Gentlewoman CSP - language and representation

 Close-textual analysis


Work through the following tasks to complete your close-textual analysis of the Gentlewoman CSP pages:

Gentlewoman front cover 

1) What do the typefaces used on the front cover suggest to an audience?
Suggests that they are modern and unconventional

2) How does the cover subvert conventional magazine cover design?
No cover lines, big close up on celebrity. Nothing to really advertise the magazine.

3) Write an analysis of the central image.
The combination of the low angle and direct address connotes dominance and power in Scarlett Johanson which subvert female stereotypes. The big close up on the celebrity is unconventional for a magazine cover where it is usually a mid shot. This represents the magazine's nature of wanting to be different rather than copy other magazines.

4) What representations of gender and celebrity can be found on this front cover?
Gender: Powerful, dominant
Celebrity: Powerful, influential

5) What gender and representation theories can we apply to this cover of the Gentlewoman? 
Mulvey - Male Gaze: subverts

Feature: Modern Punches

1) How does the feature on Ramla Ali use narrative to engage the audience? Apply narrative theories here.
They use a conventional narrative arc (linear narrative) , beginning, middle, end to show her journey and really capture the audience (todorov)

2) What representations can you find in this feature - both interview and image?
A subversion of the idea that men act and women appear.

3) What representation theories can we apply to the Modern Punches feature? 
Male Gaze


Feature: Isabella Tree interview

1) Why is this feature unconventional for a women's lifestyle and fashion magazine? Comment on the use media language in these pages. 
It is unconventional because isabella does 'art' of nature not fashion so her feature doesn't correlate the contexts of the magazine.

2) How does the Isabella Tree feature reflect the social and cultural contexts of contemporary Britain? Think about AQA's discussion of lifestyle, environmental issues and ethical movements.
It's natural which represents ethical movements

3) What representations of nature can be found in this feature?
Ethical movements
Vegan movements

Feature: Stella McCartney and vegan fashion

1) How does this feature reflect contemporary social and cultural contexts?
A strong care for animal consumption has been on the rise in contemporary society


2) Comment on the typography and page design in this feature.
Bold Serif typography, commonly used to illustrate traditional/historical brands - the gentlewoman falls into this category 

3) What representations can be found in the image accompanying this feature? 
There is only an image of the designer, the product is nowhere to be found, this suggest that the designer is so famous that there's no need to show the product as it is assumingly "good". 

Representations

Read this Business of Fashion interview with The Gentlewoman editor Penny Martin. If you don't want to sign up to the website (free) then you can access the text of the article on Google Drive here (you'll need your Greenford Google login). Answer the following questions: 

1) What type of magazine did Penny Martin, Gert Jonkers and Jop van Bennekom want to create? 
They wanted to "produce long-form journalism and a personality-centred magazine that has equally eloquent imagery and graphic design.”

2) What representations of modern women did they try to construct for the magazine?
"I'm interested in what it tells you about how modern women live, from the way they drink, dance, drive and speak to the way they sign their letters or conduct their divorces."
3) What examples of cover stars reflect the diversity in the magazine's content? 
  • Angela Lansbury, 
  • Beyoncé', 
  • gardeners, 
  • entrepreneurs,
  •  novelists, 
  • artists 
  • news anchors.


4) What is Penny Martin's view on feminism and whether the magazine is feminist?
 "it isn't a magazine about those things, it's a magazine informed by those things"

5) Look at the end of the article. How does the Gentlewoman help readers construct or reflect their identity by engaging with events and spaces beyond the magazine? 

Gentlewoman Club which extends the magazine's brand into physical events where readers can interact and chat with editors.

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