My media magazine represents particular social groups through its content and imagery. It targets youth ages 16-24 who are interested in urban culture and the rap/R&B genre. It portrays this demographic through images of artists that conform to genre stereotypes, using a mix of English and slang. Both male and female genders are represented equally. The magazine challenges some stereotypes by featuring a Black male artist dressed professionally in a suit, showing the progression one can make in the industry. Overall it aims to appeal to its lower-middle class target audience interested in this music style and lifestyle.

1. Evaluation 2: How does your
media product represent
particular social groups?

2.  My music magazine is created to portray and attract a
certain social group which is both genders of urban
culture who are predominantly audiences who are
into the specific genre, youths mainly but also people
who present themselves as ‘gangster’ like figures and
women who have a large status in the music business,
but females who aspire to the singers and their
success. They will be the ages between 16–24 and
over therefore teenagers and young adults. They will
be the social groups of D/E living in various locations
around England but sooner through the increase
development of my magazine, my demographic will
target the wider population once there are more
purchases made.

3.  The way in which my magazine
represents this particular social groups
is through many factors which are
shown directly and indirectly
throughout the magazine such as the
representation of gender; the magazine
features a male model/artist on the
front cover of my magazine as the
model is seem to be aspired and
admired by the females and males.
As my model I would be known by the target audience for his music, it
would allow my demographics to be easily familiarised. The artist on
my front cover of the magazine is representative of my demographic
which conforms to the stereotype ideologies of rappers / R&B artists.
My magazine used a number of images of both the male and female
gender of different ethnicity that conforms to the genre of my
magazine. The magazines that I have researched represent ‘starts’ not
‘real’ people, Dyer said that ’A star is an image not a real person that
is constructed out of a range of materials (e.g. advertising, magazines
etc as well as films [music]).’ This persona of the ‘star’ is a fictional
identity therefore making the star not restricted to musicianship,
many ‘stars’ introduce new things for example fashion trends, and
popular phrases e.g. YOLO – You Only Live Once said by Drake.

4.  The target audience that would view
my product would be from the age
of 16-24+ due to the explicit
language and production. The model
in the production is a similar age of
to the target audience as he is 17.
The model appeals to the target
audience as they are aged in the
middle and would also aspire the
audience. My product supports the
stereotype of young urban people
due to the use of conventions. I have
portrayed this in my magazine
through the use of mise-en-scene,
language, camera angles and editing.
The props I have used in my
magazine such as a hat and scarf, to
represent his social class because
this is relevant to how the artist
represents himself.

5.  I didn’t use this image because, in my
opinion I believe it is too explicit due to
the face that one of the female hands
is very low and slightly inappropriately
placed near the male models belt, this
therefore makes not only the artist
look and feel awkward but also the
audience as it is very noticeable and
makes the audience feel like the article
has become something other than a
music magazine and not everyone
would want to see or expect to see an
image like that.
An example of image that I didn’t use:

6.  In my product, I have represented gender
equally on both the front cover and double
page spread through the use of images of
both female male artists. Overall the
magazine represents both genders equally.
My product conforms to the stereotype of
males within the genre of Rap and R&B as he
is well built, masculine and quite bold in the
way he folds his body which conforms to
common conventions. The use of language
represents my social group as I have used a
mixture of slang and English to represent my
audience but allow them to understand the
article. Using abbreviations, exclamation
marks and capitals attracts the audience and
appeals to them as it is standing out to them
making it look informal and engaging.
 My magazine is aimed at lower to middle
class social bracket therefore that’s why my
magazine is at a price £2.70 roughly.
Examples of existing products on the market
at the moment which show the typical
representation of males within the rap/R&b
genre:

7.  My media magazine product
represents class, Race, age and
sexuality. The reason my magazine
represents class is because the
audience that my production is
targeted to is middle class as it is
aimed at a certain regional identity
who is attracted to the genre of music
with sexuality and some explicit
language. Therefore higher class’s like
middle and upper class, this magazine
wouldn’t appeal to them as it doesn’t
represent their class and they don’t
represent themselves as being
‘gangsters’ or associated with
criminals or crime.
I have represented class within my
product through my protagonist as
he is a the mode of address,
however the way he is dressed and
presented challenges the
stereotype of ‘gangster’ and
Rappers because he is dressed in a
suit and looks professional and
sophisticated, this therefore shows
he to be successful and proud of
how he has made his mark on the
Rap/R&B scene. Therefore this
costume code the artist uses,
challenges the stereotype of middle
class people as he is a rapper and
many middle class people don’t
believe in that kind of music.
Comparedto….

8.  My model is the race of
black: this therefore
conforms to the
convention of the genre of
my magazine as they are
stereotypically seen as
people that come across
as violent, involved in gun
crime, wealth of jewellery
(gold) and gangsters. This
is stereotypical for black
people as the media
represents them this way
but also they are seen like
this in music videos as well
and how they present
themselves to that type of
media.

9.  The way I have represented the male artist as being a
positive influence on the audience as he is showing the
progression he has made for a short amount of time and
that you don’t have to be a typical young black male from a
poor and bad background to become a rap artist. The
typical stereotype of a rapper is young, Black, Male, Urban.
I believe that my non-black audience will enjoy my
magazine just as much as the black audience because, the
male artist in the main image shows both black and white
stereotypes as white is typically posh, well paid, many
wear suits and hats, whereas the use of a Black male
wearing a suit and a hat brings both the black and white
communities together within one simple image.