Evaluation Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine mainly focuses on the genre of Rock so it is made to appeal to people from that subculture. After my profiling the market research I decided to aim the magazine to a female young audience aged from 16 - 25 who are enthusiastic about music and either live or desire to live the Rock lifestyle. Since all the models are aged from 16 upwards this is how I represented their age group.

The model on the front cover is a representation of the magazines target audience, females. Her attire connotes rebellion, youth and fashion. The makeup used also helps to sell this hard image with a stereotypical view that is portrayed in the media of the genre’s influence on the younger generation. The model represents this genre through the dark black eyeliner, red lipstick makeup and rough hair with a blunt fringe which is a style that is very common of this genre as seen in the image of teenage icon, Taylor Momsen.

Unlike other genres of music for example, Hip-Hop and R&B where the lyrics are mainly steered to showing how much status and affluence the artist has (bling and wealth), Rock artists are not majorly concerned these topics but rather values individuality and unconformity. To relay this, the model is shown wearing just a necklace to not distract the attention from the makeup and hair and instead enhance the look with a simplistic feature of the jewellery.  Furthermore to entice the reader, I wanted the model to give an expression that was slightly effortless and only required the model to make direct eye-contact with the audience. I believe this look was achieved and also with the eyeliner it intensifies the image drawing the attention towards the eyes.

Whilst researching this genre I came across the information that a lot of young existing female ‘Rockers’ have had difficulty when it came to obeying the law. It is probable that this is because of their acts of rebellion or their resistance to conform. I conveyed this idea by having my model pose with the prop of a mug-shot sign. Although this idea could be construed negatively as a bad example for the chosen audience, the actual reason behind this is to express the stereotypical image of this genre.

The model featured on the double page spread similarly supports this stereotypical representation of the rock community. This model represents two subcultures, teenagers and the rock community. The chosen gesture (the holding up of the middle finger) shows her revolt to conventional ways (rock community) and also the attitude that is common amongst this age group (teenagers).

Although every model I used look relatively different, they all are able to be identified belonging to this genre of music. Also to show that there is no discrimination of any race in my magazine, every model I used are all different ethnicity. By doing this it shows that though they may be different races, they are all united through their love for music.