how does your media product represent particular social groups?

Media coursework

Megan Henwood

Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

A real front cover vs. my front cover

http://www.nme.com/magazine

http://megleigh-media.blogspot.com

Though these magazines have different genres, I used NME as an inspiration, mainly because it does have loads of different genres. I have the title of the magazine in the top left hand corner and the name of the main band

Common stereotypes of music• Pop music listeners are stupid and have no personality or

taste.• Classic rock or older pop listeners are just nostalgic old

people.• People who listened to artists that played at Lilith Fair are all

man-hating dykes.• People who listen to The Cure are mall Goths.• People who listen to jazz are pretentious snobs.• People who listen to country are hillbillies.• People who listen to bands featured in Pitchfork are hipster

wannabes.

How does your product represent it’s target audience and how is your product different?

• My product represents my target audience because I have used a different amount of pictures with all people wearing colourful clothes and looking incredibly happy, which, to me, is one representation of the pop genre.

• However, my product is different, mainly because of my colour scheme. I have used black, grey and white for the background, with the main colour as purple, gradating from light purple, to dark purple. Some of the writing is surrounded in white, to make it stand out. On a ‘normal’ pop magazine, the colours range from: red, white, black, blue, and many more.

Challenge or support?

Steps was a mixed group, consisting of both male and females. They used to wear the same outfits, or near enough, in their music videos. This is the same as Girls Aloud, they are all wearing black in the photo shoot above. However, the Spice Girls all used to wear different outfits, so girls could identify which Spice Girl they were most like.

For my magazine, I have used a mixed gender band, which didn’t actually make the final design, a girl band where all the girls are in a fairly different style of clothes and a girl band where all the girls are wearing black, which shows I have mainly supported the stereotypes.

Does your representation you offer challenge or support dominant ideas about your social group?

• I believe that my product supports dominant ideas of the pop genre. Many people believe that the genre of pop is mainly for the younger generation and teenagers, and is young girls/women who sing for the genre of pop, such as Miley Cyrus or Lady Gaga. The stereotype of the pop genre is also that it is also for girls, which is another idea I have supported, with my colour scheme and the pictures, mainly of girl groups and young boy bands. The only idea I haven’t really supported is that ‘Pop music listeners are stupid and have no personality or taste.’, and this is because I believe that everyone has their own tastes in music, and should not have to be the same or be criticised for their own tastes.