Representation Of Social

GroupsIn this PowerPoint I will be studying how representation affects gender,

age, race and class and what impact this will have on my music magazine.

Gender- women

• When researching different music magazine covers I found that women are represented in various ways depending usually on the genre of the magazine.

• Classical Music magazines such as ‘ Classical Music’ and ‘Gramophone’ both represent women in an angelic manor as the genre of classical music tends to portray beauty, RELAXATION AND MODESTY.

• music magazines like ‘GQ’ AND ‘BILLBOARD’ BOTH REPRESENT THE GENRE OF MODERN MUSIC AND TENDS TO SEXUALISE THE CONCEPT. The magazines tend to have higher selling rates due to the representation of the image on the cover.

• In comparison older magazines such as ‘Downbeat’ and ‘now dig this’ illustrate women in their own rightful way, they don’t use exploitation depending on the genre of their music. They show the artists true form by usually using a photograph at a live event to show how the public would see the artist rather than made up for a photo-shoot.

• When creating my magazine I will not use genre stereotypes of exploitation in my work. Instead I will capture as many real live events as I possibly can to ensure that portrayal is rightfully understandable.

Gender- Men

• As well as women, men are also branded. However this is mostly due to the unrealistic, melodramatic tone, set by the editors of the magazine in which to draw in a wider audience.

• Again magazines like ‘gq’ and ‘xxl’ falsely portray the male image. As unrealistically Dr.Dre doesn’t exactly play chess with an aggressive expression on his face.

• Nowadays it seems that the role males play on music magazines is unrealistic as the audience usually wants to become the man on the cover. Therefore this creates unrealistic imagery and it is not what I want to portray in my music magazine cover. I again want mine to represent a live event and for it to be real and not melodramatic or over enduring.

Age • Age is portrayed ironically in magazines.

Usually the artists that are more older and exhibit wiser features tend to be idolised with various filters and overused mainstream text. In comparison to those of an upcoming younger generation which tend to grasp inspiration by the idolised older musicians.

• The photograph is an old photograph since John Lennon died before modern high tech cameras evolved. However with the use of modern technology, the youthfulness of the edit makes the photo seem more modern and can represent the appeal of older musicians to a younger audience. It can also show to an older audience how music and musicians have evolved over time. I want to try and exhibit this in my music magazine without making it seem too ironic and idolised.

Ethnicity/Race

• Ethnicity is shown particularly well in music magazines as many various artists are from different cultures or races. Racism would not be tolerated or applauded in the industry as these musicians are idolised and are role models for many aspiring people with similar features to themselves.

• Although they minority of the ethnic artists tend to vary around the rap and r&b genres of music. The stereotypical image of this is dangerous, rough and hard. Therefore this could categorize them with having a certain background image.

• In my magazine I will use a vary of ethnic groups to create diversity and seem more open to different genres compared to the typical mainstream types.

Class• Social class isn't regularly needed for

representation within music magazines. However it is very powerful in expressing a music artists form of how successful they’ve potentially become.

• Although differing social class backgrounds are easy to recognise due to the appearance of the artist.

• For example those in more preppy, expensive clothing are more likely to originate from middle upper class. Rather than those from a lower working class who tend to dress more with high street fashion.

• In my music magazine I want social class to not be a large identity because talent isn't based upon social class.