Vogue - Media Language - Component 2 Flashcards
What is vogue and who is the main target audience?
Vogue is a monthly high-end fashion magazine
- vogue mainly is centered and targets middle-class women who have a lot of disposable cash ready to spend on luxury items
- Such as clothing and jewelry
What is the function of a magazine cover?
- The function of a magazine cover is for the reader to first make the reader feel as though they are getting something new every time
- This is why each cover has to be different
- This is important to encourage repeat purchases
- And at the same time establish a sense of brand identity which is typically achieved through a recognizable house style
- Which is the distinctive look, the aesthetic or visual style of a magazine
Introduction to Roland bartes and semiotics and analysis of the vogue front cover?
- Roland bartes mentions the idea that texts communicate thier meanings through a process of denotation and connotation
- which both involve the literal meaning of the image and the multiple meanings suggested by the image
What are the connotations of the font styles used?
- We see that the font styles convey a sophisticated aesthetic, using a vintage yet classy typeface
- This conforms to the house style of the magazine and emphasises the upper class/aristocratic culture of the institution
Are they sans serif? Modern or Traditional?
- We also see in the text the use of the times new roman font which have short decorative line, called serifs added to the letters
- The style project a traditional look
What does the colour scheme of the magazine cover connote?
- The colour scheme in the magazine uses soft blues and aquatic greens which symbolise the idea of the ocean
- This again carries cultural connotations of exotic travel
- The masthead is washed in a green hue, which is symbolic of the sophisticated, high end nature of the magazine
What is significant about the positioning of the different elements on the cover?
- We see that Sophia Loren is captured in a medium close up shot and is positioned in the centre of the frame
- The actress is bathed in high key light drawing attention to her natural beauty whilst promoting theme of summer madness
What is a paradigm?
A related set of signs that the encoder can choose from - the set of font style the magazine producer may choose
What is a syntax?
A combination of signs that are linked together in a particular way to convey the same or similar meaning
How does the use of alliteration impact the reader?
- The use of alliteration also impacts the reader
- This is mainly due to the bottom right third of the front cover being used to promote stories within the set edition
- Alliteration is used “sand, swim, sea, sun shakes and Sophia,
- To entice the audience to purchase and consume themes of summer
What is the function of the imperative?
- The main function of the imperative here is to address the audience directly with “how to scintillate almost everywhere”
- This sensationalises body image
Analysis of cutex advertisment?
- The poster uses media language to build a feminine identify of youth and sexuality, this is achieved via the copy and the central image
- A medium close up shot is used to frame the female model dominantly to the left
- The sell line “ bare essentials” anchors the image due to a the lack of clothing
- This connotes that being bare is both liberating for women and desirable for heterosexual men
Justify why the vogue set text is a binary opposite to wartime of austerity?
- We see that this set text is the exact binary opposite to wartime women of austerity
- We see this through mainly the iconography of the clothing in both the cutex advert and the front cover
- In the cutex advert we see the women being represented as desirable which is reinforced by her appearing to not wear a t-shirt
- But this is also seen at the front page where Sophia Loren is now wearing bright summer time colours with luxury items, which wouldn’t have appealed to wartime women
The rise of consumerism during the 60s?
As wartime austerity gave way to a new era of prosperity,
- women’s magazines were seen to enter a new phase
- For example having gone through a “make do mend phase” in the 1940s
- Middle market womens magazines became part of the “shop and spend” euphaoria of the 50s and 60s
The sixties as a time of sexual revolution?
- The 60s were seen by many to herald a new era of female liberation
- One of the most significant factors in this regard was the fight for equality and financial independence
- Legislative changes were made that enabled women to gain a greater degree of financial independence than had previously been possible
- Allowing women to partake in consumerism suited to their identity
