Wednesday 23 April 2014

Essay Question Easter Homework

Within this magazine front cover there is a clear feel of the language being used, this language is not extremely posh and sophisticated, but yet also not very chatty and informal, the language used is like you are having a conversation with a friend, it is very personal, talking and showing you things you wouldn’t get normally in maybe a newspaper or a political review, it of course is somewhat chatty as it is there to reel you in to this magazine that holds stories that you are to get interested in, this is all used in the style of the language and the wording the magazine chooses. Another form of convention is that of a direct mode of address, this can come from the text on the cover or the celebrity that us featured there. With the celebrity he or she is nearly always looking directly at the camera taking the picture so that when it is printed it gives the impression that they are looking at you, from wherever you are, yeah it does sound weird. But instead of being a creepy stare it is used to give that friendly aspect that it is all about you, the magazine is there to talk to you and it is yours to have, these stories are for your entertainment, and this helps with getting the customers and readers to easily come in and aspire and get stuck in to the magazine. The celebrities are looking and are there to talk to you and share this information with you, and that is a very important convention for any magazine. The other mode of direct address is the one that came with the article about party dress codes, but it specifically says “YOUR PARTY DRESS CODE”. This is direct address as it includes the word YOUR in the sentence, this is talking to you the reader and audience, it is talking to you, and what is inside is for you as a person to help you, this helps to engage the reader in this magazine, the audiences will see it like, Hey that’s me they’re talking about! An awesome dress code for parties, for me! It is not a bad feeling and it helps to reel in and engage the reader in a friendly and chatty tone.

I believe that this magazine cover will convey to the audience that this magazine is one of informal nature, but not to chatty, with a sense of sophistication as it isn’t extremely chatty or extremely informal, the women on the front covers seem to be more nicely and appropriately attired than that of the women in such magazines as FHM, this gives it a more grown up sense, maybe for women in their 30’s and mid 40’s as that is the average age range for the stars on the front cover. The stories also are not those that would attract an audience of young women but more for middle aged women. The layout of this front over seems to me symmetrical as it seems very organised and even, it holds a big square logo of the magazine that is matched with a box of text, and an even amount of text for each side, it is balance very well, and this shows that this magazine is more planned out, ordered and sophisticated, rather than a jumble of text and pictures possibly like a young teen magazine. The font on this cover are sans serif, this shows a more modern and informality to it that isn’t incredibly posh, showy or sophisticated, bar one word ‘party’, I believe this is done to show that it is not a teenagers house party, but maybe a dinner party, or something more along those lines. The language in it does not appear to be extremely anything, not to chatty, not to funny and comedic, just regular everyday language, I would still have to come back to the middle aged people as it isn’t youthful language that is really just average talkative language.


In this magazine to me there is no real problem with the representations on the cover of this magazine, Gwyneth Paltrow isn’t represented badly in any way, she isn’t sexualised and is very well dressed