Evaluation: How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

 Firstly stereotypes were one of the most powerful forms of representation and the most evident major stereotype has been reinforced via my usage of cowboy/American rancher hats on my model for the photo shoots for Jack Jameson Jr. This was even included on the Editorial as the editorial wore a rancher hat with a chequered shirt clearly reinforcing the dominant dress code seen in the media and society. When looking at other magazines outside of the demographic then looking at country magazines like Country Weekly, it is clear who I am trying to represent and which music demographic I am appealing and catering to.

 

 

Typical example of Southern Country Attire, then looking  at the editorial it shows I am replicating the clothing to represent social groups in a Southern American way.

Comparison between NME and Country Weekly. The clothing is very different as the Country magazines represent social groups in Southern American Cultural way with chequered shirts and hats as opposed to NME more urban less rural attire and clothing choice. When looking at the Bonafide fictional artist/model it imitates the in which country magazines represent their social group/demographic.

 

It can be said that I reinforced the dominant hegemonic value that Country folk are illiterate(majority) via the excessive use of country slang used by my main cover artist Jack Jameson Jr in the double page spread articles.

Another reinforced dominant value is the fact that country folk are heavy drinkers and this was applied in my main cover artist’s article as his story involved his alcoholism and his burden of drinking problems.

My use of country slang/colloquialisms is based upon the Southern American stereotyped use of language as I utilised words such as “Y’all” which is an abbreviated version of hey you all. Many other usage of slang is mentioned majority of which is located on the double page spread.

Via my camerawork I used high angle shots of the main cover artists to signify his weakness to alcohol this again rubs his problems to the Country folk who are the social group catered to.

Via mise en scene in my photos In model photo-shoot I have created a representation of country folk and rural area residents as I have utilised semiotics and inter contextual references. Firstly in my Jack Jameson Jr photo I have purposely made the model wear black as this using semiotics connotes to the “Man In Black” Johnny cash and everything that he stands for is being applied and rubbed onto the social group that I focus on which is Country residents living in rural areas. Same also applied via my uses of iconography as my model wielded a guitar that stated the words “ This Machine Kills”, this is a inter contextual reference to Woody Guthrie and all of his ideologies and everything he stood for is rubbed on my demographic representing them in a particular way of the country artists referenced to.

 

Replication of Woody's Guthrie's guitar.

Johnny Cash the "Man In Black" is very similar to my Main Central Image as I intended, this was necessary in order to cater to the demographic. This affects how I represent social groups as his ideals and beliefs are passed onto Bonafide readers who are mainly American this however is justified as artists like Johnny Cash were prominent in my Quantitative Research in the "Who Are Your Role Models?" question.

 

I have broken a major dominant value that Southern Americans or Country Folk living in any rural area are not up to date with modern proliferated technology and via my usage of Web 2.0 for connecting with Bonafide outside of the magazine like on Facebook and Twitter, I have broken this attitude and view of them making them be seen and represented as digitally native. I even gave the artists YouTube channel to watch and listen to his music. This can be seen in the images below as the website links were frequently placed on pages much like Country Weekly and NME and other major magazines in order to make the company and magazine successful.