Critical Response Teen Magazines A Critical Analysis English Language Essay

Critical Response Teen Magazines A Critical abridgment English Langu shape up EssayMagazines aimed at the young puerile women commercialise may give the impression of be a filles best friend. Of course, kindred everything, they bring in their strengths and weaknesses just now do the strengths knocked by(p)weigh the weaknesses? It seems much likely for the interdict ensn argon of teen snips to be much prominent than the positive effects merely is this really the case?This response reviews the way teenr powder stores orchestrate bailiwicks relevant to young women today, curiously from the point of view of promoting flushed auto unsettled t get awayk characterization, safe sexual urge and leading social justice fucks. All these aspects atomic number 18 emphasised by techniques utilise in the composition of these garnishpings with phrase structure, optical collages and informal linguistic process being the most commonplace. Are the issues they c all over and the fulfilment to which they cover them suspend for their lectors? Teenage clippings, much(prenominal) as dame and Girlfriend, atomic number 18 often the first place striplings turn when they admit a line and that is when segments like Dolly Doctor1 ar most commonly used. This reinforces the take away for the powder magazines content to be appropriate for their subscribers however, this is not al shipway possible. Magazines, such as Cleo and cosmopolite, argon in a difficult position whilst they be aimed at the young adult market, 18 to 35-year-old women, a large proportion of their endorsers atomic number 18 between the age of 14 and 17. As reported in the individual magazines readership profiles, 35.16 per cent of oecumenical readers2argon decrepit between 14 and 17 and 29.11 per cent of Cleo readers.3How does this effect the teens who read these magazines? It appears that these effects are positive, such as encouraging their readers to exercise, as well up as negative, for instance lowering their self-esteem. why are teenage magazines so popular?Issues facing teenagersTeenage magazines spiel an important role in the average female teenagers life. They provide a wide range of cultivation, from social issues such as smoking and drinking, to issues of a less important nature, such as what to wear to the formal, or how to remonstrate to boys.4It is, t presentfore, important that they verbalize the relevant issues teenagers face in society today. atomic number 53 of the biggest issues addressed in teenage magazines is sex, and more importantly, safe sex. The impression you require when you pick up a teenage magazine is that they assume that if misfires are not sex savvy then they pauperization to be.5One teenage reader asked the incredulity fixing Chik6magazine wheres all the sex stories?7This simple question supports the theory that teenage magazines are not necessarily successful for the congeal reasons.Amongst some gr oups in society, such as the Christian churches, such reboots are often savvyd as im honourable. It as well makes these acts seem more common in society, which is not necessarily true. In position, 80 percent of 16 year-olds generate not had sexual intercourse but by the age of 18 theres a 50 per cent probability that they put one across.8Being a virgin is generally criticised by new(prenominal) teenagers. Despite the circumstance that magazines call forth safe sex, research has shown that safe sex does not exist unless cardinal virgins are having sex for the first eon and remain with severally other for life.9On the other hand, these magazines ramble articles on what their readers want to know. If Dolly magazine receive a letter asking for service of process ab place not wanting to have sex, they will run an article somewhat abstinence. Or if they receive a letter almost date rape, they will run an article slightly date rape and what to do nearly it. In the same r espect, if a reader asks Dolly, what is masturbation? they will respond with an appropriate article.10There seems to be a common perception that variant teenage magazines has contributed heavily to readers low self-esteem. As a result of this perception, today teenage magazines seek to promote a health physical structure word picture. Dolly magazine has a specific section in every issue called the remains Confidence Club11that is dedicated to motivating teenagers to be content with their mortalate. This ranges from advice on exercising and meditation to healthy eating. Often it will include real-life stories to help teenagers to believe if it worked for them, it preserve work for me The deputy editor of Dolly magazine saidWe never publish diets or ever say that a girl should lose weight, its only ever or so toning up if thats what you want to touch sensation better around yourself.12The Body Confidence Club is a reader forum where Dolly talks about a automobile trunk issu e and does it in a way that is inspirational. Stories will reflect the line and show solutions, stimulating teenagers to think that they sewer change as well as. Publishing articles on healthy soundbox image near to fashion spreads glorifying all that is overblown and jaggy13can have a negative effect. What girls need to look on is that Marilyn Monroe was a size 14 and she was still ciphered beautiful.14Even Cosmopolitan has dealt with the issue of carcass image, introducing the Body Love Initiative in October 2001. This policy states that Cosmopolitan will use models from size 6 to size 16 in every issue, as well as all races. Alongside the models, Cosmopolitan will not publish a diet and has not do so for around s dismantle years. They too determine that their advertisers do not place unnecessary emphasis on the need to be skinny and consistently publish articles to help readers feel more confident and manage the skin they are in. These guidelines were put into place after readers became outraged over a exposure shoot, Lingerie Gets Real, featuring women in their underwear.15Cosmopolitans philosophy isHealthy eating, healthy body image but being within your healthy body weight range all about persuasion good in your own skin.16another(prenominal) issue addressed by these magazines concerns popularity amongst peers. This is an important issue in the minds of teenagers, especially in the school environment. The common perception that you have to be cool to cause the prudence of a boy increases the haul of becoming popular. To quash this assumption Dolly magazine focuses on the fact that popularity is not as important as being confident. Therefore they run stories about how to talk to people, both boys and girls, and how to be more confident in different situations.17However, confidence is just integrity part of it. If a teenager does not feel popular she is less likely to be confident. So it is important to address popularity as an issue o f concern.Mental health and mankind assistance are important issues to address for teenagers. They need to gain go outing of the causes, occurrences and oversight of these disorders. Without this knowledge there are often misconceptions about disorders such as schizophrenia and depression. Suicide, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders and self-harm are all common musical themes of backchat in Dolly magazine because of the some(prenominal) letters received requesting schooling about certain mental illnesses. The deputy editor of Dolly states thatIn all of those stories we do talk to experts about the issue and get learning that the girls can use.18Cosmopolitan, on the other hand, always runs feel-good articles in the magazine each month to help their readers overcome their own anxiety and stress19but they do not run articles to increase the awareness of mental illnesses. Illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are rarely mentioned in Cosmopolitan.Physical evil i s another issue that needs to be dealt with. This is to ensure that teenagers acknowledge that people with physical impairments are not different. Dolly often publishes articles on the life story of someone with a physical impairment to show the readers that despite this impairment and the obstacles in their life they still rest normally and they are like whatever other psyche. However, Cosmopolitan and Cleo kick downstairs to cover issues about physical impairment.How magazines are com couchdHow do magazines channel people to read so many articles and view the optic images constructed in each monthly issue? This is achieved through the language and visual techniques that are used and accentuated to capture the attention of the reader. These include structure, interviews, language features, appeal-quotes, rhetorical questions and visual texts.Firstly, the structure of most feature articles is changing. They are beginning to be divide by many sub-headings. By using sub-headin gs it allows the reader to go dependable to the part of the article they are particularly elicit in. For example in the Dolly article, The Rise of the at once Edgers,20if a person knew what a Straight Edger is, but was wondering where the name came from they can go to the sub-section, Whats with the name?21Or if they wanted to palpate out more, they are directed to the section, Wanna know more?22This means that a person can get what they want out of the article quickly without having to read the entire article.The types of articles also vary from stories, interviews and notes. Stories are effective in entertaining as well as informing. The investigation into the statistic that 1 in 5 women will experience violence during motherliness23is informing the reader about the risks of violence during pregnancy as well as telling the stories of women who lost their lives at the hand of the father of their unborn child.The use of interviews creates the impression that the reader is commu nicating with the interviewee, and not indicant it blink of an eye hand. An interview, such as Tammin Sursoks subtitled, The first time I ,24gives the reader the feeling of having a conversation with your best friend about the first time you kissed a boy had sex fell in love 25This creates the effect that the reader is getting to know the celebrity personally, instead of just class period a magazine interview. The use of first person also emphasizes this in the mind of the reader. This approach is taken in most interviews in magazines in an attempt to personalize the article for the reader.Notes allow the reader to go instantly to scant(p) bits of information. In Rags to Riches26the reader can quickly obtain small pieces of fact from the spreadsheet of information. These text formats allow different readers to access the information that is of specific beguile to them.The language used amongst teenage magazines is informal, conversational and intact of jargon and jargoon. This is because these magazines try to speak to the reader, not speak at them. You could deem that if one of these magazines happened to use formal language it would appear as though the magazine is a text book and very serious. Informal language creates a much more tendingfree approach to topics of discussion office the reader to relate more intimately. For example, if this sentenceWhen you look at Jade, she strikes you as just another spunky chick, in miniature27was written formally it would say something along the lines ofUpon viewing Jade, your first impression of her would be, a short but fashionable woman.Instead, using informal language helps to keep the teenagers interested and they are more likely to read and understand what is being said. It also fits in with each magazines philosophy28 to be the readers friend and adviser.Jargon and slang reaches the teenagers on their train. In this particular sentence slang is adopted powerfully and still manages to communicate its contentednessYou probably heard Paris Hilton threw a tanti when she saw her porn vid being sold by her local newsstand proprietor29Words such as tanti and vid are slang for tantrum and video. The finding of this language is to relate to the teens by communicating to them using their own jargon. affectional language is used to create a response in the reader and is present in sections like Dolly Doctor30and Sex, Body and Friends Advice31. Its role is to convey the message that the writers at each magazine truly care about the issues people are asking about and they offer original advice to help their reader. When Girlfriend Advice was questioned about bullying, their response wasAll of us here at GF Girlfriend feel very strongly that you have a in good order to feel totally safe at school.32The expression of concern for the girl being bullied helps the girl to believe that they really care.Dolly magazine also does the same thing. When Dolly counsellor, Louise Redmond, was asked about whether there is something wrong with a girl who keeps being excluded from her friendship groups plans she respondsTheres absolutely nothing wrong with you Hard as it is, dont take it personally.33As a result of this expression of kindness and concern the person asking the question then feels compelled to follow the advice handed out to them by the magazine. The use of second person addresses the reader. Its inclusiveness embraces each readers concerns.Pull-quotes are used within articles to compel you to read an article. A pull-quote is a quote from the article that is selected and highlighted amongst the text in a different coloured and larger coat font. This device is used to draw the readers eye to the paginate. The quote is chosen on its strength and whether or not it is interesting, funny, exciting or riveting.34For example, in the article titled, Im a teenage mum of three,35the pull-quote,All of my friends lost their virginity before me, but Iwanted to wait until I f elt ready to have a baby36interests the reader into reading the article to find out why this teenager has threechildren by the age of seventeen. This is effective in attracting interest and attention to the article. However, other pull-quotes can seem completely contrary to the story. For example, an article titled My parents are both blind37with a pull quoteIf someones playing kickball I run off coz Im scared about it hitting me38This pull-quote seems completely out of context, however, by causing confusion about the article teenagers are more likely to read the article. If only to find out how that pull-quote relates to an article about something perceivably different.Rhetorical questions invoke thought about the issue being addressed. If the issue is not a well-known topic questions such asDoes he love it? Hate it?39strategically pose at the beginning of the article encourages readers to engage in reading and contemplating the article. The composers of the magazines have, there fore, reached its usage to persuade people to read their publications.Emphasised questions help to make the reader focus on what an article is addressing. The majority of the questions asked are answered within the body of the article.What can you do to stop the symptoms?40is answered,Learn new and better ways to deal with stress. Eat a varied diet and avoid foods that have a high fat content41This allows the reader to gain solving on the topic of discussion.If you were to pick up the in style(p) Dolly magazine to find that there were no pictures at all, what would you think? Without images these magazines would have no appeal, people would just walk straight past them in a shop. The problem begins at the appropriateness of these visual images. Often an article would not survive without images or be overlooked if it was not for the suggestive images meet the text.The most prominent visual technique is a collage, especially on the front cover. It is the most effective way of put ting a great deal of information into a small space. A collage is used in Dollys Style section42and presents to the reader four celebrities, their fashion style, and the habiliments articles and accessories they can obtain to achieve the same fashion style.Some articles, such as How Old Is She?43, could not exist without pictures. How do you demonstrate that a person looks young or old for their actual age without images? These pictures, however, seize the readers attention and intrigue them to find out how old these girls really are. Other pictures are used to tease the reader into reading the article. Images such as the one in Great Places To Kiss44catches the readers eye and provokes them to read the article. Even the image for the article Stop Texting Me45provokes the reader. They see a girl with a mobile phone and quickly examine the article to see if it is of any interest to them.In Cosmopolitans fashion workshop46visual images are essential to apologize why you should not wear certain types of underwear for different body shapes. However, Cosmopolitan has taken some poetic licence. In the images showing the reader what not to wear they place the model in an unflattering pose and appearing self-conscious. This creates the effect that it is not something the reader would want to wear. Of course, when the model is corroding what ultimately looks better she appears to be happy and confident, posing with a smile.A recurring way of presenting photos is in the notice board style. Each photo has a thick white border and a paper clip or thumb-tack in the corner, giving the effect that the photos are up on a notice board, attached to a personal profile or even part of a personal notebook.47Personalising these photos involves the reader in the magazine and creates a carefree atmosphere.Consequently, the combination of these techniques makes a teenage magazine intrigue to the reader. This results from being positioned by the composer in a location easily appro achable to read or view the text. By making these magazines intriguing and easily accessible allows the magazines to sell many copies of each monthly issue.Magazines and Appropriateness many a(prenominal) people tend to focus on the negative aspects of what teenagers are reading in magazines. Christopher Bantick, The Age journalist, wroteBesides the heavy emphasis on sex and problematic sex at that teenage girls magazines capitalize on adolescent insecurity.48Although this is accurate, Bantick could be optimistic and, instead of reinforcing common beliefs about magazines, he could address the fact that these magazines do aim to reach out to teenagers at their level and help them with their insecurities, whether that would be about sexual intercourse or not. Magazines have implemented sections within the magazines where their readers can write in to ask for advice49about something they feel uncomfortable asking their parents or even their friends.Many parents do not like what their daughters are reading in these teenage magazines, as evident by the Your Say section of The Age,50but many more are actually dejected that their daughters are increment up too fast and interested in such topics of discussion. Articles regarding Sex Exotica51would seem improper for a 14-year-old female to be reading. such an article may be appropriate for Cosmopolitans market audience, 18 to 35 year olds. However, the editors should take into work out that a large percentage of the readers, 35.16 per cent52to be exact, are aged between 14 and 17. However, if Cleo and Cosmopolitan were to change their content to suit the junior readers than they may lose readers and they would not be aimed at the 18 to 35 year old market any longer. It seems, with these two magazines in particular, they are mostly focused on topics such as sexual intercourse.Parents feel these magazines are not appropriate because of a perceived breach of moral standards. Cosmopolitans morals were questioned whe n a monthly issue was on sale in a Woolworths store. They received many complaints about a headline regarding a guide to a mind-blowing blow-job.53Cosmopolitan were forced to place stickers over this headline as it was inappropriate for the consumers in a supermarket.Many critics consider it inappropriate for young teenagers to be reading material such as that in Cosmopolitan and Cleo, and it is just as inappropriate forpre-teenagers to be reading Dolly or Girlfriend with the content they represent. Magazines have the potential to check young minds about what is acceptable and unacceptable in society as well as altering their way of thinking about sexual intercourse and gender roles.There are other reasons why teenage magazines appeal to a young audience. Firstly, there are the striking colours, secondly, the renowned boy or girl splashed across the cover page and thirdly, the desire to be cooler and mature for their age.These magazines reveal little about the value of academic ac hievement and intellectual challenges. It is fair to say that the disposition is not the hot organ at the centre of the teenage magazine world. This lack of concern about formal pedagogy is reflected in Dolly and Girlfriend with less than 20 per cent54of articles focused on education and/or intelligence. Only Cosmopolitan and Cleo frequently publish articles about careers. However, of the articles produce in each magazine, less than 5 per cent55of the articles are found on careers.The effects of these magazinesTeenage magazines can affect teenagers in many ways, both positively and negatively. However because people tend to focus on the negatives it appears as though most of these effects are, in fact, negative. A strike by the British Medical Association56has shown thatThe media are a momentous and pervasive ascertain in modern society, and provide information about gender roles, fashion and acceptable body image which may be particularly influential on those young children and adolescents who are heavily loose to its content57AndYoung women may compare themselves to extremely thin models and perceive themselves as fat in comparison, rather than healthy and attractive58This pattern of influence on an already precarious teenager could result in social and psychological problems. These include eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, anxiety problems, depression and low self-esteem in susceptible personalities. Such problems are not healthy for the individual and restrict their quality of life.These problems, especially anxiety and low self-esteem, may arise from viewing the cover of any teenage magazine. This visual imagery may cause teenagers to feel insecure about their own body image, out of touch with the latest trends and even upset. Positioned on the cover of Dolly59magazine, April 2005, is an image of singer, Jessica Simpson, who is thin, toned, tanned, blonde, beautiful and in public view is her tight stomach and ample bust. For any girl who is not one hundred per cent comfortable with her outward appearance that image can be disheartening and depressing. Those who do not recognise the name or face of the latest guys youd sell your best friend for60can feel as though they are not up with the latest gossip or workings of, so to speak, girl-world. Those who do not understand the headline Stuck in Bloat Town?61can become confused even before opening the magazine. All of these thoughts and feelings occur before the person has even opened the magazine.Once the magazine is opened, however, the feelings may continue or cease, it all depends on what part of the magazine the reader focuses on. The advertisements tend to disseminate a completely different message than the articles they are placed next to and results in vulnerable teenage girls feeling uncertain about what message the magazine is trying to send. This mainly occurs when an article about healthy body image is placed next to image displaying a perceivably flawless, thin model.62Another impact on teenagers is caused by the fashions that models are seen wearing in magazines. These fashions influence the readers preferences. Teenagers will believe that if they wear that brand of clothing and that style of clothing they will look better and impress. This is not always the case, the clothes in magazines are often suggestive and send the wrong message. It could be taken that shes asking for trouble and a rebel when she is only following trends being fed by the magazines.Males can also be affected by these magazines, as well as females. It is a widely known fact that these images misrepresent the ideal body image forfemales butThere is growing awareness regarding the pressure men and boys are under to appear muscular.