Media Studies - Magazines (GQ + The Gentlewoman)

Masthead

Name of Magazine

Mostly will stay the same but colour may differ with each editions

Brand Identity

Sell line

“Briton's No.1” etc

Coverlines

Teases for content and features

Straplines

Most important articles/festures

“Puffs” or “Blurbs"

Blocks of text or images to attach readers to offers inside the magazine

Main image

Dominates the page, often an actor or celebrity

Advertiser and Editor Relationship

Advertisers have a lot of power over the editors in magazines as the need the sales

→ e.g. Loaded being pressured to have more woman on the covers by advertisers to compete with FHM

Metrosexual

-Coined by Mark Simpson

-A man who cares heavily about their appearance, mainly focusing on fashion and skincare

Spornosexual

-Coined by Mark Simpson to explain that changes he has seen in the ways men behave

-A type of Metrosexual (combines the words ‘porn’, ‘sport’ and ‘metrosexual’) who cares more about fitness than fashion or skincare

GQ’s Demographics and Psychographics

-Social Grades A, B and C1

-Apsirers, Succeeders, Mainstream

-Metreosexuals (Magazine) + Spornosexuals (YT)

-White

-Men

-20-44 years old

GQ readership stats:

-212,000 monthly print readership

-2 million monthly unique users online

-More than 2 million social media followers

Average GQ reader income yearly

£138K

Average GQ reader money spent on fashion annually

£7.7K

Common representations of masculinity

-Hetrosexual

-Able-bodied

-Healthy

-Problem solvers

-Ambitous

-Self-confident

-Well dressed and fashionable (but not flamboyant), often wearing blues, dark browns, greys and blacks.

Hypermasculinity

Exaggeration of male stereotypical behaviour and attributes

Instrumental bodies

Social discourse which endorses the importance of values linked to external beauty

Representing Men, MacKinnon 2003

Men are increasingly and unapologetically objectified, both in terms of erotic spectacle and as targets of advertising for products beyond cars and beer

Men in the mirror, Edwards 1997

The sexual objectification of men has increased in the media

Homogenous body

Dominant depictions of maleness in physical terms, linked to power, strength and youth

Joseph Gelfer

Previously, masculinity was mostly presented in one of two ways: either a glamorous James Bond-style masculinity that attracted “the ladies”, or a buffoon-style masculinity that was firmly under the wifey thumb.

Gelfer suggests that there are five stages of masculinity - how people perceive and understand what it means to be a man.

Stage 1: “unconscious masculinity” - traditional view of men

Stage 2: “conscious masculinity” - as above but deliberate

Stage 3: “critical masculinities” - feminist: socially constructed

Stage 4: “multiple masculinities” - anyone can be anything

Stage 5: “beyond masculinities” - it doesn't exist

Boys to Men: Media Messages About Masculinity, Children Now, 1999

-Found that there were six common types of representation of men in the media:

-The joker

-The jock

-The strong silent type (aka the James Bond)

-The big shot

-The action hero

-The buffoon (aka the Homer)

MKO - Vgotsky

-”more knowledgable other” → a person/product that presents itself as something that the audience can gain important information from

GQ Main Ideologies

-Capitalism

-Patriarchy

-Metreosexual

Paul Gilroy’s Post-colonialism theory

That we still see effect of colonialism in the media today (e.g. ethnic minorities often show to be weak, powerless, dehumanised, marginalised etc)

Albionic nostalgia

A representation of Englishness that is marked by nostalgia and produces a white-washed version of an idealised rural England

Post-colonial melancholy

British White people want to be in charge of everything again

Cosmopolitan conviviality

The real world has multi-culturalism and high levels of racial harmony while the media produces an idea that it isn't

Highly mediated

Audience only sees whatever producers wants them to (mass media is highly mediated-act as agents of representation not communication)

Consumer Culture

-Rising affluence

-Decreasing work hours

-The aesthetication of the everyday

-Growth of consumer power

The Gentlewoman's aim

-Rebrands consumerism as an ethical movement (only “sustainable” adverts)

-Celebrates authenticity and empowerment

-Only has women with “purpose” in the magazine

-Part of a movement which responds to the idea of “Internet fatigue”

The Gentlewoman's Demographics and Psychographics

Social Grades A, B and C1

-Reformers, Explorers and Aspirers

-People who like niche, alternative magazines

-White

-Women

-30+ years old

The Gentlewoman - Context

-Launched in 2010 during the recession

-Published by Dutch publishers (who also published “Fantastic Man”)

-Didn’t want to be a female version of ”Fantastic Man”

-Commited to print over other media (anti-tech)

-Didn't want to be for “dumb customers”

The Gentlewoman - Criticism

-Failing to be artsy → says it's not formulaic but it is

The Gentlewoman’s reader stats

Median age: 32 years

Female readers: 85%

A, B Social grade: 47%

The Gentlewoman's average reader income

£87,255

Distribution percentage of the Gentlewoman

51% distribution to the UK (rest is mainly Europe and the USA)

The Gentlewoman - Fandom and End of Audience

Fandom:

-Social community

-Cultural production (#thegentlewoman)

-Mode of reception (social media conversations about the colours on the cover)

End of Audience:

-The Gentlewoman’s Club → fans + writers collaborating

The Gentlewoman - Hall and Cultivation Theory

Hall:

Preferred Reading = empowering women, redefining femininity

Negotiated Reading = understand the values but don't agree

Oppositional Reading = consumerist, snobby, still creating a harming stereotype (women must have purpose or else they are worthless)

Cultivation Theory:

Not mainstream or hegemonic views so less likely to make a difference

The Gentlewoman - Uses and Gratifications and Effects Theory

Uses and Gratifications:

Entertainment, Information and Identity (The Gentlewoman’s Club)

Effects Theory:

Lifestyles portrayed as something you should aspire to BUT only shows women of “purpose” as worthy

The Gentlewoman’s Club

-has up to 39,000 active members

-Mainly exclusive, cultured, upperclass events

The Gentlewoman - Hesmondhalgh

-Indie magazine → more risk than GQ

-Star power = cover stars

-Diversification = The Gentlewoman's Club, collaborations, merch (book, “Modern Manners”)

-Artificial scarcity = bi-annual

The Gentlewoman - Curran + Seaton

-The Gentlewoman is creative → breaks genre conventions (has a specific house style) → against Curran and Seaton

-Vertical integration = production in-house

-MMS LTD = distribution of small quantities

-Social media used to promote print, not online content