The Gentlewoman: Language and Representation

 The Gentlewoman: Language and Representation blog tasks

Close-textual analysis

Gentlewoman front cover 

1) What do the typefaces used on the front cover suggest to an audience?

-The cover shows that the design is bright and vibrant as it follows a colour scheme of orange border and purple and red bold makeup. 

2) How does the cover subvert conventional magazine cover design?

-The magazine subverts conventional magazine cover designs because normally a women in a magazine is presented more 'feminine' and soft,whereas in this magazine the female is seen to have bold and different makeup.

3) Write an analysis of the central image.

-Tightly framed 
-Closeup camera shot 
-Low angle
-Direct mode of address

4) What representations of gender and celebrity can be found on this front cover?

-Scarlett Johansson is seen as the highest paid actor in 2018-2019,which shows she is a powerful and successful woman.

5) What gender and representation theories can we apply to this cover of the Gentlewoman? 

-Mulvey's theory of male gaze-this is because she has heavy makeup to please the desires of men.

Feature: Modern Punches

1) How does the feature on Ramla Ali use narrative to engage the audience? Apply narrative theories here.

-The feature engages the audience because they wouldn't normally see a female boxer who is really talented in the boxing industry,as it is seen as a man sport.

2) What representations can you find in this feature - both interview and image?

-We can see the representation of working class people and the struggles they go through,also we see how women are being represented in sports.

Feature: Isabella Tree interview

1) Why is this feature unconventional for a women's lifestyle and fashion magazine? Comment on the use media language in these pages. 

-The feature is unconventional because it doesn't talk about women but instead nature and plants.

2) How does the Isabella Tree feature reflect the social and cultural contexts of contemporary Britain? Think about AQA's discussion of lifestyle, environmental issues and ethical movements.

-The British author sir Charles Burrer is the 10th Baronet married to Lady Burrell who is a British aristocrat. It values the social and cultural context of Britain by reflecting its environment.

Feature: Stella McCartney and vegan fashion

1) How does this feature reflect contemporary social and cultural contexts?

-Views in fashion are constantly changing,such as the ethical and moral ways that businesses produce products.

3) What representations can be found in the image accompanying this feature? 

-We can see a representation of an upper-class educated background.

Representations

Read this Business of Fashion interview with The Gentlewoman editor Penny Martin. If you don't want to sign up to the website (free) then you can access the text of the article on Google Drive here (you'll need your Greenford Google login). Answer the following questions: 

1) What type of magazine did Penny Martin, Gert Jonkers and Jop van Bennekom want to create? 

-A fashion magazine for actual readers.

2) What representations of modern women did they try to construct for the magazine?

-"I'm interested in what [The Gentlewoman] tells you about how modern women live, from the way they drink, dance, drive and speak to the way they sign their letters or conduct their divorces. We make sure that the magazine is not just a pornography of product that is supposedly interesting to women."

3) What examples of cover stars reflect the diversity in the magazine's content? 

-Cover stars have ranged from 88-year-old actor Angela Lansbury, shot in a peach silk blouse and Terry Richardson's black frame glasses, to pop-star Beyoncé, looking calm, strong and composed in Dior with a face free of make-up.

4) What is Penny Martin's view on feminism and whether the magazine is feminist?

-Martin says "Well, it's made by feminist people, so what do you think?! But I don't want to make those values and principles fashionable, because I don't want to undermine them by turning them into an aesthetic and I don't want them to pass into the realm of the unfashionable. Let's just assume that we all agree there should be equal pay and childcare and get on with it, eh?"

5) Look at the end of the article. How does the Gentlewoman help readers construct or reflect their identity by engaging with events and spaces beyond the magazine? 

-There will be physical events in the future.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Advertising assessment learner response

  Learner response blog tasks 1) Type up your feedback in  full  (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential). -WWW: Marwa, an overall fair assessment. Your question 2 was very good and clear and you were able to compare both adverts. -EBI: Not enough detailed textual analysis for question 1.Also question 3 was too opinionated and not supported with enough theory to validate your argument. 2) Read  the whole mark scheme for this assessment carefully . Identify at least  one  potential point that you missed out on for each question in the assessment. -Question one: monochrome: black and white colour scheme. -Question two: Representation of women in the Score advert reflects the changing role of women in the 1960s to some extent. This is no longer the stereotypical 1950s housewife -Question three: Paul Gilroy's theory about 'othering' 3) Look at your answer and the mark scheme for  Question 1  (Diamonds advert unseen text). List  thre
Read more

Feminist theory: blog tasks

Image
  Media Magazine reading - two articles on feminism and theory Read  Playing With The Past: Post-feminism and the Media  ( MM40 , page 64 -  our Media Magazine archive is here ). This is a great example of sophisticated media analysis and an indication of the level we want to be writing at by the end of the two-year course. 1) What examples are provided from the two texts of the 'male gaze' (Mulvey)? -HBO’s Pan Am and Beyoncé’s music video for ‘Why Don’t You Love Me’, both  which use the historical setting of the Fifties and early Sixties, a time before the Feminist movement, to reinforce post-feminist ideologies. 2) Do texts such as these show there is no longer a need for feminism or are they simply sexism in a different form? -In the pilot episode of Pam Am we see Laura having her weight and appearance checked this shows we do still need feminism as it acknowledges the terrible sexism the women experience, and even punishing male characters who behave in a sexist way. Beyonc
Read more

Advertising: Postcolonialism

  Introduction to Postcolonialism: blog tasks Answer the following questions on your blog: 1) Look at the first page. What is colonialism - also known as  cultural imperialism?  -From the 16th  century onwards, European countries  effectively got into a race to see how  many undiscovered lands they could  conquer first, and by ‘undiscovered’ I  mean, ‘countries where the indigenous  population didn’t have good enough  weapons to fight back’. 2) Now look at the second page. What is postcolonialism?  -  A  range of theories and ideas that have come from the legacy of colonialism and slavery. It attempts to define attitudes and values that can often still persist in society today – such as an assumption of the superiority of white Western values and ideals in relation to other cultures. 3) How does Paul Gilroy suggest postcolonialism influences British culture? - Postcolonial melancholia (sadness) to reflect Britain failure to come to terms with losing its empire. Britain is still  obsess
Read more