The document discusses representations of different social groups in underground music culture magazines. It addresses stereotypes around drugs, class, race, age and gender. For class, it focuses on an audience of B-E income brackets. For race, it acknowledges the genre's multicultural roots but faced modelling limitations. Most models were 18-26 years old to match the club-going demographic. Gender representation focused on masculinity while avoiding sexualization of women given the current lack of prominent female artists. The producer discusses applying constructionist theory in how they combined facts about the genre with their own beliefs and the social context to create a sophisticated representation that challenges some conventions.

1. How does your media group
represent different social groups

2. The stereotype of Underground music culture
 The underground scene is stereotypically seen as having a culture of drinking and drugs behind
its belt. This causes for a more rough male ideology and a strong ideology of Mulveys male gaze
upon women. There is a stereotypical association with drug taking within the underground
genres, but drug taking can be represented as designer as it requires disposable income. This
need for disposable income which links to the higher end of the income bracket. The lower end
who would buy into this representation would be students where drugs form part of their
culture. However i have decided on challenging the stereotypical representation of clubbing and
drug taking. Instead of giving the my magazine colour scheme acid house colours i have
replaced them with muted colours. I have also gone against the stereotypes of “laddish”
behaviour that is associated with underground music by not including Mulveys male gaze
representation of women in my magazine.

 With my sophisticated outlook on the underground it meant that I did not have to follow
certain stereotypes of the underground scene leading to a more pluralistic view upon the genre
which i feel is more conventional for a niche market who would like to see themselves as
individual and not something that the media creates. Because my magazine is part of a
pluralistic media it is giving a representation to a more niche audience which is represented by
my unusual layout of some of my pages like my contents page.
 The higher income bracket of the audience also would mean they are sophisticated therefore
would not subscribe to traditional masculine ideologies about objectification of women. My
sophisticated approach means that I have challenged convention of more mainstream genres in
keeping with the underground scene.

3. Class B
 For my production I chose the income bracket of B-E. I chose
the large income bracket as the underground does have urban
roots hence the C-E audience but the challenge in which it
represents to convention makes it more sophisticated hence
the B audience. My audience below B means that i can include
students who are of clubbing age. My class of B is represented
throughout the magazine through the way i have designed it.
For example as i said earlier i have edged away from the acidic
colours and replaced them with more muted colours and have
not included any images suggesting sexualisation of women.
The layout of the magazine suggests a rejection of class
stereotypes as it does not conform to the stereotypes of the
classes directly and in some areas can oppose them.

4. Race
 I wanted to have more variety of race within the magazine as the
underground conventionally has a mix of all races and genders but was
however restricted modelling choice at the time but if I where to repeat the
task I would go further in trying to find more models of different
backgrounds. Conventionally an underground magazine should have a mix
of races as the genre has urban roots. Most cities for example Birmingham
and London have a huge variety of races which meant that naturally the
underground scene became very multicultural. Due to the sophistication
required to step away from mainstream cultures the underground is also
more exceptive of other cultures because of its association with working
class who are stereotypically more liberal and open to different cultures.
Those that travel over from abroad seeking a new life in the cities of the UK
are placed into these working class environments and will often become a
part of the underground culture, this causes changes in music types of the
underground hence the demand for Jamaican grime music in the early
2000’s. This leads to the underground becoming a more pluralistic society
denoting a diversity of views rather than a single approach.

5. Age
 Underground music is focused around those of around
18-26 as this is when people begin to go out at night to
clubs etc. It is for this reason that the 3/4 of my models
are within the age bracket of 18-26.
 Gaz Frost - 21
 Alex tulip - 20
 Joe - 21
I portrayed binary oppositions of strong
vs weak through the portrayal of Alex on
the front cover. Stereotypically those that
are in the underground scene will be
represented as urban in attitude however
this ideology is reversed through the
pose that I got Alex to do that portrays
Alex as a more soft looking character that
goes against the stereotypes of the genre
but is more fitting to the sophistication of
my magazine.

6. Gender
Underground music in generally more male orientated however I wanted to
make my magazine more gender neutral so I did not include any
sexualisation of women. I did not include any women within my magazine
as I wanted to stick to what was happening in the genre at the time I
produced the piece and at the moment their are not many female artists
within the underground scene. I combined the masculinity of the genre
with the sophistication of representation through the outfit that I got Joe to
wear. The traditional male iconography with the biker helmet and dark
black leather. The masculinity of the genre combined with the
sophistication of representation can also be found through the dark colours
of the magazine and the medium close up of Alex on the front cover that
connotes a sense of vulnerability. Camaraderie can also be seen through
the way I shot Congi. I had one standing in front of the other and in some
shots I had them both standing in front of the graffiti wall side by side
connoting friendship and mutual respect for one another which is
stereotypically found in “boyish” or “laddish” behaviour that is associated
with the genre.

7. Constructionist theory
 Constructionist theory is how representations are put
together.
 The theory suggests representations are made up of four
parts; Fact, what the producer wants the audience to
believe, the audiences own opinion and its context in
time. Its context in time means that we have to take into
account what was happening in the world at that time.
The fact is what is happening in real life, there must be a
sense of reality. What the producer wants us to see
means that the producer may have some opinions of his
own so may include more of his own opinion in the
product.

8. Constructionist theory: How it applies to my
production
 Through this theory we can see how I have pieced together different beliefs including my own into my
production.
 I believe I have shown constructionist theory through my magazine showing how I as the producer
have used beliefs about the genre and have used my own beliefs. An example of this is how I have used
the belief and fact that the underground has connotations with a rough lifestyle through the location of
the main photo shoot with Congi that took place next to a graffiti wall in the outskirts of a city. I as a
producer have then applied my own beliefs about the genre through the way I got Alex to look at the
camera for the front cover shoot and the design of the magazine.
 I believe that these representations that i have shown have been portrayed through my own
understanding of the constructionists theory.
 Application of constructionist theory of my magazine:
 Fact: The underground genre grew out of an underground scene. This is represented by the brick wall
and colloquial language in the headline for example “its proper chilled”
 What the producer (me) wants the audience to believe: the scene should be accepted as a sophisticated
addition to music despite its urban roots. This is why i focused on the specific instruments of the genre
on the DPS pullout quote implying the talent and skill that you need to make the music. The idea of
sophistication is also shown through the use of the thin serif font.
 Context of time: this is shown through the postmodern society with more broad acceptance of what is
art for example graffiti and mix of upper class and working class cultures.
 Opinion of Audience – the opinion of the audience should represent the opinions of mine if i have
achieved in choosing the correct target audience.