vogue - media language Flashcards
feature 1 - front cover - anchoring image
- minimalistic when compared to today’s fashion magazines emblazoned with multiple coverlines and jump-lines
- one very striking image of tanned italian actress Sophia Loren in arabesque head gear was renowned for high impact glamorous dressing (head-dress, expensive jewels, debonair make-up, etc) - meets beauty standards
- hair is covered which goes against typical conventions = diversity
- darker skin tone - links to global market
feature one - front cover - coverlines/masthead
- coverlines feature an unconventional list of highlights inside, intentionally breaking the rules of grammar (no commas to separate Sand Sim Sea Sun)
- alliteration with “marvelous mad midsummer” and “sand swim sea sun” is a persuasive technique to engage the audience
- timeless iconic masthead - maintained since the magazine’s inception reflecting it’s rich heritage and traditional values
in green = rich, money
feature 1 - front cover - dateline/priceline
- dateline and price-line is anchored to the masthead in a smaller font
- cost 3 shillings – 26 old pennies (it costs £3.99 currently)
feature 2 - contents page
- conventional - list of stories reflect a fairly broad range of – life style articles, yet ones which would still represent a fairly narrow reflection of female behavior / interests
- alliteration used in the brief story descriptions throughout - ‘flightly new featherweights’, ‘pop painters’ etc and mention of vague terms / locations suggesting a higher class of reader (Deauville, Abu Dhabi)
- stories regarding different cultures and countries suggesting a less ethnocentric focus on the West
- most contributing editors = men
feature 3 - money article
- only article in magazine not overwhelmed by implantation of photographs (emphasis the articles sobering importance) or perhaps more demeaning…women cannot look at pictures AND full understand reading multiple paragraphs at the same time
- style of article is personal and reference the authors own personal experiences
feature 4 - picnics article
- article / photoshoot across multiple ‘foreign’ locations using the classic British picnic as inspiration
- the aspiration the opening paragraph / page creates reinforced by the larger painting referenced as the epitome of high class British snobbery
- appealing to the intellectual, further reinforced by the high brow quotation from famous classic european scribes and playwrights referenced on each double page spread (Oscar Wilde, John Dryden, Romain Gary)
- juxtaposition between the women and the natives of the country the shoot was taking place
feature 5 - heatwave holiday
- all feature the same model and minimal text – limited to text both above and below main images
- text is written in the first person almost like a letter home to a friend / loved one – direct mode of address (as is the model’s eye contact on most of the photos used)
- final spread is written on, like a postcard sent from abroad – all perpetuating the ‘holiday’ theme
- props such as the fan (both ceiling and freestanding) and cooling white colour scheme combine with the model’s revealing fashions to reinforce the ‘Heatwave’ of the title
feature 6 - makeup adverts
the full page adverts for cosmetics (Revlon eyeliner and lasher & Cutex lipstick) are in FULL colour – emphasizing their importance in part funding the magazine through advertising revenue (those glossy covers aren’t cheap)
revlon uses a painting of a woman’s face (direct MOA) with an emphasis on her more vividly coloured eyes, establishing the products purpose
cutex use a real photograph (CU) of a model head and shoulders (direct MOA) within a leafy background (emphasizing the naturalistic?)
feature 7 - soap advert
- advert promoting Imperial Leather soap – a fairly high end / expensive / luxurious product (emphasizing the extravagant appeal of the magazine featuring the ad)
- large photo of women (mother) drying her child
- her mode of address is directed at the child (indirect MOA) highlighting his importance in the context of motherhood
levi strauss binary oppositions
more about the opposites that are not even featured / catered for by the text: Beauty / Ugliness, Rich / Poor / Successful / Failure / Cultured / Un cultured / Thin / Fat etc
roland barthes semiotics
Front page: Sophia Loren and her elegant (yet exotically ‘other’) dress codes reinforcing the connotations of difference combined with the ‘beauty ideal\ readers should find ‘aspirational’
Make-UP adverts: Emphasising the use of lipstick and eyeshadow to connote that a woman must be sexually appealing to members of the opposite sex as the norm of 1960s society. Feminine beauty as norm
Exotic Photoshoots of ‘Picnic’ articles: Contain connotations of freedom and travel being ‘good for the soul’, encouraging women to break away from more traditional roles of the ‘happy housewife’
Soap Advert: BUT… this ad clearly displays more matriarchal / traditional values
