Woman magazine: front cover analysis 2023 edition

This post combines two classes responses, so there's going to be repetition! However, please remember the repetition is revision! So get stuck in!

The generic conventions of the magazine, AKA: what makes magazines different from every other form of media?

• Masthead/name of the magazine, often in a bold and inviting font 
• Magazines are specific to one topic or subject 
• Lack of a conventional  narrative 
• A collection of varied information within a certain topic
• A big emphasis on high quality imagery 
• A glossy monthly can cost around £6 or even much higher
• Infrequent frequency. Magazines may be monthly, weekly, fortnight nightly, or biannual
• A business model based on subscription, where subscribers will often get significant discounts
• Audience varies wildly 
• Often more based on images as opposed to text 
• Many different genres, often appealing to very specific audiences 
• Often printed on high quality and/or glossy 
• Non-disposable media
• More freedom in production
• No set tone
• Wildly different audiences 
• Significantly higher price, that varies wildly 
• More infrequent frequency 
  
  

Quick theory revision: semiotics

• Proairetic code: anything which suggests that something is going to happen (action code)
• Symbolic code: anything which has a deeper meaning
• Hermeneutic code: anything which asks a question, creates a mystery, or suspense
• Referential code: anything which refers to something else, also known as intertextuality 

Woman Magazine: a few things to know

• Target audience: working class, middle aged, British women
• Publication date August 1964 sixty years ago!
• Genre: women’s lifestyle. Articles on housework, cleaning, housewife stuff, entertainment, makeup, dating (‘courting’), lifestyle tips
• A UK women’s lifestyle magazine. Topics covered in women’s lifestyle magazines include makeup, beauty, clothes, fashion, perfume, cooking, cleaning, gossip etc

Initial conclusion

• Conclusion: Woman Magazine presents a simple and straightforward and sexist message to its working class female target audience
  

Flicking through the magazine

Who is the VERY SPECIFIC target audience for this magazine? How do you know?

Appealing to British middle-aged housewives. A housewife is a stereotypical assumption of a woman that stays at home, and looks after children and completes other tasks such as cleaning. The target audience for this magazine is working class women, and we can understand this from the aspirational mode of address of the front cover. Focus on working in the kitchen, looking after children and basic beauty and makeup advice would all appeal to a working class aspirational audience. 

What stereotypical representations can you find?

Double page spread dedicated to beauty and makeup clearly reinforce beauty standards. This reinforces the idea of the male gaze, and suggests that this magazine was produced to meet the needs of a patriarchal society, and reinforces patriarchal hegemony. Lexis ‘these are things girls worry about’: the use of the word ‘girl’ reinforces an assumption that even adult women are ‘young’, niave and irresponsible, and implies women need easy and simple instruction

Who is not represented or is underrepresented in this magazine?

Very few men are represented, and there are absolutely no people of colour

What message is the producer of this magazine presenting to its audience?

To construct a hegemonic representation of women to outline and to reinforce the expectations that women face in society

Why might a woman in 1964 actually read this magazine?

Relatable content? The watercooler effect?

Are you bored of me yet?

Woman magazine front cover initial analysis

• The magazine’s masthead is large, bold, and in the style of calligraphy, with cursive, joined up writing. Appears to be handwritten
• The MES of the handwritten masthead has symbolic connotations of a personal style, which provides an inclusive mode of address for it’s target audience. This reinforces the stereotypical assumption than women are soft and gentle creatures, who must be protected
• The purple background has symbolic connotations of stereotypical femininity. It is bright, and has a high impact mode of address on it’s target audience, that allows the magazine to be competitive. Additionally the purple is highly contemporary, and would be popular in 1964.
• The cover line ‘seven star improvements for your kitchen’ gives a quantity to the wonderful things that the audience will find in this magazine. This provides the audience with the illusion of value and quality. Technical term: sell line
• The lexis “Are You An A-Level Beauty?” functions an hermeneutic code to the audience, and directly asks the audience whether or not they are beautiful. The term ‘A-level beauty’ implies there is a specific grade and ranking to beauty, a hierarchy of beauty that the audience must be engaged with. The term “A-level” also reinforces the hegemonic expectation that to be beautiful is to be very young.
• Complete lack of representation of WoC on the front cover, or indeed in the entire magazine. This reinforces and constructs the ideological perspective that WoC are either not important, or not hegemonically beautiful. 
• George Gerbner: symbolic annihilation: where a group of people is completely omitted from a media product, in a sense constructing a world where they don’t exist. By not including black people in Woman, it situates white people at the top of a hierarchy
• The model is heavily airbrushed. Elements that have been airbrushed include her wrinkles, her teeth, and the whites of her eyes. This model has been selected because she is hegemonically attractive. However, some lines have been retained to make this lifestyle relatable and achievable to the target audience. This reinforces the hegemonic norm that younger women are more attractive.
• Woman magazine works by making the target audience dissatisfied with her own life. It sells a better world, of being younger, more organised, and with a better home
• Makeup reflects a natural look, where it is visible, but not ‘over the tope’ . The model’s lipstick is a nude colour, which again is highly subtle. This allows the magazine to target a target audience of mothers and housewives, and an older and more conservative audience 
• The model is pulling a forced smile, which makes the model look uncomfortable and even nervous. She looks more like a mannequin than a woman, and slightly unreal. This highly staged set up constructs an idealised representation of women, where being slightly scared and uncomfortable was a normal thing. This reinforces patriarchal hegemony 
• While ‘lingerie’ has subtle sexual connotations, the magazine is strangely sexless.
• The magazine arguably moulds women into being a perfect patriarchal hegemonic standard. Beautiful, ‘sexy’, nervous, and a good cook, everything arguably reminds the audience of a world where men are in charge 
• The masthead, simply ‘Woman’ infers that this magazine is what all women need. It’s simplicity emphasises it’s importance, and it further infers that it will contain information appropriate to you
• The typeface is quirky and contemporary, and serif. It is italicised and resembles handwriting. Fun, informal, and personal
• The purple background has regal connotations, connotations of wealth and royalty . This therefore has aspirational symbolism, and heavily implies the contents of the magazine are life changing
• Purple is also highly feminine, and suggestive of a female target audience
• The model's makeup is glamorous, and glamorises the role of the housewife. Additionally the makeup is subtle and natural, and suggests a natural beauty that the target audience should aspire to