THE GENTLEWOMAN: LANGUAGE AND REPRESENTATION

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 Gentlewoman front cover 


1) What do the typefaces used on the front cover suggest to an audience?

- Sophistication.

2) How does the cover subvert conventional magazine cover design?

- the magazine cover star has an unusual makeup look that isn't typical.

3) Write an analysis of the central image.

- bright, vibrant colour scheme
- subverts typical women's lifestyle fashion magazine
- unconventional fashion design
- central image of a framed potrait

4) What representations of gender and celebrity can be found on this front cover?

 - Scarlett Johansson

5) What gender and representation theories can we apply to this cover of the Gentlewoman? 

- binary opposition: popular actress used to looking good on front covers is made to wear unflattering makeup style.




Feature: Modern Punches

1) How does the feature on Ramla Ali use narrative to engage the audience? Apply narrative theories here.

- empowerment and strong representations in terms of race and gender.

2) What representations can you find in this feature - both interview and image?

- cartier watch represents capitalist values and ideologies.

3) What representation theories can we apply to the Modern Punches feature? 

- Medhurst: the items she is wearing create a stereotype that she is a sporty person as nike is a sports brand.






Feature: Isabella Tree interview

1) Why is this feature unconventional for a women's lifestyle and fashion magazine? Comment on the use media language in these pages. 

- it has an image of a tree which has no links to fashion.

2) How does the Isabella Tree feature reflect the social and cultural contexts of contemporary Britain? Think about AQA's discussion of lifestyle, environmental issues and ethical movements.

- narrative of environmental recovery.
- the manicured gardens reveals to the audience of GW wealth and class.

3) What representations of nature can be found in this feature?

- in the name isabella tree and the image.




Feature: Stella McCartney and vegan fashion

1) How does this feature reflect contemporary social and cultural contexts?

- £830 Falabella bag shows GW class and wealth.

2) Comment on the typography and page design in this feature.

- unusual celebrity image, contradicting mise en scene, dresses as a celebrity but unusual background/setting.

3) What representations can be found in the image accompanying this feature? 

- postmodernism




Representations

Read this Business of Fashion interview with The Gentlewoman editor Penny Martin. If you don't want to sign up to the website (free) then you can access the text of the article on Google Drive here (you'll need your Greenford Google login). Answer the following questions: 

1) What type of magazine did Penny Martin, Gert Jonkers and Jop van Bennekom want to create? 

- A biannual sister  publication.

2) What representations of modern women did they try to construct for the magazine?

- From the way they drink, dance, drive and speak to the way they sign their letters or conduct their divorces. We make sure that the magazine is not just a pornography of product that is supposedly interesting to women.

3) What examples of cover stars reflect the diversity in the magazine's content? 

-88-year-old actor Angela Lansbury and popstar Beyoncé, 

4) What is Penny Martin's view on feminism and whether the magazine is feminist?

- "When people ask me about politics or feminism, I say that it isn't a magazine about those things, it's a
magazine informed by those things — among others. Is it a feminist magazine? Well, it's made by feminist people, so what do you think?! But I don't want to make those values and principles fashionable, because I don't want to undermine them by turning them into an aesthetic and I don't want them to pass into the realm of the unfashionable. Let's just assume that we all agree there should be equal pay and childcare and get on with it, eh?"

5) Look at the end of the article. How does the Gentlewoman help readers construct or reflect their identity by engaging with events and spaces beyond the magazine? 

- "Other things" includes the recently formed Gentlewoman Club which extends
the magazine's brand into physical events where readers can interact and chat
with editors. "We're starting to develop our website as a kind of portal for real
things to happen rather than a bogus virtual community with likes and message
boards. I am so not interested in that. I think that's over."









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