Saturday, 5 December 2009

Textual Analysis 6 - Double Page Spread


Language: This double-page spread from the NME issue which I had previously analysed features, once again, Lilly Allen. She is wearing iconic costumes such as a 'lumberjack' chequered shirt, which is iconic of indie. Her hair is also black and swept to the side of her face, which is an iconic emo hairstyle. The make-up she is wearing is also thick black which is iconic of emo. She does, however, keep some part of her girly style by the use of the prop necklace, which allows her to express herself as still girly and not a 'tomboy'. The text is also connotates punk as the iconic punk band 'The Sex Pistols' are often wrote in that font style whenever spoken about in a poster of some kind. One contrast between this article and main image of the cover model on the front cover, is that the cover model (Lilly Allen) is now smiling. She is also in a slight leaning stance, connotating that she's a bit tired and fed up, but still happy, and has her hands on her waists, allowing the girly side of her to still be seen. The layout of the article remains conventional; minimal text, large dominating image taking up one whole page and a large headline, in this context, in the form of a quote. It then, above the article text, has a small headline to start it off. The colour scheme, reflecting the cover models personality, is red and black, connotating, through mise en scene, that she is not as good as she appears to be, she has a darker side and is dangerous (the use of red connotates this). The colour of her costume (shirt) also connotates this as the mise en scene of this is the colour red, mostly dominating the article, and the black lines on her shirt. There is also high, artifical lighting showing her good side.
Institution: There is no appearance of institution on this double page spread, which may put the magazine at a disadvantage. The lack of identity on the page means that if you didn't know which article it derived from (somehow) and you hadn't seen the image and text style from the front cover, you would have no idea which magazine it derives from. There is also, conventionally, no form of advertisements nor is there any contact information.
Ideology: The ideas in which NME is trying to convey is that Lilly Allen isn't a 'chav' anymore (that was her first image) and is now quite cool and indie. It also shows us that she's quite sexy which is connotates through the use of her costume (shirt) being unbuttoned at the top.
Audience: The target audience is 'indie', style-conscious, UK teenagers from the age roughly 15-25 years of age. They would be in the class system of C1 as they wouldn't have lots of money, but wouldn't necceserilly be poor as they would be in to the latest fashion, and everyone knows that fashion doesn't come cheaply...
Representation: Lilly Allen is represented as a bit of an 'indie/emo' person due to her costume, makeup, and the text associated with her. Emo is a form of punk die to unconventional style of screaming (or screamo as it is commonly spoken). She is also represented as quite punky in the way she, unconventionally, isn't looking directly at the camera lens. This makes the image look proffessional but not conventional. Social groups such as chavs or 'gangsters' (people who idolise rappers or R&B artists) as these are the styles and forms of music which NME doesn't deal with, and therefore would clash with its overall image. To properly convey what I am trying to say about the text use and The Sex Pistols, here is a poster of them, and note the similarity between the two texts...