Oh Comely Flashcards
How is Oh Comely alternative to other women’s magazines?
Minimalist cover, dark and tonal colour palette, contemporary typography, she wears minimal makeup and cargo style clothes
Why have magazine sales been steadily in decline?
The arrival of the internet, people can access content for free
What has Oh Comely described itself as?
A curious, honest and playful independent magazine
What does Oh Comely’s content allow you to do?
Meet strangers, hear their stories and look at life differently
What is the theme of the issue 35 CSP?
Power and strength
How does the front cover create an enigma code?
She directly addresses the audience, anchored by the coverlines ‘power and poise’
When was Oh Comely launched?
2010
Who created Oh Comely?
3 London Uni friends
Who publishes Oh Comely now?
Iceberg Press (independent company)
What advertisements feature in Oh Comely?
Brands who match the magazine’s ideologies.
What price range is the magazine?
What price range is the magazine?
What does Oh Comely focus on?
Female empowerment and strength, and real people, multi-cultural
What controversial topics does Oh Comely cover inside issue 35?
Gender identity and fluidity
Who are the average/target audience for Oh Comely readers?
27 year olds who are educated and left-wing
What does the title mean?
Attractive/appealing, it has a nostalgic feel
How has Oh Comely further departed from mainstream aesthetics?
The use of cover art rather than models
How does the magazine present itself in its articles?
They use white space to create a more sophisticated and clean feel
What are the featured articles?
Speaking Out and More than Gender
What is Oh Comely’s social media reach?
100,000
How many readers does Oh Comely have per issue?
25,000
Where is Oh Comely sold?
Through independents, WHSmith, international outlets
Blumler and Katz - Uses and Gratifications - Personal Identity?
Readers enjoy having their quirky, creative lifestyle and feminist viewpoint endorsed and reflected by the magazine
Blumler and Katz - Uses and Gratifications - Relationships
Oh Comely is presented in a particularly personal way. It is the creation of three university friends, the magazine offers background on the contributors and readers are encouraged to ‘get to know’ the editorial team
Blumler and Katz - Uses and Gratifications - Surveillance?
Oh Comely deliberately looks to inform its readers about niche stories, events and people.
What psychographic groups are Oh Comely readers typically?
Reformer or Explorer
Symbolic Annihilation - Gerbner
There is an absence of men within the magazine, instead the focus is on women as artists, entrepreneurs etc.
Who is Oh Comely produced by?
By a small, independent company called Iceberg Press. Only produce one other magazine and target their niche audience online. Not designed to be bought from a rack, which is reflected in the cover design.
Androgyny
Front cover: androgynous elements to the front cover; e.g hair, lack of makeup, clothing and body language are not hyper-feminine or overtly sexualised
Why are the cover lines ambiguous (enigma codes)?
Because they do not have to sell the magazine to an impulse purchaser.
What can be read from the image on the front cover?
Combination of jewellery and clothing (British country clothing - green and cream palette) which connote middle class and upper class identity
- expensive earrings: connotes wealth and luxury, contrasts minimalism aspect
- fully clothed: directing gaze elsewhere by preventing objectification
What is the significance of the typography?
Typography is a combination of a hand-written title with sans-serif subtitles, which makes the magazine feel more home-spun, personal and craft-like
bell hooks
Cover there are clear echoes of her feminist theory:
- for hooks it is important that women tell their own stories, reflected in the sub-title “words of hard-won wisdom”
Significance of language choices on the cover
- reminiscent of poetry and other forms of creative writing which reflect the creative focus in the magazine
- the title of the magazine is deliberately archaic (old fashioned)
- the word “comely” means attractive but not in a sexualised way and the exclamation “Oh” makes it both more poetic and more archaic
Genre Theory
Possible to make the argument that Iceberg are here actively trying to subvert the usual tropes of women’s lifestyle and fashion magazines, which subscribe to the patriarchal discourse that places emphasis on sexual desirability above other concerns
How does Oh Comely represent itself as inclusive?
- there is a variety of representations in the magazine; Fahma Mohamed (Black and Muslim), Deanna Roger (Black), Meltem Avcil (Kurdish) and Ameli de Alwis (Black).
- Inclusion of Megan Jayne Crabbe who does not conform to either the body conventions of traditional magazine publishing
How does Oh Comely set out a range of potential audience responses?
Through the phrase “admire, follow and inspire” in the copy of the speaking out article.
How does Oh Comely use cover lines to indicated a narrative?
“your own revolution” seems to follow Todorov’s equilibrium - disruption - realisation - re-equilibrium model
How does Oh Comely work to elevate the status of the people featured in the magazine?
Inclusion of website addresses and the SEMIOTIC signification (lots of white space and centrally justified text) promote the reader to follow the individuals concerned, replicating online social media, and elevate them artistically into iconic figures. Quotations help to elevate the status of the featured people.
How has the image of Deanna Roger been encoded?
The jazz imagery present in the picture of her links to icons such as Billie Holliday despite the fact she is not a singer. Poetry doesn’t have the same dramatic iconography as music so the magazine intertextuality borrows to give a sense of performance and personality
More than gender article:
Structuralism - how does the article challenge binary opposition?
If traditional binary opposition involve male/female and masculine/feminine pairs then transgender stories have a disruptive effect on that structure. The article presents Ash Allan as a person who is still gender-fluid which is unusual and daring - there are many reactionary voices who would seek to deny trans identity (Stuart Hall - oppositional reading)
More than gender article:
Structuralism - Binary opposition
Prefaced by the strong binary oppositions ENCODED in the images. The toy racing car and photograph represent a world of clear gender identity but also a world of the past. The SEMIOTIC signifiers (faded colours and bright plastic) carry connotations that this is yesterday’s binary opposition and the modern world is different.
More than gender article:
- Photographs
Frame the conversation and open the text to different interpretations (the images of the countryside, one a full page in size, pull the focus in one direction but then the photo-strip pulls it back to their relationship). Walks and car journeys that allowed the two siblings to talk are represented as just as important as Ash’s gender.
How does the more than gender article exemplify generic blurring?
The article follows hook’s maxim and allows the two people to speak for themselves (as opposed to asking questions which close down the direction of the interview). In this way the GENRE of the piece is less like a magazine article and more like a podcast or radio show.
How does Oh Comely attempt to create a distinct brand identity?
- subverts the codes and conventions of a typical lifestyle magazine i.e. no puffs, few coverlines = progressive as there is no control from large conglomerates
- less of a house-style
- ‘curious’ in strapline represents them as unfamiliar and intriguing
How does the front cover subvert patriarchal ideologies?
Cover lines use words ‘power’, ‘hard-won’ and ‘strong’ subvert patriarchal views of women as weak and inferior.
Who is the audience?
Young adult females aged 18-25 (people of articles seem to be of this age = relatable)
- of any sexuality or ethnicity
- costs £5 so teens not likely to afford it
- politically aware and artistic, likely to be reformers (‘speaking out’) and aspirers (‘power and poise’)
- published in London = urban lifestyle
- liberal political standpoint
How does Oh Comely subvert Curran and Seaton’s ideas?
- independent company: media products operating outside of mainstream media institutions will fail, media industry dominated by small number of companies - lack of variety in ideologies
How does Oh Comely subvert Hesmondhalgh’s ideas?
- little to no adverts, sole intention isn’t to make profit: subverts idea that advertising that advertising and marketing is vital in selling a media product.
What type of aesthetic does the magazine have?
Minimal - few coverlines, lots of white, small sections of copy, no puffs
What does Oh Comely assumes of its reader?
Expects readers to be socially active and intellectually stimulated, leading an urban lifestyle of potential privelege
Front cover - Positioning
Arms above head = polysemic. Could represent model as laid back? powerful? open? quite masculine? Polysemic nature of her body language creates enigma = encourages reader to find out who she is and what she’s done.
What view of the world does Oh Comely cultivate?
Grounded view of the world. Suggesting we idolise/make the wrong people famous, elevating status of ordinary people empowering readers - encouraging them to become politically/socially active and part of the movement
Which class is Oh Comely targeting and how can we tell?
- middle class; educated, professionals. BC1 but also E due to university students.
How does the Speaking Out use Todorov’s narrative theory?
Each individual is presented as having overcome a struggles within their lives, in the form of Todorov’s narrative theory, to achieve the point they’re at (new equilibrium) - magazine meriting this by elevating status through social media-like layout and pull quotes.
- Using Todorov’s narrative theory to inspire readers to become socially active by conveying that there is a better future is ahead & the negative can be used to work towards the good.
How does Oh Comely exemplify Steve Neale’s theory of repetition and difference?
- Subverted conventions: no puffs, very few coverlines, adrogynous woman, no price/date/barcode, no articles related to makeup or fashion, lots of white space (represents the magazine as unafraid to defy the norm)
- Conformed to conventions: masthead, strapline, key signifier = female and fills entirety of front cover
Front cover - Mid-shot, low angle
Focus is on key signifier, shallow focus means we can not see the background - emphasising that the focus of the magazine is on women & women only. Low angle represent model as superior, powerful and in control (emphasised by direct address) - subverting typical stereotypes of women.
How does the magazine represent themselves as authentic and inclusive?
Selection and combination of a diverse group of women who are real and unafraid to stand out and defy norm (encouraging reader to do the same) - curvaceous women, dyed blue hair etc. Lack of photoshop and makeup kept natural = women shown for flaws and this is turned into positive thing.
Absence of celebrity figures
Emphasis on the magazine representation as authentic through the inclusion of real women who the reader can relate to and idolise.
Diversity
The black girl - Posses and opinion and get notices through it
This emphasises the lack of black excellence that is the common consensus around the black community (Gilroy and bell hooks)
The muslim girl wearing a hijab - firstly breaks stereotypes that someone froma Muslim background is not the media for something negative but rather positive, plus it is a female already countertyping
Art can be showcased through the ‘Speak Out’ department of the magazine
Levi Strauss ‘Binary Opposites’
- Speaking out article
Deals with contrasts such as ‘body dysphormia vs. body confidence’ and ‘self love vs. self loathing’ which help us to better understand the fundamental issues and dilemmas people are facing/have faced (illusion of intimacy, parasocial relationship). A lot of topics in the magazine involve identity, prompting self-reflexivity.
