is created for a particular audience and will usually appeal most to this particular target audience.”

Morley 1980 Reception theory:


Negotiated, Preferred and oppositional reading

I created my product around my target audience and included stories and conventions that my audience would want to see. To make the image acceptable on any product, the people who buy, sell and produce the product must keep to certain rules. The preferred reading of my image is that the audience will think my model is fashionable and will want to have a similar appearance themselves. The negotiated reading of my magazine could be that the audience would buy the magazine because they want to find where they could purchase similar clothes to my model. The oppositional reading of my magazine could be that the audience dislike the model because of the way she looks, but purchase the magazine anyway.

Hypo dermic Needle Theory

The media inject ideas into people so that they believe it.

Uses and Gratification Theory - Blumler and Katz

·      Diversion (escape from everyday problems)

·      Personal relationships (using the media for emotional and other interactions e.g. substitution soap opera for family life).

·      Personal identity (constructing their own identity from characters in media texts, and learning behavior and values – useful if trying to fit into a new country/culture)

·      Surveillance (information gathering e.g. news, educational programming, weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains etc).

In terms of Blumler and Katz Gratification theory, my product is mostly about the idea of diversion in that it is a form of entertainment that will allow the readers to escape from reality.  My product is also about personal identity because the reader could use the characters in the magazine to construct their own identity from as well as their values and how they behave.