GQ: Language and Representation

Media Factsheet 252 -

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

General interest, specific interest and professional. 

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

They are targeting men through fashion and image, but also appealing to their intelligence and needs for information about culture. 

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

Attracting audiences through star power. Choosing cover stars carefully, and highlighting their hard work and achievement. Their "Fruits of hard work". 

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

Masthead - creates familiarity by immediately establishing the specific magazine.

 

(Main)cover-lines - caters to audience interests. Addresses the audience with synthetic personalisation creating friendliness.

Puffs - graphic elements and  buzzwords instantly catch eyes of the reader.

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

Its conventional “look” in relation to its writing and formatting. The house style establishes

brand identity and helps to distinguish one magazine from the other. GQ presents new interpretations of masculinity and  frequently plays around with gender, whilst still somewhat keeping their originally traditional style before Will Welch.

Extension tasks: Look at the final pages of the magazine factsheet that focus on creating magazine pages for coursework. What can you take from this to help future coursework projects? 

Considering the layout size: (10.875 ' ' | 30cm) BY (8.375 ' '  | 21 cm) - [STANDARD] 

Language: CSP analysis

Annotated copy of the GQ pages here 

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. 

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 : 'new masculinity' they're trying to combat stereotypes but also perpetuates them. 

Inside pages: Jonathan Bailey feature and fashion shoot: a traditional masculinity

 

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?

By buying the magazine/clothes advertised one can become sophisticated and powerful.

Action/enigma - Pattinson's injury - 'Why is he aggressive?" "Who did he fight and why?"

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

JB - kept the cultured, suit look but also made alterations because they're less traditional. Instead of wearing a suit to fit into an image, he wears a suit that accommodates his identity rather than erasing it. 

 

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?

Aggressive, hyper-masculinity - injury, colours, costume. 

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

Yes, it perpetuates ideas of men's inherent violence, and superiority. 

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

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

Masculinity is almost made into a caricature making men into violent simple beings. Sexuality is embraced and less of a taboo, highlighting different male identities.

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? 

It is an image of Pharrell Williams. The Grammy-winner is wearing a lemon yellow Moncler coat that flows well past his feet. It looks like an upside down lily flower waiting to bloom. His hands are clasped at his chest, his facial expression is soft and the overlay text says “The New Masculinity Issue.”

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

He didn't see it as broken, He saw the need to redefine what a men’s magazine could be. He wanted GQ to help its readers (whether men, women, or gender non-binary) with their “personal evolution,” he told CNN Business. Men can wear dresses, put on makeup, and get pedicures. GQ shouldn’t tell anyone exactly how to be a man because there’s no one way to do it.

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

Magazine monolith and GQ parent company Condé Nast, now under the leadership of former Pandora chief Roger Lynch, has been trying to recoup losses by cutting costs and redefining its business for the digital era.

4) What did the GQ New Masculinity edition feature? 

Journalist Nora Caplan-Bricker had 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. Welch hoped the latest issue of GQ makes a statement on the matter that the voices featured in the magazine show, there’s no one definition of masculinity.

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

"Masculinity wasn’t something that was intuitive or intrinsic; it was carefully learned, delicately transmitted and deliberately propagandised. 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?

“It’s not like GQ was harmful until I took over. That’s definitely not the case,”

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?

It stood for all the solid, earthy expectations of boys and men: strength, independence, courage, confidence and assertiveness. And that was an easy package at a time when men were the sole breadwinners, working largely in manual labour

2) What social change occurred from the 1930s?

Woman's rights, legislation of homosexuality.

3) What is suggested about masculinity today?

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? 

Men between the ages of 16 and 60 on average consult their doctors less than women. There is a need to see change in men’s relationship with their mental health. Suicide remains the leading cause of death in men under the age of 45 years. That’s three times higher than rates in women, with 84 men losing their life a week.