my findings on the front cover of men's health magazine

·         NEW MALE SENSITIVITY

There was no new male sensitivity, mainly because it was the ‘Hardcore’ issue

·         QUICK FIX PROBLEM SOLVING  

Lots of quick fix problem solving mainly with to do with muscles, weight and manly issues e.g.:

Reboot your liver in 24 hours

Swap fat for abs!

23 ways to live 20 years longer

Ditch your love handles

The hot dog that burns fat

·         MALE SUPERIORITY / MANIPULATION

The front cover shows with its headlines and titles ‘hardcore’ the magazines is all about being strong and fit, with a muscly, dominant male fighter on the front.

It talks and has a focus on sex and organisms as being powerful ‘ Fight cancer with sex’.

·         MALE  NARCISSISM AND ANXIETY

There are headlines representing male narcissism and anxiety such as:

Fight cancer with sex

Is the recession harming you?

The main colours of the magazine are primary colours – blue, red, yellow with black as well these colours are very bold, standing out and catching the readers eye immediately. They’re manly colours only a slight bit of pink nothing to girly that would put the target reader off.

The print of the front cover is all in bold classic front no fancy curls; it is quite plane which makes the front cover uncomplicated like most men see themselves. The print is all in capitals and the fact it is also bold makes it seem as if the words are shouting at you, showing a strong powerful side to the magazine.

The magazine could be described as punchy. The headlines are punchy being short but sweet sentences that stand out with there bold font and colours ‘SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK’. The cover picture is also punchy, it’s a boxer punching with cracked glass by his hand. The picture on the cover is black and white, this is to show the target readers that the picture is more maniacal showing the structure of muscles not sexual having his top of.

There is a lot of male dominant words such as fight, master, hardcore, build, survive and power. This is very confident, strong language which reflects the stereotypical ideal man being strong and confident.   

There is a lot of use of statistics using numbers to entice the readers. It gives the readers the impression that everything is measurable and makes them think it is factual and therefore more true. This magazine used headlines such as ‘BLITZ 1.200kcal IN JUST 1 HOUR!. 

Butler - Madonna and Lady Gaga

Judith Butler is a theorist that argues gender is performed and not natural; it is learned and performed ‘Gender Trouble’ but a subversive act. Some say Madonna is seen as an icon of gender trouble performing gender and sexuality in her music videos and concerts, but is she just a product of the media machine? More currently Lady Gaga could conform to Butler’s theory with dressing differently to other celebrities such as a boy at music awards and wearing a dress made out of meat.

Lady Gaga has been known for saying Madonna is and role model and icon for her. However they've recently had a well known argument that has been in the media. Lady Gaga refused to perform in one of Madonna's concerts and Madonna retaliated and made a shout out in one of her shows to Lady Gaga starting the media argument. 

Fish Tank and Wasp article

This is a great link to an article on recent films we have watch in Media reflecting collective identity. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/aug/23/andrea-arnold-fish-tank-cannes

The role of women in fairy liquid adverts

This range of Fairy Liquid adverts show the typical role of women in the 20th Century being a house wife. All these adverts for washing up liquid revolve around mother figures based in the kitchen always looking after their young. In these adverts the children are mostly always young girls, this shows they are learning from there role model (there mother) and trained almost into what is the role of a women.

There is no male figures in these Fairy Liquid adverts, implying they are of at work bringing the money in the for the family while the women stays at home and keeps the house and children under order. This shows very semitropical roles of male and female. 

The direct audience for these adverts are to women (mothers) and they stress the point of having very 'soft hands'. This gives the impression that it will almost make you look beautiful and attractive like the women in the adverts.