GQ - Language & Representation blog tasks

 Language: Media factsheet

Complete the following tasks using Media Factsheet 252 - The Codes and Conventions of Print Magazines available in our Media Factsheet archive here. Answer the following questions:

1) What are the different magazine genres highlighted on page 2 and how do they link to our magazine CSPs?

general interests links to our csp GQ as it is published for a wider audience, special interests and professional

2) Look at the section on GQ on page 2. How do they suggest that GQ targets its audience?

 They are targeting

men through fashion and image, but also appealing to

their intelligence and needs for information about culture.

3) What does the factsheet say about GQ cover stars?

GQ selects their cover stars

very carefully.

4) Pick out five of the key conventions of magazine front covers and explain what they communicate to an audience.

Numbers are used to suggest it could also offer

a quick-read for busy people,

Pull quotes such as “I was dancing so hard my dress

fell off!” invoke humour and perhaps shock, but also

appear to give insider knowledge.

Puffs are place in the left or right-hand corners to catch

the eye of the reader,

The main coverline is not related to the image but

offers different content of interest,

The Masthead, the publication name, is at the top,

using a sans serif font type for maximum impact.

5) What is a magazine’s ‘house style’? How would you describe GQ’s house style? 

The house style of a magazine refers to its conventional “look” in

relation to its writing and formatting. GQs house style is a image of a male in the center of its magazine and writing on either side of the central image

Language: CSP analysis

Use your annotated CSP pages to help answer the following questions. You can find an annotated copy of the GQ pages here (you'll need your Greenford Google login).

1) Write a summary of our annotations on the media language choices on the cover of GQ - e.g. colour scheme, typography, language, photographic codes etc. 



2) Identify three specific aspects/conventions/important points (e.g. cover lines, colour scheme, use of text, image etc.) from each page/feature of the CSP that you could refer to in a future exam. Explain why that particular aspect of the CSP is important - think about connotations, representations, audience pleasures, reception theory etc.

Front cover: Robert Pattinson image - Art & Fashion issue

 key aspects: use of chains, face tattoo and stern look gives connotations of male gender stereotypes, the use of cut on the nose and wearing a wife beater suggests violence and showing normalised traumatisation, hegemonic masculinity as the cover lines, cover scheme are all in relation to men 

Inside pages: Jonathan Bailey feature and fashion shoot

 

3) Apply narrative theories to GQ - Todorov's equilibrium, Propp's character types, Barthes' action or enigma codes, Levi-Strauss's binary opposition. How can we use narrative to understand the way the cover and features have been constructed?

4) Analyse the cover and inside pages of GQ. Does this offer an example of Steve Neale's genre theory concerning 'repetition and difference'?

 

Representations: applying theory

We have already covered many relevant theories in our work on Advertising and Marketing (for example, David Gauntlett's writing on Media, Gender and Identity). We now need to apply these theories and ideas to GQ and specifically the CSP pages allocated by AQA.

1) How can Gauntlett's ideas on masculinity, gender and identity be applied to the GQ CSP pages we have analysed?

GQ shows Robert Pattinson ideals of absolute toughness, stubborn self-reliance and emotional silence can be reinforced however, traditional use of suits shows “The mass media is a force for change

2) How could van Zoonen's work on feminist and gender theory be applied to GQ? Does the magazine challenge or reinforce these ideas?

suggests that the media reinforces sex role stereotypes, helping to construct gender roles, in GQ the use of low angles and men seeming aggressive can reinforce them but in some cases the actors position and expression can go against this 

3) Does bell hooks's work on 'corrosive masculinity' apply to GQ? 

4) How does the Jonathan Bailey feature represent masculinity and sexuality? 



Representations: wider reading - GQ and the new masculinity

Read this CNN feature on how GQ is redefining masculinity and answer the following questions:

1) Which GQ issue is discussed at the start of the article and what was notable about it? 

2) How did Will Welch view GQ when he took over as Editor-in-Chief and what did he want to offer readers? 

3) How has publisher Conde Nast responded to changes in the magazine industry and how did this impact GQ?

4) What did the GQ New Masculinity edition feature? 

5) What did journalist Liz Plank say about toxic masculinity?

6) How did Welch respond to suggestions GQ was responsible for toxic masculinity?

Finally, read this short GQ feature on masculinity and answer the following questions:

1) What does the article suggest masculinity involved at the start of the 20th century?

2) What social change occurred from the 1930s?

3) What is suggested about masculinity today?

4) Why does it suggest these changes are important?