How does your media product represent different social
1. How does your media product
represent different social groups?
Mitzi Smith
2. My media product presents different social groups through class, race, age, and sexuality.
The typical demographic represented in existing indie rock magazines is mostly males aged
between 16-30 and are all white. My magazine challenges that demographic by using a female as
the main image, however, supports the general demographic for the age and ethnicity. The pose of
my model is very ‘moody’ and comes across careless – which is conventional for an indie rock
magazine.
3. Class
Class is represented as the readers are young and want to be successful. The majority of the
readership are in the C2DE professional bracket, which is the middle-working class. We can see
this as the main article is about how ‘Lola Lilly’ became successful, suggesting the reader will
want to be the same, therefore, the magazine is useful for them because it may help them
discover how to get into the music industry, if that’s what they’re hoping to do.
Class is also represented through the mode of address as it’s informal – like other indie rock
magazines. Also, the fonts used are simple and in block writing and the colours are also simplistic
however, the yellow and blue add more fun and take away any sophistication, which is associated
with upper class.
4. Race
Race is represented by the models used for the magazine; both ‘Lola’ and ‘Noah’ are white which
is typical for indie rock as most, if not all artists/bands are white. When researching the only time I
saw a person of a different race was when it was about a controversial topic - when Kanye West
was headlining at Glastonbury and it created some havoc. It was also accompanied by a sell line
that reads ‘Showman genius sh*t-stirrer’, representing black people in a bad way – they are seen
as an outcast and in a very negative light.
I have represented race as white on my magazine by only using white bands/artists. For
example, ‘Oasis’ and ‘The Strokes’ only have white members in their bands. Even on the band
index, which involves other genres, there isn’t any bands from other races. When deciding on
which race I wanted my model to be, it didn’t take long to realise that a white model was best
suited as this will appeal to the target audience and is conventional.
5. Age
The models I have used represents the age as they are young, which suits the aged 16-30
demographic. Older people might read the magazine as it makes them feel youthful, it could
remind them of when they were young. Also, David Bowie has been featured. He’s a classic artist
and older readers will be attracted to the magazine.
The mode of address is informal, further representing the age as young. Also, the main sell line is
“I’m not trying to please anyone but myself”. This is typical for an indie rock magazine because
they are a rebellious and arrogant genre. It’s also typical for the age bracket – teenagers are seen
to be rebellious and like to go against the rules, as well as self-important.
Lastly, on the double page spread, the pull quote is “F*ck them! I’m having the time of my life!”:
this is also rebellious and destructive, adding further representation.
6. Gender
Normally, gender of indie rock magazines in aimed at males, as is my design. When researching
for my magazine, most of the models used were males. The indie rock genre is very sexist and
male orientated.
For my magazine I challenged the typical demographic for indie rock and used a female. To keep
the target audience male however, I used a simple colour palette of black, white, blue and yellow,
with pinks to reinforce the stereotype that pink is a woman’s colour. Stereotypically, men like
simplistic colours and blue is associated with males. This adds masculinity back into the
magazine.
Also, the rest of the artists/bands featured in the magazine are all male, and the opinions of men,
suggesting men are more important. This is then challenged by the sell line which appears as
though the female is going against the male. This is because it goes against the traditional
mindset that woman are around just to please men.
Lastly, the use of a male artist on the contents page balances out the femininity. The posters for
Lola Lilly have been placed in the bottom right corner as if they are inconvenient and need to be
hidden.
