LANGUAGE
Write an analysis of the media language choices on the cover of Men's Health - e.g. colour scheme, typography, language, photographic codes etc.- The white background of the Men's Health front cover is conventional, and puts focus on the central image, in which they've used a cover star. Vin Diesel's intimidating glance, and dominant pose have connotations of heroism, dominance, strength and power. These connotations are conventionally linked to masculinity, which fits Men's Health's ethos. The use of both serif and sans serif fonts allows the magazine to appeal to both an educated audience but also promise easy to read content, the use of capital letters also has masculine connotations and active verbs emphasise the personal growth, and 'aid' aspect of the magazine rather than focusing on outsider validation, a convention of female targeted magazines. The colour scheme, is mainly blues, greys and white, which has masculine connotations, whilst also appealing to the target audience since it avoids a garish colour palette that ABC1, succeeders may be put off by. The use of cover line is conventional, however the flash, uses language such as 'wage war on flab', which could be interpreted as body shaming as an oppositional reading, although the preferred reading would be to help achieve a more desirable body type, people may see this as a condemnation of larger male bodies, which could be problematic due to Men's Health's existing reputation regarding representations of masculinity.
- Front cover: Colour Scheme, Cover Star, Title: The colour scheme is traditionally masculine and fits into both Neale's theory of 'repetition and difference' as well as being recognisable as a 'masculine' and 'sophisticated' at a subconscious level. The use of a cover star is also notable since Vin Diesel is a famous hypermasculine actor, he plays action heroes, and his character in Fast and Furious fits into the traditional masculinity ideologies, which appeals to the audience through personal relationships, but also due to his recent talks about mental health and grief could act as a subversion to traditional expectations of men. The last is the title, it is a clear convention and is recognisable as a symbol of brand identity, whilst also singling out its single gender target audience, which could be mentioned in an exam as a way to support the argument that Men's Health is a response to society's growing subversion of Gender.
- Editor's Letter and contents page: Informal Language, Composition, Photos: Men's Health has a modern composition , which provides an aesthetic pleasure to audiences, as it is easy to read and summarises the content of the magazine. The informal language, is again a convention of magazines, the colloquial language allows the editor to become 'one of the boys' and the reader to feel as if this is a casual 'chat' between mates. The Photo of Vin Diesel is also interesting due to the direct eye address with the audience, which again links to the idea of personal relationships, but also surveillance as the interview promises information to the audience.
- Feature - True Grit - 'The Marathon Man': The title is an intertextual reference, to the superhero genre, which offers an audience pleasure in itself, as people that recognise it gain pleasure from noticing it. The connotations of the title, are success and fame that have gained him this moniker. It also is alliteration, which is catchy and could have profitable benefits. The copy on the cover image also supports the brands ethos and could evidence an alternative argument for the oppositional reading of the magazine as a whole. The use of a real person, of an older age than the demographic could offer the audience pleasure of diversion as well as surveillance as he recounts his journey, aspirations and successes, which many readers may be inspired by.
Apply narrative theories to Men's Health - Todorov's equilibrium, Propp's character types, Barthes' action or enigma codes.
- Propp's character types can be seen through the editor as the donor, Vin Diesel/The Marathon Man as Heroes as well as the reader also falling into the category. The cover lines act as enigma codes and the image of the marathon man running acts as an action code for the contents of the article. Todorov's equilibrium, can be seen through the equilibrium being unfit/unhappy, the disequilibrium is working out, working on personal growth to come to a conclusive new equilibrium of being happier, healthier and at a higher degree of self-actualisation.
- Personally, I think that Men's Health exploits male insecurity for economic gain, although not a unanimous experience, but it does have focuses on physical appearance, not hitting new years goals but also offers some validation, which argues an alternative perspective. However, due to the main audience being interested in personal growth, I believe that it is completely justified to assume that they are exploiting male insecurity, in order to market a 'cure' without offering a 'cure' right off the bat.
- 'Marathon Man' offers an example of Neale's 'repetition and difference' theory since it repeats the convention of a Q&A style feature, however the content is unconventional for the magazine - depicting an older man, outside of the target demographic, who is still 'overactive' despite his age, which acts as an inspirational tale, whilst also being profitable since it's new, unconventional content.
Representations
How can Gauntlett's ideas on masculinity, gender and identity be applied to the Men's Health CSP we have analysed?
- Gauntlett's ideas of masculinity, gender and identity can be seen through the hyper masculine depictions on the front cover. Men's Health is known by it's audience for the traditionally masculine cover stars, usually action hero archetypes and a nod to the traditional 'ideal' male. Gauntlett also suggested a 'generational gap' and a belated change in the dynamics of male representations, whilst Men's Health target audience age fluctuates between Generation Y and Millennials, the ideologies present clearly enforce the idea of a change in male representations and challenging the static stereotypes of the past, seen through the feature article with the 'Marathon Man' an old but gold athlete, who acts as an inspirational but unconventional tale for the reader, as well as the cover line that brings the idea of mental health to the forefront with a modernised twist - a mixture of Millennial media usage and combating old stereotypes on emotionless male archetypes.
- The central cover image, of Fast and Furious actor Vin Diesel, reinforces Van Zoonen's theory regarding sex role stereotypes, due to his muscular stance, intimidating glare and overall hyper masculine image, although some may argue Vin Diesel's work regarding speaking out on depression and grief subverts this, he conforms to many stereotypes, we associate with men. Van Zoonen also suggests that gender is socially defined, and through magazines such as Men's Health, which have single sex target audiences, we could argue that the magazine as a whole reinforces these sex role stereotypes and as a media institution keeps a two dimensional perspective on gender for it's audience, even competitors such as GQ have began to include female cover stars - although seldom, this is a step into a gender non-specific market, but it is unlikely of Men's Health to follow in these footsteps.
- We can apply bell hooks' theory on corrosive masculinity to Men's Health since it still reinforces those static stereotypes of the past. The representations in Men's Health are arguably non-diverse and promote the same 'Fit' body type, with the same strong, power centric ideologies seen promoted throughout the magazine itself, we could use this to evidence how toxic masculinity is harmful to men themselves, and compare it to the rising statistics of male suicide, usually within Men's Health target demographic, and ask whether the lack of representation of diverse male ideologies and body types and the flaws of our patriarchal society that Men's Health conform to are one of the reasons to blame.
- Men's Health offers advice on health, fitness, clothing, food and drink and other aspects of 'Everyday Life' making it a 'lifestyle' magazine.
- Advertising acts in a way that prioritises consumption and promotes 'unattainable' ideologies to educate it's audience into 'buying into' these under the guise of new experiences and a promise of personal fulfillment from reaching the media constructed 'epitome of masculinity'
- The Media Theorists Butler, Van Zoonen and Gauntlett [Media influence] can be linked to these ideas.
- They are encouraged to work for their body in private, but display the results in public. Men's Health encourages it's readers to use their physique to display status and sophistication.
- Examples included to develop the idea of men as consumers, are a 5.7% annual rise in the market for male grooming products, and men being represented from a 'new perspective' that counteracted the traditional representations.
- Men's Health conforms to the societal convention of connecting a physically fit and healthy body to success, wealth and relationship success. However, the representation is an 'instrumental body' they depict a hegemonic 'perfect' body and then provide 'steps' or tips on how to get there in the least possible time. Another representation is 'Objectified bodies', a representation which turns the male body into a 'spectacle' for both a sexual gaze and advertising technique. Although, this may not be as dangerous as the objectification of women [Killbourne] this could in fact lead to a hyper sexual subconscious reaction, when viewing the male body which could have personal consequence if you don't fit the mediated ideal. The last representation is the 'homogeneous body', which links the male physique to traditional ideas of strength, power, and youth. These are usually fixed representations, and the magazines content focuses on the three main characteristics of these 'characters' which are physical appearance, external look and lifestyle.
- The article suggests that from a media perspective, the objectification of men has increased and as a consequence new concepts of masculinity have been socially constructed to fit this ideal type.
- Metrosexuality refers to a man who is conscious of his physical appearance and is devoted to taking care of it by buying cosmetics or self care products. It can be applied to Men's Health, since the adverts included, as well as the hand outs usually are linked to physical appearance or grooming products, such as the Harry's razor.
- The 'Homogeneous bodies' section discusses the stereotypical depiction of men, that fits into the socially perceived ideology of men being strong, powerful and youthful, in order to be physically desirable or successful.
- Men's Health offers different concepts of masculinity, that subvert the static vision our society is accustomed to consuming through the media, however despite offering contemporary men, a choice of identity through their representations, they conceptualise the body as an instrument and to depict the discipline and effort that these men take to fit these limited ideologies.
- I think that the representation of masculinity in Men's Health is dynamic, however it still limits the freedom of identity to it's readers. I feel as if, the consumer focus, leads to a 'one or the other' mentality depicted through the front cover and the content, with hypermasculine G.I Joe characters still being the dominant representation, and unorthodox features occurring but not quite matching the density of conventional content. Due to this, I believe that Men's Health, are not as progressive as some of their competitors, and their representations may hold some fault, when it comes to the insecurities regarding physical appearance that plagues young men in a contemporary society, since it conforms to the traditional narrative of physiognomy but defines physical perfection as 'Strong, Powerful and youthful' despite this, it does offer some choice on identity and mentality, with cover lines alluding to Mental Illness and improving lifestyles that don't explicitly link to physical appearance, this is far less patronising than it would have been 60 years ago, and due to this I do feel as if it is unfair to categorise Men's Health, as an all bad depiction of men, since it does offer dynamic representations which offers audiences a chance to see themselves represented in a magazine [Personal Identity, Blumler and Katz].
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