essay

The representations of females differ between these two magazines, 'Heat' and 'Cosmopolitan.' The colour pink is used on the cover of 'Cosmopolitan' to attract the target audience of females, aged 16-30, of ABC1C2 class. This can connote love, passion, lust and is used as it is stereotyped to be a female colour. This can be contrasted with the cover of 'Heat' as it has limited amount of the colour pink used. The only pink used, in by the actress Sarah Jessica Parker; however is not used specifically by the institution, to appeal to their audience. Therefore, it can suggest the target audience for this magazine is not only females, but males too.

Cosmopolitan have used Beyonce on the front cover of the magazine as the protagonist; this attracts the audience, as they would like her music and her fashion sense. The key lighting on Beyonce's face and torso highlights her key features, portraying her as a sex symbol. This is reinforced by the colour pink, which connotes love. Whereas the cover of ‘Heat’ have used 3 main females, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dido and Halle Berry, all who are famous celebrities in Hollywood. These 3 females are not shown as sex symbols, because the institution is not trying to attract their audience, of females aged 20-35, of C1C2D class, who would read it for escapism, to find out information on the latest new programmes, whereas the main focus is on their hair, as the article is attracting the audience to the featured article about how to get celebrity hair. Even though both institutions have used their picked celebrities for different reasons, they are encouraging and are employing their view on the audience, that they should aspire to be like a celebrity, and they know how to, encouraging and persuading the audience to purchase their magazine.

The genre of both magazines are different, Cosmopolitan features more articles on fashion and celebrities, whereas Heat have the combination of fashion, celebrity gossip, and TV interest. This is presented on Heat, through the various pugs used; for example the two Eastenders exclusives and the Hugh Grant interview. In comparison with Cosmopolitan, that has used a main image of Beyonce, surrounded with many strap lines. The fact that Beyonce is covering the masthead, can suggest she is powerful enough to make the reader look away from the masthead and look towards her. She is also presented as dominant, because of her facial expression, which shows her looking down to the reader, smiling; also reinforcing the Propp narrative, her as the princess, however is shown to be independent. However, she does not need saving because she already is powerful enough, introducing the issue of feminism. It is also suggested by through the colour of her skin and the background colour. The colour of her skin is almost golden, like the background colour, which symbolizes her as a goddess.

The magazine Heat has represented females as superior because there are more on the cover, compared to two males. The fact that there are only two males can oppose the patriarchal society. The males are seen to be not attractive because of the issues surrounding them, such as High Grants issue with the prostitute and in Eastenders the case with Little Moe and her rape case. This can also support Levi Strauss’ binary oppositions theory; representing the male as evil and female as good.

Cosmopolitan has many articles to do with sex, creating a sexual theme. It is reinforced by the colour and how Beyonce is positioned. Her revealing, short, fitted pink dress shows her as beautiful and accentuates her body. Also, the way her hand is positioned, which is moving up her thigh, gives sexual connotations to the reader. As oppose to Heat, where all the females are covered; the strap line is covering their body focusing on their hair rather than their body, therefore opposing the theory of Laura Mulveys, ‘male gaze’ whilst Cosmopolitan reinforces this idea. This opposes the idea that female are stereotyped to be housewives, and should stay in the kitchen, which was the view in the early 19th century.

Beyonce is represented as a curvaceous woman, opposing the issue of the size zero debate. This can give a positive representation of woman, as the institution is trying to convey to the female audience that it is alright to have curves, as it is attractive. It is reinforced because there is a rise of eating disorders found amongst young females; which is the target audience of the magazine. This can also reinforce the hegemonic model (Gramsci) which suggests the audience is passive, and will believe in anything. However, Beyonce may not really look like that, as the photo would be airbrushed, to look attractive, which can then be negative as the audience may interpret it to be unreal, and think the institution is encouraging them to be thin and loose weight.

Heat is presented as an informal magazine; this is shown through the cover layout. There are many pugs and strap lines which can lure their target audience and their secondary audience, of females aged,16-20, with less disposable income, as the magazine is cheaper than Cosmopolitan. Compared with Cosmopolitan, this includes high fashion to attract their target audience, and their secondary audience of females, aged 35 and over, with a higher disposable income, they would read it for personal identity. The layout of Cosmopolitan is minimal, to emphasise the issue, as it has a sexual theme, and also allows the audience to focus on Beyonce, reinforcing the idea, that ‘sex sells.’ Heat, has various stories, to appeal to the audience, however, looks different to Cosmopolitan. The magazine has to look attractive to the audience, as the issue currently surrounding money is the economic crisis, and the ‘credit crunch,’ therefore the price and look of the magazine is important.