Thursday, 14 March 2013

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I have chosen these image of Jay-Z from the “XXL” magazine to compare with the front cover photo of my magazine to explain how mine represents a particular social group, similar to that of ‘XXL’.




The postures of both men are similar in the sense that they have both got their heads looking up, leaning to the left of the page. They also share similar facial expressions – both serious and staring straight into the camera. Furthermore, both men are displayed smoking cigars. This provides a representation of this particular social class, the urban appearance, as cigars are normally associated with gangsters, which is a common look rappers portray. In addition, both men have a similar use of lighting applied, a mid-shine which makes the faces appear brighter and visually appealing. Unconventionally, however, they appear to have different hairstyles – my central figure has slightly longer and lighter hair, whereas Jay-Z has shorter, tightly cut hair. Jay-Z is also seen to be dressed in a smart attire, whereas my figure is dressed as if he is from the 'hood' or 'ghetto' , this is mainly down to the fact that my artist is up & coming, In contrast Jay-Z is a successful, well known artist. Overall, I think that these elements of the photos represent a normal young social group that my magazine reflects throughout – the artist featured in my magazine is quite normal looking – there is nothing extreme or obscure about his appearance. Finally, I have chosen to use a mix-raced male, even though “XXL” has used a black male. Quintessentially, a black male rapper is normally situated at the front of a rap based music magazine, so I have unconventionally used a mix-raced male to break this particular stereotype.


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