Research Investigation

How do male-targeted magazines GQ and MensHealth represent males in order to attract audience?

The representation of men changes drastically depending on its intended audience and their designed gratifications. Through selling different aspirations, both magazines aim to make the male more attractive to women. I will prove this by analysing MensHealth and British GQ magazine articles and adverts. In addition I will investigate what the magazines are promoting, whether that be sex, particular models of behaviour or aspirations. I will apply various theories during my investigation, these being; uses of gratifications, the mirror stage, how this makes men aspirer to be like the men they see in advertisements such as the ones in GQ and MensHealth. Also, I will apply the cultivation theory.

I will be analyzing the October 2013 issue of GQ, which is the 'Men of the year 2013' special, featuring a very iconic middle-aged man, Tom Ford. The magazine cover usually features idolised men aged around 25 and onwards the majority of the time, by doing this it will give the male audience a mirror effect, creating an aspiration for them. GQ is published in 18 other countries as well as the UK, averagely circulating around 950,000 magazines within 6 months (1), British GQ had a circulation of 117,778 from January to July 2013 (2). The American-started magazine, launched in 1931 started of as a mens fashion magazine for the clothing trade, aimed primarily at wholesale buyers and retail sellers. Initially it had a very limited print run and was aimed solely at industry insiders to enable them to give advice to their customers. The popularity of the magazine amongst retail customers, who often took the magazine from the retailers, spurred the creation of Esquire magazine in 1933. 

MensHealth is an American magazine with 40 editions in 47 countries, launched in 1987. It is also the “best-selling mens magazine on U.S. newsstands” (3). Although originally started as a men's health magazine, it currently covers various men's lifestyle topics such as fitness, nutrition, sexuality and even fashion. The magazine's website, MensHealth.com, averages 38 million page views a month (4). Its current and former editors are all males, which explains the 'high-standarded' images of men, trying to attract the women. Most magazine covers of this magazine include a smiling man, usually with their top off flaunting a certain part of his body, mostly all, with a clean-shaved body, usually wearing jeans or joggers. By wearing rugged jeans, yet having a clean-shaved body, it mixes the metrosexuality and masculinity of the males.




The common theme in GQ contains formal, successful, alpha males. This creates an aspiration for male viewers, giving them an effect of jealousy which then leads to desire and consumption. One example of this in the magazine can be the Giorgio Armani ‘ARMANI code’ aftershave advert on page 129. This shows a well looked after male dressed in a suit with a female dressed in a black cocktail dress with her face pressed up to the side of his face and her arms around him. This shows male empowerment and says to the audience if you wear this aftershave you will be like this. The connotations of this advert show wealth and power, the woman is leaning over him making it look as if she couldn’t stand if he wasn’t there. This also links with….







Bibliography; 

(1) eCirc for Consumer Magazines. Alliance for Audited Media

(2) Mag ABCs: full circulation round-up for the first half of 2013. 15 August 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2013
(3) Kinetz, Erika (3 September 2006). "Who's the man? Dave. The New Yiork

"Who's the Man? Dave". The New York Times.
(4) "Men's Health". Rodale Inc. Retrieved 2013-06-04.

How typical is Sin City to its genres?

The film Sin City, released in 2005 is based on two genres, film noir and comic book. These are shown a lot in the film.

Sin City is typical of the genre Film Noir in various ways, firstly the use of low-key lighting, this fits in with the 'noir' (black) part of the genre, and is used in every scene of the film. One example of this can be when in the first scene when the male in the suit and female in the red dress are talking on a balcony, when it shows a close up of the mans face only half of his face is visible due to the lighting purposely only showing half. This gives us the idea that the character has a good and bad side. This is also used on every other character in Sin City and before we even hear them speak or watch them do something, we're given an idea what they are like.

Another convention in Sin City could be the usage of the long leather trench coats, they're used almost like a superhero's cape. When Marv runs across the rooftops in aid to catch the killer the silhouette-like scene attempts to make him look as if he is a superhero an a mission, running with his 'cape' dragging behind in the wind. Also, when Marv murdered the two assassins outside Kadies bar, he took the coat off before doing something bad.

A1. To what extent are your chosen texts typical of their genre? (30)

My chosen text, Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank, is typical of its genre social realism in various ways. One technical convention that shows the typicality of the genre is the use of a hand-held camera and shallow depth of field. This makes the audience understand the characters and gain an empathetic feel for them. One example of this is found in the scene where Connor leaves Mia's mum, Joanne, and the protagonist Mia attempts to catch him just as he's leaving, she sprints out the door and down the flats stairs in desperation. The hand-held camera follows her from behind, this makes you feel more involved in the film as the camera is wobbling around as if it was you behind her.

Another typical convention that shows that it is typical of its genre is the use of digetic sounds, and that the film at not one point uses non-digetic sounds.

GQ MAGAZINE COVER