Due to my demographic being young teenage girls, I have aimed for all my pages to reflect a young, girlie look. My model Rose on the front page has; long flowing hair, is accessorised with bracelets, a necklace and a belt, is wearing a pretty, girly dress, has her nails painted, and her makeup is minimal. This picture was purposely chosen because I think that it symbolizes innocence. Mise en scene is everything that appears before the camera, the props, the scenery, the costume, the lightening etc, this helps the image to create meaning and contrast representations, these are all visual metaphors.
I think that in this day and age the society we live in promotes children to grow up faster than they should. Most young girl magazines not only encourage young girls to grow up too fast but they also advertise sexual innuendos on their magazines to lure young girls into very premature sexual fantasies. In my view this is an appalling, disturbing way, for a magazine to stoop so low in a bid to sell magazines. This is why I do not have half naked men sprawled over my magazine; I do not think that it is a suitable way to promote males to young females, yet alone a way to promote magazines for young girls. However, a way I am going to try and attract my audience is to give away two small bottles of BARRY M nail varnish. I want to promote a positive representation and I prefer to attract young girls with a few youthful pots of nail varnish instead of having half naked young males sprawled across the front cover of the magazine.
I believe that Rose is a good recognisable character and links well with my demographic. I purposely chose these pictures because I think that they symbolise a young adult like look that young girls could aspire to. There is nothing fake about the pictures that were taken. There are no hair extensions used, there are no fake nails everything you see in the pictures are real and can easily be replicated by the young demographic that will buy my magazine.
Even though I want the young females buying the magazine to be independent and to not let the media brainwash them into thinking that only pictures that are in line with the Male Gaze are attractive. A Male Gaze research study was carried out, showing girls aged 11-12 a variety of 6 females in pictures, some of these pictures were majorly in line with the Male Gaze and others not as much, and then there were a few pictures very far from the Male Gaze. The majority of the girls asked stated that they thought that the ladies who were majorly in line with the Male Gaze were the most attractive, and that the ladies who were very far from the Male Gaze the least attractive. This proves the horrible fact that girls across the country are being convinced that in order to take an attractive picture they have to follow the rules of the Male Gaze, which include posing in a recumbent position, bringing a face and hand into contact with one another etc – this clearly is not true. The theory of the Male Gaze suggests that a model must pose in a certain way to be seen as attractive to an audience.
However, Rose’s body is in an upright position, she looks like she is in control. And although there is no eye contact with the camera, the camera is in a medium, low angle shot. This makes the camera look up at Rose, therefore making the audience look up at Rose – this instantly gives Rose a powerful, influential character to portray. Hopefully this will encourage young females to not present themselves in a vulnerable way, and that they want to be seen as an assertive figure.
I think I am representing my audience in a believable way as I have said before Rose isn’t a size zero like many models that feature in young girl magazines. And because of this Rose offers a true inspirational image that young girls can compare themselves too. I haven’t airbrushed any of my images that feature in my magazine, not to make my models thinner, or curvier, or to give them whiter teeth or eyes. I feel like I have represented a true representation on REAL women. I think this represents my audience because the girls that will consume my magazine are REAL girls and they will grow up to become REAL women. That’s why I believe that the girls should grow up in comfort knowing that it’s a good thing to not be what they see in the other magazines, and that it’s an even better thing to aspire to be something REAL – and that is what my magazine presents.
I have attempted to represent my readership in a feminine but also powerful representation. I have done this my mixing the typography with upper and lower case lettering. The lowercase lettering resembles a sense of femininity and the upper case lettering resembles power. I have done this because I want my audience to appreciate that it is a good thing to be girly and to be seen as feminine but I also believe that it is important for young girls to want to be domineering and seen as powerful, I want to prove the hegemonic values wrong.
At the start of the process of making my magazine I wasn’t 100% sure on what representation I wanted to promote. So I carried out many photo-shoots, representing all different types of demographics, this can be seen through my contact sheet as many images were captured. One artist is called Hazzza (Harry), his picture is on my front page. I chose Harry’s picture to go on my front page because I thought that his pictures worked well for the magazine’s mode of address. The picture of Harry is in line with the Male Gaze, Harry is positioned in a recumbent position. His hand is touching his face and the camera is looking down on him as the camera is positioned in a higher position. Here I am reversing roles positioning a male in the ‘Male Gaze’ position.
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