Men's Health Language & Representation: blog tasks

  Language

1) Write a summary of our annotations on the media language choices on the cover of Men's Health 

Typography:

• Serif title (connotations of established brand/authority and seriousness)
• Bold san serif cover lines

Colour Scheme: 

• blue, black, grey
• stereotypical masculine colours

Language: 

• aggressive, violent verbs "demolish" "slay" "blast"
• 6 or 7 cover lines on weight loss - more traditionally associated with women's health

Central image/Subject:

• Vin Diesel
• Stereotypical action  role
• Casual costume looks like average Men's Health reader
• Pose - assertive and dominant

2) Identify three specific aspects/conventions/important points
Front cover:

• Vin Diesel is the dominant signifier who pierces the viewer’s attention.
• Simple dress codes - black jeans and a light-grey t-shirt. His facial expressions are typical of the deep and brooding roles he has played on the big screen.
• Bold Texts

Editor's Letter and contents page:

• Linked to mental health feature
• suggests masculinity is evolving
• genre theory - Neale repetition and difference

Feature - True Grit - 'The Marathon Man':

• Reminiscent of hollowed star
• traditional representation of masculinity
• black and white/ high key lighting 

3) Apply narrative theories to Men's Health

Theories

• Hegemonic masculinity (colour scheme)
• Bell Hooks normalised traumatisation
• Narrative: Todorov's theory of equilibrium ( readers are being offered a new equilibrium)

4) Read the cover lines and the Editor's Letter. Does Men's Health offer a cure for male insecurities or does it create male insecurity?
The cover lines and editors letter offer a cure for male insecurities, by illustrating the 'reasons' men have to be insecure. It states that "This months package has been curated to include a wealth of tools and tricks to help you return to your fighting weight and undo the damage of a festive season we spent". 

5) How does the 'Marathon Man' feature page offer an example of Steve Neale's genre theory concerning 'repetition and difference'?
The Marathon Man reinforces staying fit and healthy. There is also difference due to the age of the subject, usually Men's Health reader would be younger the actual subject, this implies that there is a evolution of masculinity. Often, Men's Health would be associated with being young and fit, whereas in this  case the man is much older.

Representations

Representations: applying theory

1) How can Gauntlett's ideas on masculinity, gender and identity be applied to the Men's Health CSP we have analysed?
According to Gauntlett "Things change over time", he also mentions that “Views of gender and sexuality, masculinity and femininity, identity and selfhood, are all in slow but steady processes of change and transformation." This is evident as the magazine now includes information on mental health and self care for men.

2) How could van Zoonen's work on feminist and gender theory be applied to Men's Health?

Van Zoonen argues that gender is constructed and that its meaning varies dependent on cultural and historical context. She suggests that masculinity as well as femininity is constructed – and that the codes used to construct men 'as a spectacle' are different. In the Men's Health magazine the men are portrayed as powerful and dominant.

3) How could bell hooks's work on 'corrosive masculinity' apply to Men's Health?
Feminist writer bell hooks has highlighted the corrosive, damaging effect of toxic masculinity on both men and women. She builds on Judith Butler's work, agreeing that gender roles are constructed, not 'natural' (bell hooks: “normalised traumatisation).

Representations: academic analysis

Finally, read these extracts from the journal article exploring the representation of masculinity in Men's Health magazine and answer the following questions:

1) Why is Men's Health defined as a 'lifestyle magazine'?

According to its editors, it is a lifestyle magazine, in every issue they make sure to show its readers from the first pages that the publication is not just limited to healthy questions, but it includes more topics concerning men.

2) Why is advertising significant in helping to shape masculine identity?

Advertising is significant as a social discourse is shown by its influence in promoting new models and perpetuating specific identities. As Christopher Lasch says, “advertisement serves not so much to advertise products as to promote consumption as a way of life. It educates the masses into an unappeasable appetite not only for goods but for new experiences and personal fulfilment”.

3) The article suggests that the representation of masculinity in Men's Health is not fixed or natural and is subject to constant change. What media theorists that we have studied previously can be linked to these ideas?
Ganutlett suggests that “Views of gender and sexuality, masculinity and femininity, identity and selfhood, are all in slow but steady processes of change and transformation."

4) What does the article suggest Men's Health encourages its readers to be? What examples and statistics are provided to develop the idea of men as consumers?
The readers of Men's health are understood as consumers whose maleness can be emphasized by the purchase of certain products. In Edwards’ opinion, the main goal of these magazines is to encourage and perpetuate “high spending”. Consequently, advertisements perform as the perfect complement for the philosophy proposed by the magazine; while men are encouraged to work in private, they are expected to show the results of the time and money invested in their appearance in public.

5) What representations of the male body can be found in Men's Health?
In Men's Health it is depicted as a machine that can be improved to perform better, faster and longer. The body, is a construction made to express discipline and effort invested on it in public while the physical appearance turns out to be an important feature socially, and it is expressed like this in the rest of the mass media discourses.

6) What does the article suggest regarding the objectification of men?
The sexual objectification of men has increased in the media, in terms of film, drama and soap-opera sex appeal, where the importance of Hollywood is particularly apparent, and also in the recent phenomenon of male strippers and pornography for women.

7) What is 'metrosexuality' and how can it be applied to Men's Health?
The metrosexual male is a young man, who lives or works in urban spaces and has a high income. Common features includes vanity, narcissism, attention to his appearance and self- care, which are materialized in the purchase and use of high fashion clothes, accessories and cosmetics. Therefore, it seems that the portrayal of men depicted in the publication fits within the idea and that it could be understood as a product oriented to metrosexual readers.

8) What representation of men in Men's Health is discussed in the section 'Homogenous bodies'?
 The representation of men in the magazine can be analysed in three different aspects: physical appearance, external look (style), lifestyle (values).

9) What are the conclusions drawn by the article with regards to the representation of masculinity in Men's Health?
Men's Health portrays different visions of masculinity, as one of the reasons for the popularity of the magazines since they offer countless possibilities for contemporary men in questions of identification.

10) What is your own view of the representation of masculinity in Men's Health? Is it a positive representation that encourages men to the best they can be or is it a hypermasculine, consumer-driven representation designed to undermine men's confidence and objectify their bodies?

I believe that Men's Health has both a positive and negative representation of masculinity. It encourages men to stay active and take care of their health.