The Gentlewoman: Language and Representation blog tasks

 Gentlewoman front cover 

1) What do the typefaces used on the front cover suggest to an audience?

Sans Serif the masthead is all lowercase which may suggest that the brand isn't as focused on this magazine.   

2) How does the cover subvert conventional magazine cover design?

The masthead is in lowercase there is no cover line which isn't conventional for a magazine. 

3) Write an analysis of the central image.

Eye contact which can show power and control over the audience can be seen as powerful. The close up can show personal identity and the use of make-up can be seen as fashionable and trendy.

4) What representations of gender and celebrity can be found on this front cover?

Women stereotypes can be reinforced as Scarlet Johansson is making eye contact which can show power. The masthead is also in lowercase which can show the audience that women can break the trends and create a new wave of trends and can have control over it.   

5) What gender and representation theories can we apply to this cover of the Gentlewoman? 

Bell hooks can be applied as it subverts her theory and shows that women can take control and be the central image and have power to chose what they can show and do. 

Feature: Modern Punches

1) How does the feature on Ramla Ali use narrative to engage the audience? Apply narrative theories here.

Personal relationship can be applied to this as Ramal Ali talks about her personal life and people can relate to her coming from east London. They can relate also to the sport boxing and the feeling of going into a fight and being a women in the boxing ring. 

2) What representations can you find in this feature - both interview and image?

subverting women typical stereotypes as Ramal Ali is wearing sports gear. However the representation of women can be reinforced as they both are wearing makeup. 

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

The female gaze the women aren't being sexualised therefore mulvey gaze can be subverted due to this magazine. 

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 shows a female boxer striking a masculine pose flexing her muscles it unconventional as you don't see this in womens fashion and magazines. You also have a picture of nature which is also unconventional. 

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.

People need to understand how they effect the environment and what they can do to help it and hopefully fix the issues within it. Isabella tree highlights that in this magazine. 

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

Nature is the subject and the magazine is throwing the audience attention on nature itself therefore can show that nature is powerful.

Feature: Stella McCartney and vegan fashion

1) How does this feature reflect contemporary social and cultural contexts?

It shows fashion but also a messy look trying to break stereotypes of photo shoots and being different by having a photo near an elevator maybe having a personal relationship with some views as it is in a industrial site. 

2) Comment on the typography and page design in this feature.

The typography is big and bold showing the Viewers what to read and grasping on their attention 

3) What representations can be found in the image accompanying this feature? 

Fashion and the representation of women which can show that they are strong and independent.

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? 

At Martin's first meeting to discuss the creation of The Gentlewoman with Jonkers, Van Bennekom and art director Veronica Ditting, the team had just three sheets of visual references. "It just kind of took all four of us to look at them — a cover from Town and a spread from Bauhaus and a strange curio. We didn't need to say anything more."

2) What representations of modern women did they try to construct for the magazine?

This practical and modern approach is reflected in The Gentlewoman's overall editorial point of view, which, according to Martin, begins with the woman and not the product. "I'm interested in what [The Gentlewoman] 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. We make sure that the magazine is not just a pornography of product that is supposedly interesting to women. It's about putting those women at the centre of the material world around them. That balance is important to us."

3) What examples of cover stars reflect the diversity in the magazine's content? 

Cover stars have ranged from 88-year-old actor Angela Lansbury, shot in a peach silk blouse and Terry Richardson's black frame glasses, to popstar Beyoncé, looking calm, strong and composed in Dior with a face free of make-up.

4) What is Penny Martin's view on feminism and whether the magazine is feminist?

Martin is often asked about her publication's stance on feminism. "When people ask me about politics or feminism, I say that it isn't a magazine about those things, it's a magazine informed by those things — among others. Is it a feminist magazine? Well, it's made by feminist people, so what do you think?! But I don't want to make those values and principles fashionable, because I don't want to undermine them by turning them into an aesthetic and I don't want them to pass into the realm of the unfashionable. Let's just assume that we all agree there should be equal pay and childcare and get on with it, eh?"

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? 

“For me, the future is going to be about in-person transactions and real conversations, skills and sharing in real spaces, rather than the cabaret of the nameless we’ve witnessed over the past decade.”