Evaluation

Question Two

As young people today tend to receive loads of bad media coverage, my intentions were to try and represent young people in a positive way. In today’s society, many stereotypes are formed, with people falling into each one, sometimes even more than one. A stereotype featured in my magazine, on the front cover, is “emo”. “Emo” evidently stands for “emotional” and is a type of music. Emotional hardcore originated in the mid 1980s and was pioneered by bands such as ‘Embrace. However in recent times it has been initiated by famous bands such as ‘Fall Out Boy’ and ‘My Chemical Romance’. Although recently it has been portrayed negatively through the media as kids being depressed and dressing weird. ‘Emo’ are stereotypes as wearing tight jeans and tight t-shirts, having long straight died black hair with a long fringe covering one or both eyes. Encoded into the image is the idea that “emo’s” may not be a typical social desirable group of people, however there passion for music lead them to actually become an ideal self/partner on the front of a magazine. Thus portraying them in a positive way. Their facial express juxtapose with the text “the new band set to wow the world with their passion for music”. Their poignant facial expression leads the audience to think that they’re just some ‘depressed emo kids’ on the other hand when reading the caption next to it makes the audience realise otherwise. This is known as anchorage. So by selecting the image and appropriate text, I was able to construct a positive representation of the stereotype ‘emo’.
On the contents page, i have two female solo singers, connoting females are just as talented as males at making music. Their clothes are quite ordinary ruling out the chance of being objectified or a subject to male gaze. However, Laura (the girl in the pink dress) has a powerful pose (holding the headphone wire in both hands), connoting she is strong. Where as Emma (the girl in the black dress) looks professional and the fact she is holding a microphone connotes her passion for music.
The guys used for my double page spread can be seen as ideal self for males and ideal partners for females with them being in a band and good looking. The article which explains there success is anchored to the picture to show their hard work and how it pays off. Again this is a positive representation of young people.