Vogue

Question 1

intro

Answer 1

• Created and published by Conde Nast
• Started back in 1892 and the American Version was bought by Conde Nast in 1909
• In the post-war period Vogue continued to do well, as many women were enjoying the consumerism and emphasis on “treating yourself” (40s, 50s).

Question 2

vogue

production context

Answer 2

• Front cover design centers on Sophia Loren, (an Oscar-winning Italian actress) ,avoiding conventional cover lines for a minimalist approach emphasising her image.
• Language choices evoke themes of freedom and exoticism, while the central image of Loren in a Turkish dancer attire exudes aspirational femininity, reflecting the glamour and luxury of the 1960s cultural context.
• She wears a turquoise colour palette, shimmering scarf, feathers, pearls, and jewels= which connotes luxury, and wealth.
• This aesthetic was a reflection of fashion associated with the ‘mad midsummer’ of the 1960s.
• The masthead, overshadowed by Loren’s image, showcased the iconic Vogue brand, synonymous with high fashion and sophistication. = Z-LINE
• Under Conde Nast’s ownership from 1909, Vogue evolved into a symbol of sophistication and style, remaining relevant today as a global brand promoting diversity

Question 3

vogue

ECONOMIC CONTEXT

Answer 3

• Major publishers like Hearst, IPC still dominate the magazine industry, but there’s increased competition due to a wider range of titles available.
• Print circulation decline necessitates strong online presence; magazines must cultivate unique brand identities to compete, leading to closures of some mainstream titles while niche magazines thrive with distinct selling points and loyal audiences.

Question 4

historical/social context

Answer 4

• Vogue’s July 1965 cover featuring Sophia Loren captures the transformative era, blending Old Hollywood glamour with emerging liberation.
• Th cover emphasises Loren’s image, reflecting societal shifts towards individualism and self-expression.
• The cover mirrors the era’s political and social movements, expressing a desire for freedom and rebellion against traditional norms.
• Sophia Loren as an embodiment of a ‘mythic’ encapsulates evolving perceptions of femininity and beauty, *challenging traditional expectations.

Question 5

Industry

Vogue was very sucessful, in the 20th centutry, why, what makes him stand out?

Answer 5

• one of the first magazines to start using colour photography for their magazines, which was very expensive back in the 1930s but their target audience could afford it.
• Conde Nast encouraged more modernity and risk-taking.
• one of the first fashion magazines to use a black woman on the cover = it created the idea of Vogue being pushing boundaries.
• Vogue has a huge range of international editions to target various global audiences. = this reflects Hesmondhalgh’s idea that powerful companies often replicate sucessful formats to maximise profits.

Question 6

Industry

Minimising risk/ maximising sales : featuring celebrity

Hesmondhalgh’s

Answer 6

• Featured people that weren’t exactly famous before hand,
• also featured Nelson Mandela &. exclusive photos about people apart of the Royal Family like Princess Diana
• brings inclusivity/collectibe
• draw in global audience

Question 7

Industry

Anna Wintour

Answer 7

• (editor in cheif)
• made huge changes in the magazine
• began a trend of using more celebrities on the covers, rather than just models.
• She also introduced “Teen’s Vogue” and “Men’s Vogue” in order to expand the brand and attract a much larger audience

Question 8

Industry

Diversifcation of Vogue

Answer 8

• moving from producing one type of product to creating different
  another
• Vogue has now moved into a lot of digital media- there’s a digital version of the magazine.
• have a strong social media presence, recognising many people are online now
• Vogue “Fashion Fund” which started in the mid-2000s and was all about helping new fashion designers financially.
• [adds to the reputation of Vogue being the forefront of fashion]

Question 9

industry

Advertising

Answer 9

• Have their own exhibition in national portrait gallery to celerabte 100 years
• charged £36,000 = earn profit from advertising
• Many from afluent backgrund, embraces their culture likely to buy

Question 10

Representation

Sophia Loren

Answer 10

• A very famous actress in the 60s.
• The front cover is a close-up of her that makes her seem important, powerful, exotic, and like a role model.
• (looks like a turkish dancer).
• The exotic nature of her image may reflect Stuart Hall’s ideas about the use of Middle Eastern stereotypes, representing ethnic minorities as “other”.

Question 11

features in the magazine

Sheila Black

Answer 11

• Featuring a working female expert on finance would’ve been quite unusual in the 1960s.
• Sheila Black works for the Financial Times. (She talks about women being financially independent and wanting to invest money) = Countertypical for women.
• at the time women didn’t have that much power over finance.
• This started after an influx of second-wave feminism.

Question 12

Representation of Women

Answer 12

• The page offers the conventional representations of women for the 1960s, often showing them as domestic or sexualised. links to Van zoonen
• For example, one of the magazine (Cutex advert) denotes a woman with bare shoulders suggesting nudity,“bare essentials”, “barely decent”.
• The shade names have connotations of nudity, suggesting that showing flesh and being sexualised is important for women.
• “Are you woman enough to wear them?” the rhetorical question suggests that femininity is linked to nakedness and sexual appeal.
• Very reflective of the way women were, and often still are, represented.
• Appearacne is importance
• However, The passivity of the women in many articles, fails to reflect the growing power of some women in the 60’s e.g. feminist, the sexual revolution, the crotraceptive pill,*

Question 13

Historical Representation of vogue

Answer 13

• The use of images of young women as mothers reflects the historical context as women in the 60s were typically expected to marry young and start families.
• Modern women’s magazines aimed at those age 20-35 often choose not to feature content about children, as many women now are able to have careers first, and have children in their 30s or later
• Vogue was aimed at a mainstream market. this may also reflect the fact that richer women were under less financial pressure to go out and work, so many of them did lead lives more centred around leisure and family life.

Question 14

Class Representations

Answer 14

• There’s quite complex language going on because the magazine is targeted toward middle-to-upper classes with an assumed advanced lexis.
• they talk about lords and ladies, famous artworks, etc, representing upper-class “cultured” women
• This may reflect the fact that readers of Vogue tend to be from the middle­/upper classes, or aspire to this.

Question 15

Ethnicity Representations

Answer 15

• White ethnic appearance is normalised, with darker ethnicities being underrepresented in the range of ‘nude toned’ Cutex products
• White models are often pictured in jewels and expensive clothes, representing them as high status.
• The lack of minority models, and makeup aimed at darker skinned readers, reflects the less inclusive nature of Britain in the 60s.
• in other vogue magazines: the black Egyptian men in the fashion pages positions show as being marginalised
• they’re in the background of the shots, out of focus, and are seen as working, whereas the white woman is dancing and enjoying leisure time
• This marginalisation of ethnic minorities creates a post colonialist view of ethnicity, with them being seen less important than the white models.

Question 16

more on representation of women in all magazines

Answer 16

Stereotypical representations of gender and magazines:
- Domestic role of women. Housewife/Housekeeper.
- Beauty – Women were expected to look attractive.
- dependant – Women relied on the men.
- Nurturing – Women had to raise the child and care for the child whilst the men went to work.
- Subductive – Women were expected to obey the men.

However.. this is subverted:
* The Vogue magazine shows women to be independent and shows that women don’t need to rely on men to financially support them.
* Women are no longer housewives and aren’t nurturing the children.
* The Vogue 1965 magazine doesn’t reinforce traditional stereotypes/ offers a sense of female liberation or independence

Question 17

Guantlett on Vogue

Answer 17

• Gauntlett identifies historical magazines as significant for stereotypical perfect housewife.
• This stereotype has allows women’s magazines to put particular emphasis on the domestic sphere.
• By Constructing ‘Domesticity’ as a feminine ideal, these magazines and print adverts were reasserting the importance pop traditional gender roles.
• Given that men occupied the majority of jobs and controlled corporations this can be seen as reinforcing the dominant ideology of patriarchy.

Question 18

Does the magazine support Gauntlett’s claim that the media offered a message about ideal types of male and female identities?

Answer 18

• Yes, this Vogue magazine supports the Gauntlett’s
• Women in the 1960s were expected to look attractive and please the men.
• This Vogue front cover shows a stereotypically attractive women who is slender and has make-up on.
• The singular representation of the front cover is that the women is Beautiful and Subjective however is Independent

Question 19

VOGUE

Feminist theory - Van Zoonen

Answer 19

• Vogue is mostly made by women, containing women but most representations tend to reinforce strict gender binaries through articles, features and adverts.
• women are still encouraged to passively act and look in a way (attractive, domestic and motherly) which empowers men

Question 20

VOGUE

semiotics - Barthes

Answer 20

• FRONT PAGE: Sophia Loren and her elegant (yet, exotically ‘other’) dress codes reinforcing the connotations of difference combined with the ‘beauty ideal’ readers should find ‘aspirstional’
• MAKE-UP ADVERTS: Emphaising the use of lipstick and eyeshadoow to connote that a woman must be sexually appealing to members of the opposite sex = feminine beauty as norm
• exotic photoshoots of ‘pinic’ article: contain connotations of freedom and travel beng ‘good for the soul’, encouraging women to break away from more traditional role of the ‘happy housewife’

Question 21

vogue

structuralism - claude levi-strauss

Answer 21

• freedom vs motherhood
• beauty vs unattractive
• rich vs poor
• successful vs failure
• cultured vs uncultured

Question 22

vogue

Power and the media - Curran & Seaton

Answer 22

• Conde Nast published other women’s magazines such as Vanity Fair (Horizontal Integration) during the 1960s.
• Vogue was a mainstream publication and, could be seen to have upheld many historical traditional ideologies surrounding gender (in relation to domesticity, motherhood, fashion and beauty, for example) and perpetuate many narrow and stereotypical ideals of feminine beauty.
• These ideologies were shared through all Conde Nast’s women’s magazines. Theres more emphasis on single independent women / less reliance on men.

Question 23

vogue

Reception Theory - Stuart Hall

Answer 23

• A Preferred Reading would clearly align themselves with the desired 1960s response of the writers / editors - these fashions/lifestyles are amazing and must be purchased ASAP. Engrossed by celebrity interviews and advice.
• A Negotiated Reading could be created by contemporary audiences reading the 1960s set text for historical research purposes yet fully recognise that the content is at best ‘out of date’ and in some case even funny.
• An Oppositional Reading could be expressed by feminists (especially radical feminists) who see no logical purpose of Vogue other than to subjugate women, empowering men and ‘normalising’ the objectification of women.

Question 24

specifc examples

‘MONEY’ & REPRESENTATION

Answer 24

• The financial management advice article challenges traditional gender roles by portraying women as capable financial managers within families, recognizing the prevalence of single women and their need for financial guidance.
• Despite a light tone and use of sub-headings for clarity, the absence of images and a serious, personal approach contribute to its weightiness, although there’s a potential for the content to be perceived as inadvertently patronising due to its indirect mode of address.

Question 25

specifc examples

HOLIDAY HEATWAVE’ & REPRESENTATION

Answer 25

• Images of women in Summer attire in fashion magazines often reinforce objectification
• The way photos are shot often aligns with the concept of the “Male Gaze”
• Direct mode of address in accompanying copy and personal captions suggests ambivalence towards male company
• Contrasts with expectations of teen marriage prevalent in the 1950s
• Reflects the more independent expectations of women in 1965
• Acknowledges the necessity of including photoshoots and attractive models in a fashion magazine

Question 26

Alvarado - otherness

Answer 26

• Theory related to ethnicity based on the idea that people from different cultures tend to be defined by how different they are, by their ‘otherness’.
• These representations can focus on racial characteristics and on preconceived audience perceptions.
• Certain ethnic groups represented as:
• exotic: links closely to Stuart Hall’s ‘the secret fascination of ‘otherness’’.
• The ‘exotic’ stereotype presents the individual in terms of how they look, what they wear,
• dangerous: some texts represent ethnic minorities as a threat to society and are often blamed for social problem.

Question 27

Why might reception theory be more useful in exploring audience responses to zoella than cultivate theory

See theories deck for the pros/cons

Answer 27

Reception theory might be more useful in exploring audience responses to Zoella (Zoe Sugg) because it focuses on how audiences actively interpret and make meaning of media texts based on their own cultural, social, and personal contexts. - Zoella’s audience is diverse, spanning different demographics, cultures, and backgrounds, and reception theory acknowledges this diversity by examining how individuals engage with her content in unique ways.
- On the other hand, cultivation theory, which primarily focuses on the long-term effects of media exposure on audience perceptions and attitudes, might not fully capture the nuanced and varied responses that Zoella’s content elicits from her audience.
- While cultivation theory could still provide insights into broader patterns of media consumption and its impact, reception theory offers a more dynamic framework for understanding how Zoella’s audience actively interprets and interacts with her content based on their own subjective experiences and identities.

Question 28

Applying Stuart Halls decoration theory to Zoella

Answer 28

Preferred Readings: Some audience members may align closely with Zoella’s intended messages and interpretations. They might view her content as aspirational, relatable, and entertaining, appreciating her style tips, beauty recommendations, and lifestyle vlogs. Preferred readings may involve accepting Zoella’s portrayal of femininity, relationships, and consumer culture without significant questioning or resistance.
- Negotiated Readings: Other audience members may negotiate or reinterpret Zoella’s content to fit their own perspectives and values. They might engage critically with certain aspects of her content while still finding value in other parts. For example, viewers might appreciate Zoella’s fashion advice but critique the lack of diversity in her representation or challenge certain gender norms reinforced in her videos. Negotiated readings involve a more active and selective engagement with Zoella’s content, where viewers may accept, challenge, or reinterpret aspects of her messages based on their own beliefs and experiences.
- Oppositional Readings: Some audience members may actively resist or challenge the dominant meanings encoded in Zoella’s content. They might reject her portrayal of idealized lifestyles, beauty standards, or gender roles, seeing it as unrealistic, unattainable, or even harmful. Oppositional readings involve a rejection or critique of Zoella’s messages and representations, with viewers consciously resisting the influence of mainstream media and celebrity culture on their beliefs and behaviors.