Hannah Alley

Representations Of

The way in which women are portrayed in magazines is very stereotypical and usual stereotyped image or meaning. In this Women is often not conveying thevery successful artist in the industry, Mariah case the magazine has used a Carey. This camera shot of Mariah suggests that the magazines format is quite informal from the way her stance is positioned etc. The image is illustrated in a positive way to make sure that the reader is not intimidated and that they are drawn in to the magazine and their interest is kept. The way the magazine has represented Mariah is to make her look as if she is a strong, sexy woman. We can draw this representation from her image; her hair is brown with light highlights and big and curly, representing confidence. Furthermore she is wearing quite a revealing and provocative outfit, being a cream-coloured vest top that exposes quite a lot of cleavage, and some black underwear. This costume was most likely picked by the magazine to attract the male gender audience as quite a lot of Mariahs skin is revealed and this will catch mens attention. Furthermore, Mariahs stance is also provocative as her legs are slightly open and her arm is held out in front of her, portraying her as slightly teasing and therefore sexy to the male audience. Her head is slightly lifted up and she is making direct eye-contact with the reader, which furthermore displays her as challenging, suggestive and quite sensual. This imagine personally follows the woman stereotype as it follows the trendy up-to-date fashion showing a more sexy side to it and so this demonstrates the common wrong impression of females as sex magnets or sex objects and coming across as a sexual attraction to mainly males. Furthermore, not only does the image portray a lot of stereotyping within R&B female artists, but some of the text on the front cover does too. A prime example of this is the white text at the bottom that reads and, oh yeah, she can sing, too. This almost suggests that the image was only there to purposely reveal Mariah as a sexy model as she is good looking and attractive ; and this line is stating that she can do more than just take good pictures. However, the and, oh yeah proposes that the image of her is the main interest and the singing is just an extra talent of Mariahs. This portrays women even further into being images of sexual teasing and desire, furthermore reinforcing the typoical stereotyping of them in R&B magazines.

Representations of Men

Similarly, the way in which men are portrayed within magazines is extremely stereotyped aswell. In this case, the magazine has used a very successful artist, Eminem. In this camera shot of Eminem it suggests that the magazines format is reasonably informal from the way he is positioned, expressions, body language etc. In this image the artist is being portrayed in quite an aggressive, defensive way. Eminems facial expression is firm and tough as he stares directly at the camera, portraying that he is strong and unbreakable and this gives the audience the impression that he is not afraid of anything. Aswell as this, he has some tattoos on his arms. Stereotypically this portrays him as masculine, courageous and powerful. This therefore puts a negative stereotype on the male artist leading it to perhaps not appeal to the audience it should appeal to. Also, analysing his stance and positioning the artist has crossed arms, which emphasises a defensive nature and gives the image a feisty and aggressive tone to it. Furthermore this suggests that maybe this magazine is more aimed at the male gender audience as it doesnt typically follow the codes and conventions in order to appeal to females aswell as males. Females may feel a tad intimidated and not exactly in their element when looking at this magazine, so its not very suitable for both genders. Aswell as this, the artist is wearing a cross necklace, displaying religion. This may seem very irrelevant but actually, this portrays that the fact that Eminem is male and is wearing the cross and it isnt a woman artist as the image wearing a cross instead, could perhaps represent that males are the best gender to influence religion and this therefore displays males as leaders and dominant. Also, Eminem is wearing black clothes, which has negative connotations of power, elegance, death, evil, violence and mystery. Altogether from this image we can gather that stereotypically, males are shown to be strong and powerful, firm and protective, and also quite emotionless apart from anger. We can see here that on R&B magazines, males are never shown to be weak and sentimental, and need to show theirselves as big, strong and tough. Adding onto this, the line Eminem comes clean suggests that Eminem has perhaps done some bad things in his past, and hints that perhaps he has a violent/mischevious nature. So this also fits in with the typical codes and conventions of a stereotypical male on R&B magazines as here he is seen to

Representations Of Bands/Groups.
When bands/groups are includes in magazines issued/produced, producers always make sure that none of the members are not in the image. Q magazines tend to follow an informal format as they dont want to come across as educational/too formal and they need to make sure that they appeal to a certain audience. The main image is of a band called Coldplay and it has a different interpretation in comparison to single shots of the male/female gender as they arent individually stereotyped to a big extent. Coldplay in this case have been portrayed in quite a mature, assertive manner and arent portrayed in a particularly extremely negative or positive way. The colours that have been used are all quite dark colours, either being grey or black to relate and link to the fact that their music isnt fun pop or R&B. Therefore these colours are associated with maturity and simplicity. This also means that the vibes these colours give off (maturity and simplicity) are perhaps the message they are trying to send in their music. The way they are represented here could really attract the older audience or even perhaps some younger people who are quite mature themselves and enjoy this realistic music. Furthermore, the line word exclusive portrays coldplay as a global-known and respected band, which furthermore suggests that bands/groups are a tad more respected than individual artists.