stereotypes and representations

 Gender 

This cover of Mix mag, a club/dance magazine, supports the theory of Laura Mulvey. She said in 1975 that women in T.V and traditional media products, women are seen as only as two things, "As erotic objects of the desire for the characters within the story and as erotic objects for the desire of the spectator." As you can see, this magazine cover strongly supports this theory as the main image is of a women dressed as an erotic object that is for the desire of the spectator. from this we could say that the Primary target audience would be Men because of the main image and its erotic nature. However, it could be argued that the secondary target audience would be women of a certain age because they would see the women as something that they would want to be. Also, the use of direct address adds to the effect of the appeal toward the male target audience.

In terms of my own club/dance magazine, I would use these terms to support mulvey's theory because it could attract the male gender into my target audience.

Race 

This cover of the same magazine disrupts the theories of Malik because she states that, " Whiteness has been naturalised, as though it is an invisible 'norm'" - 1998 This is disrupted in this cover because we can see a white and a black person on the cover. Also the black person has the more power because he is giving the audience direct address. According to the functionalist view, which argues that program makers ' caters for what the public wants.' , this magazine is correct because over the past ten years, black people have been more accepted in the media. However according to the Markxist view, which is that of those in control of the media output shape how audiences view race, This magazine may be incorrect because over history we have been taught that the black race do not have the power, but he does in the cover of this magazine.

In terms of my own magazine, I would love to break these conventions of white being the common race on magazine covers but it would be impractical because there are not many black people in my area.

Sexuality 

In terms of sexuality, Gay men are viewed as 'screaming queens' and especially in media and television, they are seen to like a lot of famine things a lot. This is called magnification because gay men may not all like famine things. In relation to this magazine cover, this man is holding a not-very manly dog. The cover also has a lot of pink on it which is also seen as feminine colour. However, the man is wearing a 'manly' suit which could disrupt the theories of medhurst , who in 1998 claimed that "they are awful because they are not like us." This is because he is relatable between the male gender because of what he is wearing.

In terms of my own magazine, I will break these theories and stereotypes.


National/regional identity 

In this cover for mix mag, the national identity is american and you can clearly see this in the colours he is wearing. This supports the theory of Andrew Higson who said in 1998 that, " Identity is generally understood to be the shared identity of naturalised inhabitants of a particular geographic space". In this case, the man's regional identity is american.