Attitude Online
Attitude Online is a supplementary website for the magazine Attitude. Attitude Online is a men’s lifestyle website catering to a gay audience. The website tends to target a working class audience, though the magazine tends to target a more aspirational middle class audience. By targeting a working class audience, this allows the producers of Attitude to to target a larger audience and therefore minimise risk and maximise profit while still targeting a minority audience.
Initial discussion: how are gay men represented in Attitude Online?
Gay men are represented as being expressive, creative, feminine and challenging hegemonic norms and conventions
The photos in this article are clearly presented for their erotic potential and the lexis of this article makes this clear. Images such as this are not widely published and shared in mainstream media, and are therefore relegated to gay lifestyle publications like Attitude Online. By presenting gay men in an erotic and naturalised content, it challenges conventional and heteronormative representations of sexuality. The mise en scene of this image challenges stereotypical masculine stereotypes. An erotic mode of address is constructed through the MES of the model’s head resting in another man’s crotch. The image also clearly features the hegemonically feminine MES of painted nails, which is further anchored through the highly connotative symbolism of the pink cigarette, pink food and pink blusher. An atypical view of masculinity is constructed through a binary opposition between stereotypically feminine and masculine features. By presenting stereotypically attractive men, the article is clearly constructed for the purposes of sexual gratification. By emphasising certain features of the models, the producers of Attitude have queer coded these models, and have constructed them as being gay. This is often constructed through the use of stereotypical and hypersexualised imagery.
The use of informal lexis constructs the gay audience as being informed of slang, perhaps younger, and being involved in gay subculture. This article has been selected for it;s controversial qualities, and focuses on the very specific issue of closeted gay men being openly homophobic to avoid admitting being gay. This constructs a hypocritical mode of address which draws attention to real issues faced by many people. However, despite the seriousness of this subject, the article takes an informal mode of address, which constructs an entertaining approach to the target audience.
Attitude features this campaign principally for featuring a trans man (Elliot Page) and focusing on the themes of inclusion and ‘self-acceptance’. The article also features heterosexual people, which emphasises the themes of inclusion. However, most of all, the article features a brief rundown on a new advertising campaign by the high end fashion house Gucci. This reinforces a stereotypical assumption that gay men are interested in expensive and high end fashion items.
Camp refers to how audiences embrace deliberately trashy or silly elements to a media product. Camp elements may include strange fashion choices, overacting, confusing plots, and cheesy pop music.
An unconventional representation of masculinity is constructed through the harsh, striking and heavily contoured makeup of The Vivienne. Contouring refers to the extremely overt and heavy use of makeup to draw attention to the individuals cheekbones, and this style of makeup is highly associated with drag subculture. The article takes the assumption that the gay target audience is aware of drag culture. The producers of the magazine are therefore explicitly using stereotypical representations of gay men and their interests in order to target them. This stereotypical representation therefore positions the target audience in a highly relatable and comfortable mode of address.
In the article ‘Model Fernando Casablancas makes us blush in Attitude’s September/October Issue’, the model is presented in a highly unconventional, feminine, and heavily sexualised way. The MES of the model’s topless body is further emphasised through his arched body posture, which is symbolic of the point of orgasm. These images construct an idealised and hyperreal representation of sex explicitly for a gay male audience. The representation of the model is highly queer coded, which signifies an intention to provide an erotic mode of address for the gay target audience. This can be found through the striking binary opposition between the model’s extremely feminine bow/mini-dress and the model’s masculine, hairy legs. Additionally, the striking use of pink MES constructs a creative and stylish mode of address which deliberately plays into the stereotype that gay men are stylish and creative.
The interview with the painter Michale Rumsby uses a narrative convention that will be familiar to many gay men, the ‘coming out story’. The process of ‘coming out’ involves moving from being a ‘closeted’ gay man to being ‘out’, and being openly gay. This process is extremely complicated and extremely important in gay culture. By making explicit reference to his sexuality throughout the article, the producer is attempting to target the almost exclusively gay male audience. The story of accepting one’s identity provides an aspirational mode of address for the target audience. Additionally, the article features striking MES of a stereptical painer in messy overalls with bare feet and painted toes, which once more creates a queer coded represntation to the audience
The highly colloquial lexis of this article suggests a younger and working class target gay audience. It relates to a wider audience by representing older men. It constructs an amusing mode of address about a hypocrisy that many gay men will be able to identify with. It also criticises right wing lawmakers, which suggests a left wing leaning ideological perspective