Oh Comely: Language & Representations

Language

Front cover

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

• The typeface used for the title is a scripted font, it mimics handwriting and perpetuates the idea that this magazine is personal and creative and an unconventional version of the magazine genre. The other fonts used were sans serif, and created a 'friendly' and user friendly aesthetic to the front cover, whilst the utilisation of lowercase letters reinforced the femininity and sophistication of the audiences that the magazine caters towards.

The words under the title introduce the content and topics addressed. What do these suggest about the potential audience of Oh Comely?

• 'stories/film/music/fashion/mischief/ideas' introduces the content and topics included within the magazine, the informal language used through words such as 'stories' and 'mischief' create a personal atmosphere surrounding the magazine. The content alluded to within the copy that reinforce the magazine's ethos surrounding a creative and artistically stimulated target audience.

How do the cover lines use narrative to create enigma? What do the cover lines suggest about the magazine's content and audience?

• The cover lines use alliteration, which is a conventional feature of magazines, however the use of adjectives, is to create enigma codes of the magazine's content, rather than explaining what exactly is in the magazine, this highlights the focus' of the articles instead 'Power and poise' as a juxtaposition alludes to the 'Speaking Out' article perhaps. 

Write an analysis of the central image.

• The central image is shot in an outside location, this appeals to the explorers psychographic [Young&Rubican], The actresses placement is also notable, with her hands placed above her head in a relaxed, assured and confident manner. The central image doesn't enforce Mulvey's 'Sex Sells' theory as the cover model is fully clothed, and the only exposed aspect is her face, perhaps enforcing the concept of identity and in particularly women's identities, and continues the third wave feminist ideology concerning the reclamation of feminine identities within the media. The model, does however, conform to traditional beauty standards as a thin, white, blonde model however her strong facial structure is a traditionally more masculine connotation and reinforces the androgynous and non-gender specific ideas of a contemporary audience, this supports Butler's theory regarding gender 'as a performance' within society. 

What representation of gender can be found on this front cover?

• Gender is presented as androgynous, with the cover star conforming to attributes stereotypically aligned with either gender. The model, has seemingly short hair, and bushy eyebrows, which reference the androgynous era of the 1990s. The suit jacket, also links to the 1990s idea of 'girl power' and reclamation of power within the quickly relaxing patriarchal society, that came with the third wave feminism of the time. 

Feature: Speaking Out

What does the headline and standfirst suggest about Oh Comely's feminist perspective?

• The headline suggests that the women featured, are 'speaking out' on vital feminist issues or issues regarding identity, that may have been socially repressed prior to the article, such as FGM. The standfirst suggests that this will be an intersectional orientated piece  with many of the women featured, being women of colour and discussing global feminist issues.

What do the interviewees in this feature suggest about the values and ideologies that underpin this magazine?

• The interviewees within this feature are all women of colour, and many of the features handle specific cisgender female issues as well as providing voices to those from minority communities, this allows the feature to cater towards the middle class, educated, socially aware audience whilst also having an empowering, celebratory narrative that validates the mindsets and ideologies of its audience.

How conventional is the page design in this feature? Why?

• This page is rather unconventional since it includes a large amount of white-space and a serif font, which contrasts the sans serif font of the front cover. This presents the art book style of the magazine.

Are they different to what we may find in conventional women's lifestyle magazines such as Glamour or Cosmopolitan? Why is the absence of men a key feature of Oh Comely?

• The feature contains pull quotes such as 'People go to extraordinary lengths to control the humble vagina' and 'My beauty ripples. My thighs make waves' which both handle topics outside of the mainstream media zeitgeist, the first pull quote explicitly says vagina, which although becoming more and more common, is still seen as a 'taboo' topic by many. It also deals with the vagina from a less sexualised perspective which is unconventional in female lifestyle magazines. The absence of men is a key feature as it helps to build on feminism without patriarchal subtext and views women from an isolated perspective- this feature focuses women as both the spectator and the one being viewed.

How does the photography offer a fresh or unusual perspective on women?

• The photography, in particularly their representations, offer a fresh representation of women. They are a majority of candid photos, with many of the women smiling, which is something seldom found in professional photography. The @bodyposipanda photo, depicts a woman in her underwear, however it's apparent that this isn't for sexualised purposes but rather a subversion of patriarchal assumption, and a depiction of a body confident woman.

Feature: More than gender

How does this feature offer a fresh perspective on gender and identity?

• This feature depicts a transgender person, as they begin discourse on the fluidity of gender and the oscillation of gender within their identity. This presents a fresh perspective regarding gender and identity, and positions the former in a place of choice rather than inherent aspect of identity.

What is the significance of the writer and photographer? How does this fit with the Oh Comely brand?

• The 'words and photos' are by Andrea Allan, who is a reader of Oh Comely, orchestrating an interview with her own sibling, making this article an explicitly personally composed piece, this links to Oh Comely's brand statement of 'Our readers are our writers'

What style of photography is used in this feature?

• The photos used are candid photos, which enforce the familial aspect of the article. They are mainly close-ups, or medium close ups, which allows the audience to connect the identities of the people within the photos, to the stories being told. There's also landscape photos, alongside the portrait photos, which enforces the 'art book' style of the magazine.

What representations of the transgender lifestyle can be found in this feature?

• The magazine represents a transgender female as well as offers the representation of someone who lacks gender conformity, and perceives gender as fluid.

Why is the biographical information at the end of the article significant?

• The biographies at the end allow readers to form personal relationships [Blumler and Katz] with the journalists. This could act as a gratification for the audiences, but also could be used as a promotional technique. 

Representation and identity

How do representations in Oh Comely challenge stereotypes? 

• Representations in Oh Comely challenge stereotypes through the photos used, the cover images, especially promote an androgynous perception of gender and act empowering to female readers whilst many images included also include depictions of people smiling, and the candid atmosphere surrounding the photos is unconventional to the magazine genre, which usually favours professional photography. The cover image, as mentioned before, depicts a female, who doesn't conform to gender stereotypes, as well as the features of women who again don't conform to the patriarchal assumptions surrounding femininity.

What representations of race, ethnicity and nationality can be found in the 'Speaking Out' feature?

• All of the women featured are women of colour, there is a Somali, Muslim woman discussing FGM, a Jamaican-Scottish British Poet, an American Body Positive Blogger, an Immigrant activist and a British coder. 

What representation of women and femininity can be found in Oh Comely?

• Women and femininity can be found as being created as non-linear, and the idea that there is not a binary definition of womanhood. The women featured in the magazine both conform and subvert certain stereotypes surrounding women, with the cover star being far more androgynous and those featured in the 'Speaking Out' section, many may physically enforce feminine stereotypes, most of them subvert the cultural stereotypes or occupational stereotypes that are embedded within our society - Amali De Alwis in particular speaks out on the lack of women in tech. 

Why might Oh Comely deliberately under-represent men? (The absence of men in the magazine appears to be a largely deliberate move by the editors).

• Since the magazine is targeted towards women, the absence of men allows the validation of women in isolation. Gender-specific magazines seldom include representations of other genders, something we saw in Men's Health, and Oh Comely is a female orientated magazine, I believe that this was a conscious decision with female empowerment and subversion of patriarchal habits in the media for both economic gain as well as enforcement of the brand ethos. 

Does Oh Comely fit into the possible fourth wave of feminism? Or is it evidence of post-feminism - that feminism is no longer needed?

• Oh Comely definitely fits into the idea of fourth wave feminism, as it has a clear goal concerning female empowerment, and through features with Body Positivity Bloggers brings awareness to the utlisation of the internet regarding female empowerment and feminism. It could also be argued as presenting post-feminist ideologies, as it puts women in places of power, and lacks the over-sexualisation of women, forgoing the subordinate narrative that comes with inherent sex-role stereotypes presented subconsciously through many magazines and their content. 

How does the 'More than gender' feature challenge Levi-Strauss's structuralist theory of binary opposition?

• Levi Strauss presents the theory of 'binary opposition' which traditional gender roles and ideas have always conformed to,However 'More than gender' presents the idea of gender as a spectrum and that the binary existence of gender and it's connotations is socially constructed, and an outdated perspective on gender. 

How does Oh Comely challenge traditional gender roles? 

• In relation to Butler's theory of 'Gender as a performance' the 'More than gender' feature specifically enforces the idea, however in the 'speaking out' feature, Gender- in particular, femininity has a much more significant role, suggesting that although gender roles are outdated, the binary ideologies of women/men is still an important integrated notion of society and that we cannot forgo them but they can be challenged through occupations, physical appearance and mental ideology.

What differences can you find between Oh Comely and more traditional women's lifestyle magazines such as Cosmopolitan or Glamour? 

• Oh Comely has a far more unconventional layout with less cover lines and a candid cover image, as well as less references to romantic relationships and sexual pleasure. Compared to Cosmopolitan, which utilises star power and the mainstream media, Oh Comely has a far more niche audience and promotes personal validation through personal identity and relationships instead of easy reading, diversion and more-for-less promotional techniques.

David Gauntlett argues that identity is becoming more fluid, media representations change over time and that there are generational differences. Does Oh Comely support this viewpoint?

• Oh Comely supports Gauntlett's theory, it represents the fluidity of gender through the many gender depictions throughout the copy, however there is sparse variety in age representations, and due to the millennial audience, this could suggest that it is merely time that has created the tolerance needed for this magazine to be successful.

It has been argued that Oh Comely is a far more open text (Stuart Hall - encoding and decoding/reception theory) with more room for negotiation in interpretation. Do you agree with this view? Why?

• I agree with this view, as Oh Comely has a range of diverse content, and a lot of reader submitted content also, the idea of 'readers as writers' and vice versa, not just a clear evidence of Tolson's changing dynamic theory, suggests that negotiation in interpretation is the preferred reading, in relation to Hall's theory. The Editors perhaps want to begin a discourse and have a diverse range of culturally renowned denotations as well as far more subversive connotations depicted throughout the CSP, this reinforces the idea that although validation of personal politics is a preferred reading, the beginning of discourse and internalised discussion regarding the ideologies presented and your own is also an intended side effect to reading the magazine.