How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

 



The Media Industry are able to take the world and manipulate it in a way to re-present it to us which often is a significant way in which we judge and stereotype and has an effect on our everyday lives. As i have already mentioned before the genre of my music magazine is rock/indie therefor i have formed a particular representation of the fans of this type of music. I feel i have created the typical stereotype fan for this genre, with a more relaxed messy and layed back look. The fans of my magazines would generally wear indie or rebellious clothing which would go against the social norms and would perhaps also fit into the typical rock'n'roll lifestyle such as drink, drugs and partying. Fans would more likely come from a working class background and would predominantly be male, however as i have tried to make the magazine more gender neutral through colours and other features some female fans may be included, so this may challenge the representation of this social group.

 

Rock/indie music is often focused mainly on the talents of artists playing instruments and the passion they have for creating music unlike other music genres such as pop who often has a focus on vocals and image, this is a quality that the social group of my magazine would possess, with an avid interest in music and instruments. I have represented my particular social group through many features such as photos where i have incorporated their stereotypical fashion sense, holding drumsticks to suggest their ability to play instruments and a rebellious streak is shown by a cigarette placed behind one of the band members ears. The choice of language and writing i have used is informal, uses slang and is quite a personal tone. This helps to represent the social group as these techniques will help them to engage with the magazine. Colours i have chosen such as red, black and white connotate the darkness, passion and simplicity of rock/indie music and these social groups will be able to relate to this. I have reinforced the stereotypes of these social groups by offering competitions such as winning a guitar, gig guides and album reviews. Things that i avoided including in my magazine were things such as gossip, make up and perfumes as these do not conform to the rock/indie genre. One way in which i have challenged stereotypes is by trying to invite some female attention to the magazine.

 

Here is an image of the people i used on the front cover of my magazine (left) which represents the audiences social group and a band in a real media text (right):

These images have some similarities but also have differences. First of all the postures of the band members are very relaxed, the male members both have their hands in their pockets to show this, it can also be shown through the choice of clothing, beany hats, jackets and t-shirts. The gesture of the two females in my image also helps to unite the group. The angle and the shot type is a mid shot facing head on. The mid shot aids to show the body language of the band and the head on shot shows that the personalities of the people within it the band are going to be quite direct and confident. The image from the real media text is located outside to have good quality lighting, i aimed to achieve this also but by using a light background and lights within a studio to gain a more professional look. The expression on every persons face is quite a serious one and this is a typical representation.