For the key assessment three mock exam, you were given a choice of three questions which could come up in component 2 section B - mainstream and alternative magazines. Adbusters and Woman are very different from one another, and it is very likely that your response will focus on the differences between these magazines, and why they are so different.
 |
| The Alfred Hitchcock interview in Woman is an excellent case study to use when exploring positioning, audience responses, the cultivation of patriarchal hegemonic ideologies and the use of star power to sell the magazine to a wider audience. Remember; the case studies you revise for the exam will be useful for a variety of questions! |
Indicative content - This is the kind of thing you could have written about...
The examiners will have a list of indicative content in front of them in addition to the generic mark scheme. However, this list of indicative content isn't a simple 'tick list', but a list of the kind of things you could write about. So please do not kick yourself when you go through this list. However, if you were struggling to fill the 50 minutes, or if your mark was lower than you expected, these lists should point you in the direction of which areas you should revise!
Compare and contrast the ways in which viewpoints and ideologies are encoded in Woman and Adbusters.
Knee jerk argument: Woman presents stereotypical and straightforward ideologies, while Adbusters presents more complex and subversive beliefs
Adbusters
- Adbusters is an anti-capitalist magazine, and this is reflected through it's attacks on luxury brands like Zucchetti and Christian Louboutin.
- For example, an aggressive binary opposition is formed between the Louboutin logo and the grainy, low quality image of the black, bruised feet in a stereotypical African setting. This emphasises the gulf between rich and poor
- Challenges stereotypical representations of female beauty with an entirely non-sexualised and enigmatic high angled shot of a nude woman with tattoos in a bathtub
- Zucchetti Him advert is present unaltered, it's placement next to an image of extreme poverty demonstrating a critique of commodity fetishism
- Articles consistently lack anchorage, and images are generally presented without comment or caption, alienating the audience
Woman
- Woman magazine presents a capitalist ideology through suggesting purchasing things to solve problems. The mid-shot of the smiling woman in the A Present For Your Kitchen double page spread emphasises tat life's problems can be solved through consumerism
- Consistently reinforces hegemonic standards of female beauty, for example the role of makeup in Are You An A-level Beauty?
- Many of the ideologies presented in Woman are a product of the sociohistorical context of the time it was made.
- The Extra Special: On Men! feature arguably reinforces hegemonic values by creating a binary opposition between men and women
- Objectification in Hitchcock interview: "they're like snow capped volcanoes!"
- Voyeuristic mode of address in the Creme Puff advert
How have economic factors shaped both Woman and Adbusters?
Knee jerk argument: Woman magazine is consumerist, targets a mass audience and funds itself partly through advertising, while Adbusters is anti-capitalist, targets a niche audience and is not-for-profit
Adbusters
- Adbusters supplements funding through online synergy and the online web store, selling 'anti-capitalist shoes' and elaborate, expensive special editions
- Format of magazine is consistently subversive. Masthead changes every issue, and generally lacks multiple cover lines
- High cover price in order to cover loss through advertising
- Adbusters has frequent legal issues, for example copies being withdrawn in Canada after an article comparing the Gaza Strip to the Warsaw Ghetto
- Often confrontational and highly unpleasant, limiting financial potential. CU images of dead children's faces, and a direct mode of address directing the audience to 'kill yourself'
- Atypical structure, with magazine divided into 'chapters', highly unusual
- Unconventional layout with distracting and upsetting use of atypical typography
Woman
- Low cover price of 7d and a weekly publication frequency
- For profit, capitalist magazine
- Frequent demands for the audience to purchase consumer products to make their lives better
- Published by IPC, a specialised media conglomerate who have horizontally integrated by acquiring similar women's magazines
- Unique selling point: comfortable and not challenging. Contrast with Vogue, which targets a non-mass market, specialised, middle-class female audience
- Conventional structure, including use of the Z line rule, a typical contents page and folio sections
- Alfred Hitchcock increases audience appeal by featuring a then extremely well known and adored film director
Compare and contrast the different ways that Woman and Adbusters position their audiences.
Knee jerk argument: Woman magazine positions it's white, heterosexual working class woman in a friendly and welcoming mode of address, while Adbusters positions it's middle-class audience in a challenging and even threatening mode of address.
Adbusters
- And aggressive and direct mode of address is adopted in the article Save The Planet: Kill Yourself
- Articles and images frequently make use of broken and torn mise-en-scene, symbolising the range of issues that exist in society
- Magazine generally lacks anchorage, for example front cover makes no reference though cover lines as to the ideologies of the fighter/soldier/terrorist? who is screaming at the audience
- High cover price (anything between $8.99/£11.99, though in practice this varies wildly)
- Use of an often sophisticated lexis (for example the consideration of polyurethane in the Save The Planet article) suggests an educated audience
Woman
- Breeze Soap advert positions audience through direct mode of address: "because you're a woman", and through the M/S of attractive and aspirational nude woman in a bath
- Alfred Hitchcock interview positions female audience as being subordinate to Hitchcock, who is in a position of power, emphasised by the MES of his suit, and the status of is age and gender
- Front cover adopts a friendly and welcoming mode of address
- Low cover price (7d) appeals to a working class audience and reflects weekly publication
- A range of different prices of kitchen are offered, appealing to a variety of broadly working class audiences
- Audience are positioned in a voyeuristic mode of address in several articles and adverts, eg the Creme Puff advert, reinforcing the idea that women are there to be looked at by men
Mark scheme
Your assessment will be marked according to this simplified version of the mark scheme. The only thing that is different about this one is that the band descriptors have been generalised to fit any question.
Feedback legend
i - Media language - you are not using enough key media language! Make sure to revise the textual analysis toolkit. Remember, without media language, you are giving a common sense response!
ii- Knowledge and understanding - you are not familiar enough with the set texts... or you are simply not getting this knowledge across in the response. Re-read/watch the media products we have studied in class!
iii - The big concepts- you are not making enough considered reference to concepts such as ideology, cultivation, patriarchal hegemony, polysemic readings and so on. Revise and apply advanced media concepts for a better result.
iv- Theorists - You are not referring to theories and theorists by name. Sort it out!
v- you must answer the question. If the question asks you to consider representation, then this is what you must write about!
Top tips and general feedback
- Many responses were WAAAAAAAY too descriptive. This was a shame, because in general, the exploration of 'big concepts' such as ideology and hegemony was spot-on! However, many students simply were not using toolkit language, which is a very bad idea.
- Please avoid using 'you and they' It's 'audience and producer'.
- A few essays launched in to the answer without including an introduction. Introductions are vital for long answer question, and are where you first introduce your argument.
Retakes
If you achieved a D, E or U grade in this key assessment, you have the option of retaking. This will be completed in your own time. This will not effect your initial grade. Only your initial grade will go towards this key assessment.
Exemplar
Below are a few examples of excellent responses to this key assessment. Please remember these responses were written by first year students immediately after finishing the unit. Answers are presented 'as-is' with no spell checking or other edits.
Example one - Compare and contrast the different ways that Woman and Adbusters position their audiences.
As a whole, both woman and adbusters use a variety of media techniques to position their audiences in order for them to be manipulated and agree with the magazines' ideologies. Although the ways in which they position their audiences can be the same in some aspects, the magazines being evaluated have an opposing nature and ideological perspective where adbusters is an anti-capitalist organisation that do not include adverts and is published monthly, whereas woman are a for profit magazine that has a very specific target audience who represent women in a heavily stereotypical light. Positioning can be defined as the place in which audiences are left after they've seen the media product.
One way in which adbusters position their audience is through creating a parody advert of Christian Louibouton shoes and a stereotypical African individual in order to create a sympathetic mode of address in a highly subversive image (high quality brand association with deprivation). The binary opposition between the branded logo and mise-en-scene of the battered bear feet infers that established brands potentially cause poverty, therefore these dual factors substantially emphasise the poor conditions African people are living in. This aspect can be associated to Claude Levis-Strauss' theory of binary opposition which is suggested to create interest to the target audience and get them more involved in the product. Furthermore the close up angle shot of the feet is an intertextual reference to charity adverts who heavily use referential codes. Consequently adbusters are reinforcing their ideological perspective of anti-consumerism through criticising the high-end brand. Conclusively, all media techniques put together causes an uncomfortable mode of address which positions the audience in a place where they feel obliged to do something about the major issue of poverty in a low economically developed countries.
The dominant ideology of woman's magazine is that all woman at the current socio-historic period were housewives and lived in a society where patriarchal hegemony was clearly evident. However in contrast to adbusters' negative mode of address, the front cover of woman's magazine adopts a much more comforting feeling. The dominant image shows a hegemonicaly attractive model who is a stereotypical housewife; the producer anchors the audience through using lexis, for example 'magical' and the direct mode of address 'are you A-level beauty' contains a variety of positive connotations to complement the less educated target audience who are 25-50 year olds. From this, it can be concluded that the producer uses a hegemonicaly attractive female for the dominant image in order for the magazine to sell easier. Consequently, this can be linked with Lisben Van Zoomen's theory which states that women's bodies are used in media products to assist in sales. Although it can be assumed that the majority of the target audience are heterosexual females, meaning they are not attracted to the model, I personally feel woman magazine uses this specific female in order to sell a lifestyle. As a whole, the producer anchors the audience, unlike adbusters, with the intention to position the mass audience in a satisfied and delighted frame of mind.
Additionally, another way in which adbusters positions their audience is through realising how fortunate they are compared to other individuals through reminding them of their place in society. For instance when looking at the homeless image, it shows a subversive representation of a female on the streets who is not hegemonicaly attractive. The image lacks anchorage as we do not know she is homeless yet the mise-en-scene of the cup acts a symbolic code for the target audience due to the fact it tells us our status in society. In addition to to this, the black and white background acts as a hermeneutic code. Symbolic and hermeneutic codes follows Roland Barthes theory of semiotics for the reason that elements like these have a deeper meaning and reinforces theory ideology. Moreover the shot type is a high angle shot to which the audience are positioned as if they are on the street; it essentially acts as a hierarchy due to the fact that we are on a higher level than the homeless woman. Once again, this image lacks anchorage and does not have a clear dominant reading, I feel that a wide range of people think it is because it will make society feel the need to give. Although not clear, I believe the audience are positioned in a state in which is allows them to realise how fortunate they are in society and essentially gives them confidence.
Similarly, Woman magazine intentionally reminds them about their potential look through the Creme Puff advert, nonetheless I feel the producers ideology is encoded within this advert. The advert preaches the converted because stereotypical housewives in the socio-historic period was already using numerous cosmetic products in order to please their husband. Furthermore the layout is like a comic, the use of panels implies the target audience has a low level of education. The slogan/tagline "beauty at a moments notice" suggests that it is easy to use and also infers that the product is close to hand which shows make-up to be a hegemonic norm in the socio-historic time frame. Nevertheless this advert creates a clear insecurity for the target audience as it implies they are ugly if they do not use branded cosmetics and therefore positions the audience in an uncomfortable way.
In conclusion, Woman magazine has straight forward representations and promotes gender binary whereas adbusters has an opposing ideology which positions both audiences in a completely different way.
Example two: Compare and contrast the ways in which viewpoints and ideologies are encoded in Women and Adbusters.
In this essay I will be analysing the ways in which viewpoints and ideologies are encoded in Women magazine and Adbusters. Viewpoints are the opinions and beliefs belonging to the producer of the media product, in this case, the producer of these two magazines. These viewpoints all contribute to the overall ideology of the media product, that represent the connoted lifestyle surrounding the media product.
The dominant ideology of Women magazine coherently connotes patriarchal hegemony and sexual objectification of women. This ideology is very conformist to stereotypical representations of women in the 1950s. In contrast, the dominant ideology of Adbusters is very controversial and counter-cultural, as it is a Liberal (Left-wing) magazine which continuously challenges consumerism, capitalism, and is very subversive in terms of challenges the magazine genre as a whole.
For example, in this front cover of Women, the masthead denotes the name of the magazine :'woman'. This instantly targets the primary demographic, of 25-50 year old English housewives. This will immediately attract the audience, as it is as if the magazine is 'calling' for the women to buy the magazine. This supports the dominant stereotypes of women that Women magazine holds, as this suggests that women are interested in magazines and as part of Uses and Gratifications, they enjoy reading magazines to fulfil their needs for diversion, to escape from their everyday lives. This further connotes that women during this period of time (50s) have a lot of time on their hands as they didn't work and so they had very little responsibilities besides housework and looking after their children, that they had enough time to spare to read the magazine.
Furthermore, the font and positioning of the masthead conforms to stereotypes of women. For example, the font is a very soft, but neat font, which creates connotations that women are passive and like everything to be 'in-line'. In addition to this, it is positioned precisely in the middle width of the magazine, which reinforces the stereotype that women are 'OCD'. As these are such widely held stereotypical views of women, this reinforces my argument, that Women magazine is a very sexist hegemonic magazine.
Another very dominant ideology of Women magazine is that women are meant to be housewives, and their responsibilities belong is the kitchen and doing housework, which this front page of women magazine conforms to. The yellow banner across the bottom portion of the front page denotes the lexis: 'Seven star improvements for your kitchen". This reinforces the ideology that women 'belong in the kitchen' and also reflects the context of the magazine and era. Through this, the woman of the main image, is represented as the 'housewife' figure that was very reflective of the patriarchal societal standards and expectations of women during this era.
Women magazine as a whole demonstrates the patriarchal hegemony of male dominance over women during the post war context of the magazine. In which males were stereotypically denoted and represented as the 'breadwinner' who left for work to support their family financially, whilst the mother of the family stayed at home to look after the children and take care of the housework, and to also act a source of sexual pleasure for their husbands. This is supported by a particular advert in Women magazine, in which a women is denoted 'naked' but covered by soap suds. This connotes the ideology of Women magazine, as they are used by men for sexual gratifications. This is supported by Lisbet Van Zoonen's feminist theory in which she argues women's bodies are used in media products, as a spectacle for heterosexual male audiences, which reinforce patriarchal hegemony.
This is evident in the Alfred Hitchcock article of Women's magazine.
In this article there is a photo of Alfred and his wife, although he is cut out of the frame, he is denoted within the composition physically higher up and looking down on her. This suggests he has dominance and power over her, supporting patriarchal hegemonic expectations within this time period. The caption of this states that he 'snapped her up' which suggests that he has control over her an that he effortlessly married her, suggesting that she was desperate for him, due to his wealth and success. Furthermore he is wearing a suit which suggests that he is very wealthy and successful whereas she is wearing a vey simple costume- a knitted jumper- suggesting she has less disposable income to spend on luxuries such as jewellery and 'upper class', high fashion clothing.
Adbusters completely challenges Women magazine in the most controversial way. Because the magazine is more modern and up to date with society and politics their ideology is a lot more current and relevant now. For example, Women magazine demonstrates a lot of symbolic annihilation of ethnic minorities, as the common figure denoted is a a white upper class female. Where as in many articles of Adbusters Ethnic minorities have been portrayed.
For example, in this Louiboutin advert, the main image denotes what seems to be an African woman's feet wearing some recycled, hand made shoes. This creates the a representation of lower class people in Africa, who cannot afford decent, let alone high fashion, expensive shoes. This is a culture jamming advert that is parodying high fashion culture, in this case, of Loubiboutin. This brand holds an ideology of higher class, expensive and luxury. However, the way that this brand has been paired along side a very different ideology- of poverty and suffering - a clear binary opposition is created. This would be to make audiences 'open their eyes' and pay attention to the rest of the world, and the real problems, and what materialistic items are unnecessary, as it only cause world wide issues for other people. This is a very typical article of Adbusters that represents this magazine very accurately as a whole, as their harsh ideology of anti-consumerism and anti-mainstream views are clearly portrayed. This is contrasting to the Hitchcock article of Women, in which Hitchcock is flaunting his wealth, whereas Adbsuters is shaming wealth and consumerism.
The use of culture jamming in this advert magnifies the problem that the producers want to portray, which is that they want to challenge the current fashion culture and how eccentric it is. The tagline 'red bottoms are always in season' makes the contrast between people within social hierarchies. The upper class in society can afford to pay a large sum of money in order to be 'in fashion' whereas people of the lower class have to make do with whatever they can spare in order to give themselves a sole on their foot, even if that means handcrafting them from recycled rubbish. This tagline can also serve as a double meaning as the 'red bottoms' could connote blood and burning on the soles of their feet due to the plastic bottles that are being worn in the main image of this advert. This message can create a large impact on audience in which they feel guilty and sorry for the people of the lower class, who have to suffer the pain of shoes, rather than be comfortable and stylish. This further reinforces Adbusters anti-consumerism ideology surrounding the fashion culture in particular.
In addition to this, this advert clearly subverts and challenges typical dominant representations of gender, supporting the dominant ideologies of Adbusters. From this image, as an audience, we cannot identify the gender of the model, as it isn't clear in this close up shot of the models feet. Within the mise en scene, there is a lack of components that can be used to identify the gender of the model. This suggests that the gender of this person isn't important, because the people suffering from poverty are all genders. This subverts typical magazines, as usually the gender of the models are selected and mediated in order to sell the products in the best way. For example, typically women are used to sell products, whilst being depicted in a sexual demeanour, to attract heterosexual males, supporting the male gaze theory. However the way that this advert has intentionally made an effort to conceal the gender of the model, subverts the stereotypical way in which the magazine industry sexualise models and their gender in order to sell products and ideologies.
Further more, this advert subverts the stereotypical selection and presentation of certain groups within typical magazines. In this close up shot, the model is a person of an ethnic minority, rather than the stereotypical group of people presented in magazines, who tend to be white people of the upper class. Therefore this advert is subverting the way in which magazines commit symbolic annihilation, because Adbusters have chosen to present a person to represent a wider ethnic minority who typically would not be portrayed in the magazine industry.
The layout of Adbuster's articles themselves are very unconventional of magazines. Here there is a lack of cover lines, there is no barcode, or tagline. The overall appearance of this front cover, doesn't look like a typical magazine, as there is an extreme lack of these conventional magazine components. This means that even the visuals of the magazine are very subversive of the magazine genre, but at the same time demonstrates the ways in which Adbusters clearly and so bluntly encode their anti-establishment and anti-mainstream ideologies and viewpoints of the magazine genre.
This advert, both, conforms to and subverts from typical representations of gender within the magazine industry. For example, this advert conforms to typical representations of women in typical magazines. This medium shot, of the female model's legs walking down a runway, instantly creates connotations of women being used in the fashion industry as attractive, aesthetically pleasing means of selling products. As part of the mise en scene the clothing that we can see the model is wearing, is very vibrant ant connotative of wealth and upper class status. This conforms to the stereotypical representations of women within the magazine industry, contrasting the overall ideology of Adbusters.
However this image is completely contrasting to the image that has been 'pasted' on top which represents. For example, these men are presented looking scruffy and struggling, in poverty and 'caged' in barbed wire. Men aren't very often presented in magazines, in comparison to females, however when they are they are typically denoted to fulfil stereotypical masculinity, looking very smart, dressed in suits and creating connotations of power and wealth. So in this aspect, Adbusters are subverting hegemonic gender stereotypes, within the portrayal of men. Therefore the fact that this image has been included in a magazine is very subversive to the genre, but also creates Binary oppositions.
These binary oppositions (Strauss) have been created within this advert between social classes. The way that this advert denotes a lady of high class, indicated by her costume for example (mise en scene) and the high key quality of the photo, over males of lower class and poverty, indicated by their scruffy, plain clothing (mise en scene) and the low key quality and black and white filter of the photo. This subverts typical magazines which would never represent different social classes other than high class, classy and wealthy people. Therefore this is another way that Adbusters is very atypical of the magazine genre, and this fulfils their overall ideology of challenging media and being bluntly honest when it comes to social issues.
Therefore, although at a first glance the image of the models legs of this advert conforms to magazine conventions it has been flipped around to culture jam magazine.s
To conclude, the ways in which Adbusters portrays their viewpoints and ideologies is very subversive, harsh and blunt, in comparison to Women magazine, who follow stereotypical representations and conform to the context of the magazine, making it a very mainstream and typical magazine, of this genre.
Example three - Compare and contrast the different ways that Woman and Adbusters position their audiences.
The producer in both woman and Adbusters magazine positions(places) the audience in a influential position in order to allow them to respond to the ideologies that are encoded within the media product in the producers desired way. When audiences are 'positioned' they are being forced to see the perspective that the producer wants them to, it manipulates how audiences respond and could give media products very polysemic interpretations. audiences tend to have preferred, negotiated or opposed reading towards what they are seeing, and producers usually try to place the audience where they will agree the most.
Adbusters is an unconventional, anti-consumerist, anti-capitalist magazine in which includes no (real) adverts whatsoever, this therefore makes it very atypical and can lead to very controversial readings. its main ideology is to make the audience feel guilt and responsible for a lot of the worlds issues. we assume that the target audience for Adbusters is middle aged, middle class, heterosexual men- who presumably have a higher level of education and also understand media analysis and complex topics. One example of audience positioning within the Adbusters magazine, is within the culture jamming advert for a "Zucchetti tap" which is directly contrasted on a double page spread with an image of a woman in a dead end looking bath, including text explaining the situation of people who have little to no access to water. The audience is positioned in an uncomfortable position by the use of a close up shot of the models knees and hands in an unfilled bath, this deliberately makes the woman look un-sexualised, going against Lisbon Van Zoonenes theory that women are used as sexual objects within media products, and also contradicting the audiences expectations of what we expect to see in a high-end advert. We are positioned to be focused on the symbolic code of the woman hands, this is a symbolic code as it represents poverty, and could suggest her desire for help. The mise-en-scene of her tattoos and wrinkled hands suggests that she has imperfections and is also stronger than the stereotypical idea of a woman. the positioning of this advert makes the audience (presumably who have never experienced poverty) feel guilt and sympathy towards her. The contrasting image of a shining new zuccchetti tap which costa around £1000 gives the audience a polysemic ideology, it has lots of different meaning and the preferred reading is actually unclear; the magazine is being purposely difficult to understand, once again indicating the type of educated target audience that it requires. WE are positioned to be looking down over this tap as though we are about to use it. the mise-en-scene of the water coming out of it which looks beautifully crystal clear is suggesting that the tap produces better water than another (which isn't true) however we are positioned to think this way and feel desperate need to access this overpriced tap. one of the main ideologies that is encoded into this advert is that we are possibly held responsible for poverty. the text describing someones struggle for water, directly contrasted with an advert for a £1000 tap gives the audience a sense of shame and guilt that they spend money so unnecessarily- which is an example of 'cultural capital' showing adbusters anti-consumerist ideologies.
The previous advert can be compared with the Breeze soap advert which comes from Woman magazine, where the audience are positioned in a very different way. in this magazine the specific audience is middle aged, white, straight women who in this time (1964) are very stereotyped and appressed by a patriarchal society. Women is a conventional magazine that gives a singular ideology thought out, that stereotypical women should be a perfect housewife, have a family and look good at any given second, it has a familiar mode of address allowing women to identify with this magazine which is advising them on how to live their lives. One of the main contrasts between the Adbusters image of a woman in the bath and Woman magazines image of a woman in the bath is the sexual connotations that come with them. Unlike Adbusters, woman magazine present this women in a very idealistic way. the audience are positioned to be looking at her with a sense of voyerism as the model looks unaware, this gives the target audience the chance to see what another woman looks like in the bath and subconsciously compare themselves against this unrealistic expectation. The fact the women set idealistic goals to look like this model (specifically for men) suggests that they are insecure and aspire to making themselves skinny so that they would fit into the body standard hegemony to feel socially accepted. the text on the advert says "because you're a woman" - the use of "you're" is a direct mode of address, positioning the audience to feel targeted whilst also following the over all theme of familiarity and friendliness that the whole magazine includes. this direct mode of address is pushing the ideology that every single woman must follow these rules to be accepted into the minds of the audience. the model is seen to be fully naked, only covered by a few bubbles, and having perfect makeup and a messy bun- this mise-en-scene sets an unachievable standards for 'normal' women in society, making them feel unsatisfactory and therefore making them want to buy this product that will improve them.
Both magazines position their audiences in prime position to get the preferred reading out of them, for Adbusters the preffered reading usually is guilt and sympathy to make the audience view things differently, for woman this is to create a stereotypical standard for all women. They position their audience not only by the use of adverts/fake adverts (however this is the best example) but also by the overall composition of the magazine. While Adbusters is seen to be unconventional and have a changing masthead in each copy and no adverts, it is quite hypocritical as it has a very glossy and galm style to it meaning its not as atypical is it first appears. Woman magazine on the other hand, is very very stereotypical, it shows patriarchal hegemony and targets one specific audience.
Example four: Compare and contrast the ways in which viewpoints and ideologies are encoded in Woman and Adbusters.
In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting the ways in which viewpoints and ideologies are encoded in Woman and Adbusters. Adbusters has no adverts, has very subversive viewpoints and is atypical due to challenging conventions of magazines. However, Woman magazine is a conventional magazine but has very sexist viewpoints, including that the purpose of a woman is to be a housewife.
The front cover of Woman magazine portrays a very sexist, stereotypical presentation of women. The model on the front has very short hair which has been pulled back to indicate it is kept tidy and neat, she is wearing minimal makeup and is smiling. this indicates that the viewpoint is that women must be seen to be happy and must have a hairstyle to suit their "housewife" purpose. The text at the bottom says "Seven star improvements for your kitchen" the direct mode of address of "your kitchen" indicates that the women reading this magazine will all have their own kitchen and it belongs to them and only them. It is also assuming that the reader will be a woman and does the cooking. This is presenting the ideology that all women are housewives and therefore do all of the cooking, and also cleaning due to the woman's tidy appearance.
Adbusters presents very different ideologies and viewpoints. The double page spread which includes hands in a bath and a tap presents these ideologies well. Adbusters has very strong ideologies that the world has many problems, one of these including poverty. Adbusters also has the viewpoint that people just buy things for the brand and do not care about poverty elsewhere. This double page spread article presents these ideologies well. There is a contrast between the two images because one is of someone in the bath holding their hands out. Due to the high angle shot and the position that the model is sitting in, it looks as if they are begging. The close up shot is focusing on the model's hands and knees which is deliberately unsexualised, this is very subversive and shows that the point of this is to prove a point. This position of hands also has connotations of begging. The model is sat in a bath and so perhaps is begging for more water. The audience is positioned in the bath with the model, and so could make the audience feel guilty, which is another one of the ideologies that Adbusters has - to make the audience feel guilty. This could be reinforced due to the audience associating this position with being poor and in poverty due to anchorage from charity adverts, this is a symbolic code. However, in contrast to this the image on the right is of a very expensive tap which is branded. This could be a direct criticism of the luxury brand due to it being very expensive for being just a tap. This could suggest that the expensive brand is creating poverty or is at fault for poor people in poverty who have limited access to water. Consumerism could be presented through the image of the tap because people are only buying it for the brand, as it is just a tap and all taps do the same thing, you don't need to buy an expensive one. Both of these pages are polysemic due to the preferred reading being unclear, and lots of people reading this could be very unclear of what it actually means. This suggests that the target audience is educated and knowledgable. this could present an ideology that only educated people can understand what is happening in the world and how consumerism is affecting us all.
This is very different to Woman magazine, the viewpoints and ideologies in Woman magazine are very simple and clear. This could be because it is appealing to a very different audience. Woman is targeting women who are working class whereas Adbusters targets educated, middle aged men. In Woman magazine there is a whole article about men, titled "Extra special on men." The fact that there is a whole article about men indicates that the ideology and viewpoint ofWoman magazine is that women are obsessed with men and must do everything that they can to please them, almost as if it is their duty. This reinforces patriarchal hegemony. It could also present the ideology that women are stupid and cannot think for themselves as they are being told how to get to know men and told things about them, almost as if they cannot figure this out for themselves. This is very sexist due to presenting women as being stupid and unable to do things for themselves. In this article the lexis "men" is the boldest so assumes that they are superior and the most important aspect. This is reinforcing the ideology that men and women are very different, and that men are above women. there is a picture of a man putting on a tie suggesting that he is going to work, this reinforces the ideology that men are in their right place going to work and women are in their right place by staying at home.
Woman magazine includes adverts, however Adbusters does not. This is because Adbusters is anti consumerist and anti capitalist. The adverts included in Woman magazine present strong viewpoints of the roles of women and men. In the Max Factor makeup advert the woman was doing her makeup and by her doing this she attracted the man. This presents the ideology that wearing makeup will instantly make the woman more attractive to the man and he will be interested in her. The name of this brand is at the bottom of the advert and in a large font, it also shows the Z line layout and so is the last thing you see, this signifies its importance. The tagline "Beauty at a moment's notice" shows that makeup is easy to use and also suggests that the women will be keeping it with them in their bag, suggesting that it is very important to them. This reinforces hegemonic norms that women must wear makeup in order to be stereotypically attractive and to gain interest from men. there is a very clear assumption that if a woman does not wear makeup then she is unattractive. This advert says "Just a few quick touches... you're perfectly lovely again" which suggests that attractiveness is based on a product and that without it women are unattractive. This presents the idea of consumerism and is the opposite of Adbusters because Adbusters is very much against the idea of consumerism. This advert also presents stereotypical hegemonic roles of males and females, the female is applying makeup and so the man is interested and comes over to her. The male is the one to be interested in the female and he is also standing behind her, as if he is in control and protecting her which is very stereotypical and sexist.
One of the main ideologies of Adbusters is that consumerism is creating poverty. This is shown in the double page spread of Loubouton shoes. This double page spread is a hermeneutic code as it is vey difficult t understand. The barbed wire on the right side is a symbolic code as it has connotations of danger and being trapped. The image underneath this looks like a fashion show. These two images have a binary opposition as one is in colour whereas the other is not, the top one also has a group of people whereas the bottom only has one. The two images could also have a binary opposition between rich and poor as the rich are doing fashion shows, and the poor are closed together and in need of help. "Red soles are always in season" could link to how walking on milk bottles will give you blisters, but also the brand Christian Loubouton have red soles on their shoes. This could present the ideology that luxury fashion is creating poverty. There is a binary opposition between the Christian Loubouton logo and the battered broken "shoes", the logo is symbolic of luxury and could be stereotypical that black African people are poor.
In conclusion, Adbusters and Woman both present very different viewpoints and ideologies. Adbusters presents the ideology that the world has lots of issues and that poverty isa huge issue. They are also anti capitalist and anti consumerist so are heavily against adverts and critical of them. This is very different to Woman magazine as they use adverts and are not anti capitalist or anti consumerist. Woman magazine presents very sexist viewpoints towards women and presents the ideology that women must be housewives and all look and actin a certain way, this is very different to Adbusters.