Question 2

How does your media product represent

particular social groups?

My magazine is aimed at 17-25 year olds, I realise that this was a big

challenge for me, and perhaps could have lowered the age a little more because my final outcome was a little more appealing to people

under the age of 25.

My magazine is about music, and so anyone appearing in my

magazine is going to be represented as talented

because of music. As my genre is more rebellious, I needed the photographs to portray this. For

my cover I photographed two teenagers aged 17, walking

through a gum covered street with guitars on their backs to

represent rebellion and a carefree persona, which is related to the indie music

genre.

It is hard to describe anyone or anything as ‘normal’ in particular social groups because there is such a wide range of

dominant ideologies based around teens. The models in my picture, are wearing casual jeans, cardigans and

jumpers, which are particular items of clothing for the indie style. They are

represented as calm and casual.

I have used photographs of my band chasing after a bus, connoting, quirky,

haphazard, rebellious fun. A bus represents a working class way of

travelling, or middle class. My cover image, is simple, with a chewing gum

covered floor, and terraced or semi-detached houses. Connoting similar

ideas about working class and middle class living.

Adolescents are usually seen as hoodies, who are in gangs, troublemakers, wrong

doers and just not good. These representations are not true in every

case, my magazine challenges dominant ideology of teenagers because of the

talent, and by including an interview from my band, I have been able to make the

readers change ideas of what teenagers really think.

Some typical Stereotypes include…

These connote trouble makers, drunks, wrong doers, chavs, miserable lazy people.

Teenagers represented in my magazine..

These connote maturity, talent,

carefree, funsophistication, some

rebellion.