magazines

Theories

Barthes - semiology

• can be applied to any sign (including language / images) to examine connotations & ideology
• draws attention to the naturalising effect of ideology in any text - applies particularly to newspapers & magazines - headlines typically assume a shared view of the world w/ the readers in order to be easily understood

Neale - genre theory

• can be applied to any media product that has genres & links together media language, audiences & industries
• the concept of genre as a shared code explains how genres can change (e.g. the 'quality' press becoming more like tabloids) & hybridise (e.g. the middle-market tabloids, such as the mail - that follow both tabloid & broadsheet conventions)

Baudrillard - postmodernism

• can be applied to any cultural product, particularly applies to news about news / celebrities who are famous for being famous - where there is no sense of a 'real' person behind the hyper reality
• oranges
• orange = reality (what we see behind the scenes and how the media used to present people)
• orange juice = heightened reality (more intense than reality and is mostly the same but is heightened and still has strong links to reality)
• Fanta = simulacrum (artificial) ↴
• simulacrum = a copy of reality that is so artificial it does not link to reality at all - we are surrounded by so many that it is almost impossible to tell the difference as they are packaged the same as what we believe to be reality
• are media products reality / a cleverly packaged, glossed version, made to look like reality, where the audience cannot tell the difference / would rather believe them as it is an ideal reality.
• hyper reality = cannot tell the difference between reality & simulacrum

Hall - representation

• can be applied to any media product, particularly to the way in which headlines try to fix the meaning of a representation (copy / photographs)
• draws attention to the role of power in representations:
• the general distribution of power in society
• the power of the print media as an institution
• the power of the audience to decode representations in different ways

Gauntlett - identity

• applies to the sense of identity that a newspaper or magazine can offer its readers (e.g. the identity of a liberal, progressive Guardian reader / patriotic, hard-headed mail reader)
• applies to the what different sections of print media offer diverse & (sometimes) contradictory media messages to audience - offering a range of points of identification

Van Zoonen - gender

• can be applied to any media product, especially representation of gender
• the concept of patriarchy may be applied to:
• the ownership & control of print media  companies
• the recruitment and ethos of their professionals
• news values
• representations of gender - especially the representations of women's bodies