How does your media group represent different social

groups

The stereotype of Underground music culture

The underground scene is stereotypically seen as having a culture of drinking and drugs behind its belt. This causes for a more rough male ideology and a strong ideology of Mulveys male gaze upon women. There is a stereotypical association with drug taking within the underground genres, but drug taking can be represented as designer as it requires disposable income. This need for disposable income which links to the higher end of the income bracket. The lower end who would buy into this representation would be students where drugs form part of their culture. However i have decided on challenging the stereotypical representation of clubbing and drug taking. Instead of giving the my magazine colour scheme acid house colours i have replaced them with muted colours. I have also gone against the stereotypes of “laddish” behaviour that is associated with underground music by not including Mulveys male gaze representation of women in my magazine.

With my sophisticated outlook on the underground it meant that I did not have to follow

certain stereotypes of the underground scene leading to a more pluralistic view upon the genre which i feel is more conventional for a niche market who would like to see themselves as individual and not something that the media creates. Because my magazine is part of a pluralistic media it is giving a representation to a more niche audience which is represented by my unusual layout of some of my pages like my contents page.

The higher income bracket of the audience also would mean they are sophisticated therefore would not subscribe to traditional masculine ideologies about objectification of women. My sophisticated approach means that I have challenged convention of more mainstream genres in keeping with the underground scene.

Class B

For my production I chose the income bracket of B-E. I chose the large income bracket as the underground does have urban roots hence the C-E audience but the challenge in which it represents to convention makes it more sophisticated hence the B audience. My audience below B means that i can include students who are of clubbing age. My class of B is represented throughout the magazine through the way i have designed it. For example as i said earlier i have edged away from the acidic colours and replaced them with more muted colours and have not included any images suggesting sexualisation of women. The layout of the magazine suggests a rejection of class stereotypes as it does not conform to the stereotypes of the classes directly and in some areas can oppose them.

Race

I wanted to have more variety of race within the magazine as the underground conventionally has a mix of all races and genders but was however restricted modelling choice at the time but if I where to repeat the task I would go further in trying to find more models of different backgrounds. Conventionally an underground magazine should have a mix of races as the genre has urban roots. Most cities for example Birmingham and London have a huge variety of races which meant that naturally the underground scene became very multicultural. Due to the sophistication required to step away from mainstream cultures the underground is also more exceptive of other cultures because of its association with working class who are stereotypically more liberal and open to different cultures. Those that travel over from abroad seeking a new life in the cities of the UK are placed into these working class environments and will often become a part of the underground culture, this causes changes in music types of the underground hence the demand for Jamaican grime music in the early 2000’s. This leads to the underground becoming a more pluralistic society denoting a diversity of views rather than a single approach.

Age

Underground music is focused around those of around 18-26 as this is when people begin to go out at night to clubs etc. It is for this reason that the 3/4 of my models are within the age bracket of 18-26.

Gaz Frost - 21 Alex tulip - 20

Joe - 21

I portrayed binary oppositions of strong vs weak through the portrayal of Alex on the front cover. Stereotypically those that are in the underground scene will be represented as urban in attitude however this ideology is reversed through the pose that I got Alex to do that portrays Alex as a more soft looking character that goes against the stereotypes of the genre but is more fitting to the sophistication of my magazine.

Gender

Underground music in generally more male orientated however I wanted to make my magazine more gender neutral so I did not include any sexualisation of women. I did not include any women within my magazine as I wanted to stick to what was happening in the genre at the time I produced the piece and at the moment their are not many female artists within the underground scene. I combined the masculinity of the genre with the sophistication of representation through the outfit that I got Joe to wear. The traditional male iconography with the biker helmet and dark black leather. The masculinity of the genre combined with the sophistication of representation can also be found through the dark colours of the magazine and the medium close up of Alex on the front cover that connotes a sense of vulnerability. Camaraderie can also be seen through the way I shot Congi. I had one standing in front of the other and in some shots I had them both standing in front of the graffiti wall side by side connoting friendship and mutual respect for one another which is stereotypically found in “boyish” or “laddish” behaviour that is associated with the genre.

Constructionist theory

Constructionist theory is how representations are put together.

The theory suggests representations are made up of four parts; Fact, what the producer wants the audience to believe, the audiences own opinion and its context in time. Its context in time means that we have to take into account what was happening in the world at that time. The fact is what is happening in real life, there must be a sense of reality. What the producer wants us to see means that the producer may have some opinions of his own so may include more of his own opinion in the product.

Constructionist theory: How it applies to my production

Through this theory we can see how I have pieced together different beliefs including my own into my production.

I believe I have shown constructionist theory through my magazine showing how I as the producer have used beliefs about the genre and have used my own beliefs. An example of this is how I have used the belief and fact that the underground has connotations with a rough lifestyle through the location of the main photo shoot with Congi that took place next to a graffiti wall in the outskirts of a city. I as a producer have then applied my own beliefs about the genre through the way I got Alex to look at the camera for the front cover shoot and the design of the magazine.

I believe that these representations that i have shown have been portrayed through my own understanding of the constructionists theory.

Application of constructionist theory of my magazine: Fact: The underground genre grew out of an underground scene. This is represented by the

brick wall and colloquial language in the headline for example “its proper chilled” What the producer (me) wants the audience to believe: the scene should be accepted as a

sophisticated addition to music despite its urban roots. This is why i focused on the specific instruments of the genre on the DPS pullout quote implying the talent and skill that you need to make the music. The idea of sophistication is also shown through the use of the thin serif font.

Context of time: this is shown through the postmodern society with more broad acceptance of what is art for example graffiti and mix of upper class and working class cultures.

Opinion of Audience – the opinion of the audience should represent the opinions of mine if i have achieved in choosing the correct target audience.