Task 3: Essay

To what extent should magazines be held responsible for the social ramifications of the representations they offer?

I’ve looked on the Internet and have managed to find five magazine covers that are clearly aimed at females, specifically teenage girls. There are many conventions that show they are directed at teenage girls.

The five examples I have chosen are:

                   1. Cosmo Girl featuring Amanda Bynes
             2. Teen Vogue featuring Victoria Justice

             3. Seventeen featuring Demi Lovato
             4. Shout featuring Jessie J
             5. Bliss featuring Taylor Swift

After analysing the magazine covers I have realised there are several conventions shown in all of them, that suggests they are aimed at teenage girls. For example the models that they have used, the colour schemes they have used and the types of stories in which they have included in the magazine.

Several conventions have been used such as puffs and plugs, the colour scheme used, the masthead and tag lines each of these things are used in every front cover of a magazine.

The colour schemes used in each of these magazines are very similar. Pink is one of the main colours used in each of these magazines. Stereotypically pink is generally applied to the female population. Four out of five of the magazines i have chosen have all used pink somewhere on the magazines front cover. This suggests that it is aimed at females and they have used pink to catch the eyes of their target audience. Seventeen magazine hasn’t used pink however they have still used a soften colour, orange is still often associated with females. in contrast to the type of colour scheme that is usually associated with men which is often red, black and blue.

A main component of a magazine would be the celebrities used. All the models/celebrities are well known so they are often recognised by the teenage girls. All the celebrities used are often young females between the ages of 19-27, which makes the magazine more appealing to the younger generation of girls. Victoria Justice is the youngest out of the five celebrities featured in the magazines I have chosen. She stars in a children/teenage show called Victorious which means she would be well recognised by teenage girls. The magazines have carefully selected the celebrities that they are featuring to appeal to teenagers. They will use celebrities that have little or no bad publicity, for example Victoria Justice starts in teen shows and films, and she’s never seen doing bad things that would be a bad influence on teens because they need to select stars that are seen as role models for young girls.

The types of stories in which they are using in the magazines also show that they are directed at young teenage girls. Most teenage girls are interested in the hottest gossip, the newest fashion trends, how to get perfect hair, how to apply make-up perfectly and how to have the perfect body. Each of these magazines demonstrates stories about each of these topics. For example the stories on the front cover of Seventeen magazines are, "Hair that makes you happy" "Look pretty now! Real-girl tricks for easy makeup..." "100+ Amazing new outfits" "Your 2012 hot-body plan" All these stories are associated with the same type of things that teenage girls worry about and are constantly talking about.

 

In conclusion after analysing the magazine covers it shows that the magazines could be responsible for a lot when it comes to the representations that are presented to teenage girls and the way in which teenager girls think they should look and how they feel about themselves. The stories that are used and the models/celebrities that are used could be affecting the way in which teenage girls view themselves and how they think others view them.