1. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?

2. The social group my
magazine is being aimed
at females in the
younger generation,
around 15-30 and it
appeals to people in the
B, C section, although I
have altered this by
adding a ‘rock’ theme to
the magazine, and
therefore my magazine
is themed –
‘feminine rock’
making it appeal to
females from 15-30 who
enjoy rock music
however are also quite
mainstream.

3. The dominant ideology of a ‘rock chick’ is an easy going, music loving, free-spirited
hedonist, that has an edge of a tough girl. They may seem quite intimidating to on
lookers, and could be thought of as having a rebelish touch, rebelling against
people who disagree with their strong opinions, increasing their sense of power.
My magazine is following this stereotypical representation totally, however this is
going against most other music magazines as there is nothing yet in the market like
this, aiming specifically at this particular audience.

4. I have done this in many ways, one of them is the shot types, the women in
all of my shots are made to look very powerful and confident in
themselves, on the cover, the model creates a sense of moodiness, as
though she disagrees with something, and the star surrounding her one
eye also feels as though she is a very fearless and bold, much like my
audiences representation. The red lipstick also connotes a
dangerous, bittersweet feel to the model. On the content page, it is a full
long shot image and the women model is stood with her hand on her hip
leaving slightly backwards which shows her importance, and how vein she
feels in the magazine, this creates a feel that the magazine is very positive
about women, which again challenged the dominant ideology that men
are more important in society and overrule women, as my magazine
almost puts the women on a pedestal, as though although they have a big
interest in men, which is shown in my double page spread, they believe
they shouldn't be controlled or overruled by them – as they are more
important. This is shown once more in the double page spread, as the fact
the model is topless, suggests he is there for women to look at, almost
more of an object than a human.

5. The colours used throughout the magazine is
copying original rock magazines in that they
generally have a black and white colour
theme, with one of two brighter colours, I
used the same and the brighter colours were
pink, reds and yellows. I chose these as they
are very bold and stand out a lot, however
they are also very feminine colours, and this
relates to my audience. I put red and pink
together a lot in the magazine, and this is
original and edgy as the two colours clash
when put next to each other and this doesn't
happen a lot – again reinforcing the
ideological assumptions about the group I
have chosen to aim my magazine at, feminine
rock chicks – quite unique and edgy, which is
where the clash of colours come from, yet still
feminine colours, that are associated with
females, again relating my audience to the
magazine.

6. The font of the title of the magazine cover is quite
bold, as it is white on top of a dark
background, which suggests power and
authority, however the font is quite mellow in
that it is quite smooth and not too sharp, and so
it has a feminine touch to it, but it still stands
alone very confidently, again, much the same
with my other features of the magazine, this
relates back to the ideological representation of
my audience, as they are quite edgy, can be quite
smooth and elegant, however also have
something bold and different about them, this
could also represent there moodiness if decisions
happen to not go their way.

7. However, although I have tried to challenge the dominant representation of a
feminine by adding a rock chick theme, It could also be argued I have
followed the dominant ideology and the residual ideology that women are
also very mainstream feminine. I have done this is a number of way, firstly
with their postures, especially in the content page, the models breasts are
stuck out almost as a revealing pose and this could suggest that although
my magazine is suggesting that women are very positive and in control, it
could also mean that they are in fact their to be looked at, and to look
good; this is stereotyped as many other social groups, such as male,
disabled, or the older generation are not likely to stand in this sort of pose
as it would be looked at as bizarre, and almost ‘wrong’ whereas when
women stand like this, it’s acceptable as they feel like they have many
people looking at them appreciating their image – hence why it is in my
magazine. This then relates to the title of the magazine ‘GLAM’ as it
suggests that women are very glamorous, and should be very glamorous,
possibly for people to look at. Other ways I have added the residual
ideology of femininity is by adding pink colours, which are regularly
related to women, the cover models lipstick is very bright red and bold
suggesting sexuality, and passion, again relating to women and feminine,
and so it could be argued that although there is an original twist in my
target audience, the features in the magazine still relate quite similarly to
the dominant ideology of females and femininity.