Thursday 12 June 2014

Section A- Lifestyle Magazines

The magazine i am looking at is 'Easy Living' and i can tell through different conventions that this fits the 'Lifestyle' genre of magazines. One of these conventions is the mix of content used in the magazine. We have topics like food and cooking, fashion, beauty tips and marriage advice, and a story from an aspirational female figure. This is evidenced in the magazines front cover, cover lines, that reveal subject matter of inside stories some examples are; 23 pages of deliciously simple recipes ... ; 'Easy elegant summer dressing' ; 'Subtle, glowing make-up' ; 'The marriage crime you didn't even know you're committing'. But also on the contents page it has huge titles separating the contents that label these exacts subjects.
It also fits this genre due to its use of direct address, to speak, and talk to the reader like they are having a one on one conversation, it is assuming the position of an advisor. This can be seen again in the cover lines with lines like 'What your friends really think of you' ; 'Skin you'll be raring to bare'.

In this specific magazine cover there seems to be a balance by value this is caused by images on one side being darker, and the other, lighter. This is done here by one side of predominately black text, and the other of, you guessed it, white. This will flatten it out and give it a Symmetrical form of balance that is more formal than a cover that has scattered text and images, giving off a more sophisticated vibe.
The type of font used here is a sans serif font, this shows that this magazine is quite an informal one opposed to a serif font that will portray a more sophisticated and posh lifestyle as apposed to a big chatty ''middle class" form of magazine. Even though it seems unsophisticated i believe it is still aimed at a more intelligent and classier sort of person that a magazine like FHM or Nuts.
Colour isn't just for making something look pretty, it can convey feelings and emotions throughout the reader. The title for easy living has the colour pink on it, this is said to convey Harmony, giving the magazine a very peaceful vibe. The main image model is wearing a white dress, this is said to accompany with the feelings of perfection, purity and innocence. Both of these are giving the vibe that this is a elegant, quite and simple magazine for a angelic like female audience.
The magazine uses many different styles of language techniques to reel in the reader and excite them just from the front cover. Some examples are the use of Imperatives, giving orders or making requests
e.g 'Skin you'll be raring to bare'. This is giving the reader some form of request or order for what they should do. 'Subtle, glowing make-up', this is a declarative type as it is making a statement about this certain make-up. This is clearly stating about this make-up giving them a strong little sentence for them to read easy grabbing the information and catching their eye.

Stereotyping doesn't just apply to sexualisation of people, but just to be sure in this issue she is in no way sexualised. I can tell through many different sections of this magazine that it is telling me something about the readers of this magazine. I can see through the main image this is a magazine aimed at white women. The race i can determine solely via the model on the front being white, and throughout the contents have images of white women, but there is no real stereotype for any race. In one of the cover lines it tells me of a story within, "KYLIE MINOUGE 40 and fabulous", using my detective skills i can tell that this magazine is aimed at 40 year old white women. Now finally i need to work out what sort of class this magazine is aimed at. I can see this through the typography and the content that this magazine is aimed at i high middle class set of women, not extremely chatty like something such as OK. Now this magazine is aimed at Upper middle class, 40 something white women. Now from the cover lines of this magazine, we are lead to believe that these women all love getting beauty tips with latest make-up, hairstyles and beautiful skin, they love fashion and adore new clothing and styles 24/7 with elegant summer dressing and chic clothes and they want to learn loads of cooking techniques and food skills. This magazine is labelling and stereotyping these women as people who constantly think about the latest fashion choices, heaps of make up and beauty tips, and cooking delicious food. This is driving the reader to this negative portrayal of this group of women, and even pushing a person to be a glamourous women, looking good, up with the fashion, and a world class cook, possibly for her 'man'

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