GQ: Language and Representation

Language: Media factsheet

Complete the following tasks using Media Factsheet 252 - The Codes and Conventions of Print Magazines available in our Media Factsheet archive here. Answer the following questions:

1) What are the different magazine genres highlighted on page 2 and how do they link to our magazine CSPs?

General Interest This type of magazine is published for a wider audience to provide information in a general manner, and the focus is on many different subjects. They typically cover topics like food, fashion or home and gardening. They have a combination of stories, pictures and advertising, and are bound together with a glossy cover. Examples of this can be the Cosmopolitan, GQ, Time, Newsweek, The Week, Good Housekeeping

Special Interest These are niche interest magazines that offerin-depth content on a given area or topic. These magazines appear to be doing very well now in a time of decreasing print sale because they target a smaller, more specialised audience. Examples of this is History Today, Conde Nast Traveller, National Geographic, True Crime, Empire

Professional A professional magazine. A periodical published by the governing body of a profession. The standard of quality of such a periodical may be similar to that of a scholarly publication. Examples of this is the Farmer’s Guardian, The Caterer, New Scientist, Buses

2) Look at the section on GQ on page 2. How do they suggest that GQ targets its audience?

It employs leading writers and experts on a wide variety of topics appealing to activators, achievers, and seekers.

3) What does the factsheet say about GQ cover stars?

GQ selects their cover stars very carefully. In the December 2022 edition, they chose Marcus Rashford, a Manchester United footballer. However, this is not the coverline they have anchored him with. It is instead “Campaigner of the Year.” His high-profile criticism of the government about stopping free school meals during the pandemic and his charity work in this area would appeal to achievers because they value the “fruits of hard work.”

4) Pick out five of the key conventions of magazine front covers and explain what they communicate to an audience.

The main coverline is not related to the image but offers different content of interest, with varying size, colours and styles of typography.

Pull quotes such as “I was dancing so hard my dress fell off!” invoke humour and perhaps shock, but also appear to give insider knowledge. This creates a close, albeit illusory, relationship between the reader and the star.

The use of sensationalism and language of true crime and or gossip magazines are intertextualised to create and emotional response.

5) What is a magazine’s ‘house style’? How would you describe GQ’s house style? 

GQ house style is professional and more unique to other magazines.

Language: CSP analysis

Use your annotated CSP pages to help answer the following questions. You can find an annotated copy of the GQ pages here (you'll need your Greenford Google login).

1) Write a summary of our annotations on the media language choices on the cover of GQ - e.g. colour scheme, typography, language, photographic codes etc.

Colour scheme: Blue/black background seen as traditionally masculine man and target audience

Art and fashion an example of GQ's masculinity 

Two cover lines keeping in with the traditional masculinity

unusual typography  arty and inky fits well with image

2) Identify three specific aspects/conventions/important points (e.g. cover lines, colour scheme, use of text, image etc.) from each page/feature of the CSP that you could refer to in a future exam. Explain why that particular aspect of the CSP is important - think about connotations, representations, audience pleasures, reception theory etc.

Front cover: Robert Pattinson image - Art & Fashion issue. The background colour scheme is a faded blue to black background that could reinforce traditional colours when it comes to males people may view this as GQ reinforcing toxic masculinity. Inside pages: Jonathan Bailey feature and fashion shoot Jonathans bailey Some things like his patterned trousers may suggest an evolution of masculinity which can support Gauntletts idea of masculinity and crisis. 

 

3) Apply narrative theories to GQ - Todorov's equilibrium, Propp's character types, Barthes' action or enigma codes, Levi-Strauss's binary opposition. How can we use narrative to understand the way the cover and features have been constructed?

He can be seen as a villain as he doesn't look like a conventional hero as he has tattoos chains and scars. however it may be Robert Patterson recreating his character from twilight.   

4) Analyse the cover and inside pages of GQ. Does this offer an example of Steve Neale's genre theory concerning 'repetition and difference'?

 

Yes as the magazine is subverting masculinity as some of the pictures has nature and flower which might be the new masculinity. 

Representations: applying theory

We have already covered many relevant theories in our work on Advertising and Marketing (for example, David Gauntlett's writing on Media, Gender and Identity). We now need to apply these theories and ideas to GQ and specifically the CSP pages allocated by AQA.

1) How can Gauntlett's ideas on masculinity, gender and identity be applied to the GQ CSP pages we have analysed?

You can see the trousers are a little bit feminine therefore this may suggest a new wave of masculinity as men are now portrayed as soft in magazine. Bailey also has a fish net top which subverts masculinity as you don't see that many men wear fishnets.  

2) How could van Zoonen's work on feminist and gender theory be applied to GQ? Does the magazine challenge or reinforce these ideas?

Challenges GQ reinforces masculinity but is also trying to subvert that by having women fashion on men. 

3) Does bell hooks's work on 'corrosive masculinity' apply to GQ? 

Yes as there are still some aspects of masculinity within the magazine and even the front cover. It may define the toxicity of masculinity. However GQ is trying to break that as they are going against masculinity by trying to change it so it may not apply now. 

4) How does the Jonathan Bailey feature represent masculinity and sexuality? 

Bailey opens bout his sexuality and and is 'one of the few gay British actors working onscreen ho isn't wholly defined by his sexuality' He also represents 'The new masculinity' with his body language and fashion in the magazine

Representations: wider reading - GQ and the new masculinity

Read this CNN feature on how GQ is redefining masculinity and answer the following questions:

1) Which GQ issue is discussed at the start of the article and what was notable about it? 

The start talks about the magazine cover of Pharrell Williams who is wearing a yellow coat, looking like 'an upside own flower ready to bloom'.

2) How did Will Welch view GQ when he took over as Editor-in-Chief and what did he want to offer readers? 

He’s grappling not just with the changing landscape of the media industry but with new perspectives on men and masculinity.

3) How has publisher Conde Nast responded to changes in the magazine industry and how did this impact GQ?

Condé ended Glamour’s print publication last year. It’s continued to invest in digital content, like video, across its brands. In addition to GQ’s two print magazines in the US and several international editions, the brand launched GQ Sports, a YouTube channel.

4) What did the GQ New Masculinity edition feature? 

Journalist Nora Caplan-Bricker leads a package titled “Voices of the New Masculinity” in which actor Asia Kate Dillon, NBA player Kevin Love, rapper Killer Mike and others share their perspectives of what masculinity means today. There’s a beauty section, featuring men in glittery makeup and a profile of Billy Idol.

5) What did journalist Liz Plank say about toxic masculinity?

She writes, “No matter where I turned, masculinity wasn’t something that was intuitive or intrinsic; it was carefully learned, delicately transmitted and deliberately propagandized. Toxic masculinity wasn’t just a problem in America. I saw it everywhere.”

6) How did Welch respond to suggestions GQ was responsible for toxic masculinity?

When asked if GQ helped perpetuate toxic masculinity, Welch was quick to dismiss the notion. “It’s not like GQ was harmful until I took over. That’s definitely not the case,” he said.

Finally, read this short GQ feature on masculinity and answer the following questions:

1) What does the article suggest masculinity involved at the start of the 20th century?

At the dawn of the twentieth century, the idea of masculinity was simple – it stood for all the solid, earthy expectations of boys and men: strength, independence, courage, confidence and assertiveness

2) What social change occurred from the 1930s?

From the Thirties onwards, the UK lost its industrialisation heavyweight status with manual worker jobs, and the masculinity status attached to them, in favour of an office-based deindustrialised economy. Naturally, Post-it notes, group huddle meetings and conference calls failed to marry to the historical notion of what masculinity should be (the “Wolf Of Wall Street” was the higher-profile attempt to hang on to these). It was, however, a wake-up call to society that things needed to change. And change is happening.

3) What is suggested about masculinity today?

We now thankfully share a society where not only men, but women too, demonstrate these and importantly have the freedom to do so. Of course, it isn’t all a bed of roses, and while we still have some way to redress an imbalance of what is deemed acceptable traits for men and women, we are making progress. Masculinity is an outdated word for this, a new world that is attempting to dispel gender equality.

4) Why does it suggest these changes are important? 

And in part it is justifiably dubbed the “silent killer” because we are yet to fully shift the perception that a man – a “masculine man”, a “real man”, a “man’s man” – does not speak out about his problems