How does your media product represent particular social groups?

When creating my media product I decided that I would try and create a realistic representation of particular social groups by not changing my photographs in editing software to create an unrealistic representation of those social groups through the ideas of hyper reality. In my media product the only social group that I have represented clearly is teenagers as this is the group my audience will connect with as they are the same age although this group can be divided into genders, ethnicity and social class.

These are all of the people that I have represented within my media product. All of them are aged between 16 and 24 which is the age group of my audience. As you can see from the images that I have used I have tried to represent a broad range of different personalities and people through the way that they are presented.

Referring to the picture of the long haired teenager wearing a hat, I have tried to represent them as if they are a normal teenager so as to make it easier for my audience to connect with this figure as one of the things I discovered through my survey was that my audience want to be famous and by presenting a famous character as just like them I am giving them this image which directly relates to the theories of uses and gratifications and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as dreams and aspirations and personal identity are relevant. One of the main ways that I have achieved this is through the background that I have used, as you can see the background is of a normal back garden area with a shed, fences and plant life. I have used this backdrop because teenagers usually live at home with their parents still at the age of 16 and as this is the majority of my audience I decided to give my artist this same backdrop of living with his parents and so the photos are taken in their back garden. I have also tried to connect this figure with a current teenage audience by presenting them as trying to buck the trends of fashion which is something that teenagers will do very often. I have done this by showing them wearing a hat that is unusual which is something that you do not see in today’s fashion and so this would make my audience connect with this figure. The final thing that I have done with this character is that I have made them wear the colours red and black. As you may already know the 3 colour scheme for my magazine is red, white and black and by making this artist wear the colours red and black I am connecting them with my magazine image and therefore subtly implying to my audience that someone who is a famous musician (A figure that my audience aspire to be) enjoys my magazine and so this would make my audience want to continue reading my magazine as they may believe that they can become rich and famous through reading it. This follows the ideas set out by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as one of the steps of this theory is the idea that we seek self-actualisation which is our dreams and aspirations and as I discovered during my survey becoming a famous musician was a popular dream amongst my audience.

The next photo that I will be discussing is the one of the two figures looking off to the distance. With this image I decided to present a different part of my audience and so I photographed the two figures looking distant as if they are daydreaming or looking ahead to better things. I decided to do this because my audience of teenagers are still deciding on their futures and they have to make many important decisions in their life at this point in time. So by presenting these two figures as looking distant as if they are thinking it connects them with my audience as they too are making many decisions at this point in time. I have however followed the hegemonic values of the representations of teenagers by representing the two figures wearing black, dark outfits and one of them is also wearing a hoodie. These are stereotypical representations of teenagers in today’s society and they are fairly negative connotations that have been created by the mass media so I have followed these conventional images of teenagers by presenting them in this way.

However, contradicting my negative representation of teenagers as stated above, in the picture of the boy in the jumper with headphone round his neck, I have presented a different representation of teenagers in the form of an indie artist. The clothes that they are wearing are almost completely opposite to the stereotypical representation of teenagers as they are the sort of clothes you would see someone slightly older wear and so by presenting this artist in this way I am subverting the negative stereotypes that are usually present in magazines when teenagers are represented. I have also shown that he is wearing headphones in this image which will connect him with current audiences as usually most of my audience’s time is taken up by listening to music through headphones and so by showing him wearing headphones I am connecting him with my audiences and further proving that normal people can become famous and so I am following Maslow’s hierarchy of needs by making my audience’s dreams and aspirations look more realistic.

The final artist that I represented in my magazine is also following stereotypical representations of teenagers as I have represented this figure as a slightly scary hooded figure which is the generic presentation of a teenager in the mass media. I have achieved this representation through the clothes that I have used and the angle the photo was taken from. I chose to present this artist in a black hoodie as this presents him as a dark character that can be scary at times. However, by presenting him in this way I am following the dominant hegemonic values of this particular social group as this is the way they are presented in the mass media. I have also followed this representation through the angle that I took this photo from as the figure is shown as above the camera as it is a low-angle shot and so gives him power as he is above the viewer. By presenting this artist in this way I have reinforced the dominant ideology surrounding this particular social group.

Something that I have not discussed so far however is how I have represented gender in my magazine. In my magazine I have presented a very male dominant representation of my artists as all of my artists are male and by doing this I am following the stereotypical views about a patriarchal society.

Contradicting the gender inequality within my magazine I have presented ethnicity fairly well as I have presented a variety of different artists through different ethnicities as you can see from the images above so I have presented ethnicity in a better way than genders.

Another thing that I have tried to do with the artists in my images is present them all as having the same social class and background as my audience members. In have done this by presenting one of my artists as still living at home with their parents and by having another wearing a hoodie which is stereotypical of my audience members. By doing this I have provided my audience with another link to my artist and therefore am continuing to follow Maslow’s hierarchy as I am showing their dreams and aspirations to be far closer than they are in reality.

I have not just represented particular social groups through images though as I have also created a representation of my audience through the mode of address that I have used. In my magazine I have not used any colloquialisms of my audience as they would be generic terms that if someone other than my audience read my magazine would give them the impression that all members of my audience are hoodie wearing figures in the dark. So throughout the magazine I have tried to keep a friendly conversational tone. As you can see from the image I use a very conversational tone and use words that are not too grammatically complex or over the top while still informing the readers of what is to come in the magazine.

So in conclusion, I think that I have represented members of my audience in quite a diverse way as through the artists I have featured I have presented at least 3 different types of character in the images and only one of these views is conforming to the stereotypical view of 16-24 year olds. I have followed this up by using a conversational and friendly tone when addressing my audience as the mode of address also creates representations. So I have created a fair and diverse representation of particular social groups in my media product.