The document discusses how a media product, a rock music magazine called Uprising, represents various social groups. The magazine aims to represent people of different ages, genders, races, social classes and musical tastes by featuring a variety of rock bands - both male and female-fronted, from different genres and subgenres. Images in the magazine, such as the cover featuring an all-female rock band and a double-page feature on the all-female band Utopia, aim to represent women and show that gender does not limit musical success. The magazine's pricing, fonts, and inclusion of social media links help represent different social classes and appeal to multiple groups.

1. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
By Janet Bargmann

2. The word “representation” shows the way in which
someone or something has been portrayed.
In media terms, it would be the way in which the
object or the text is approached by the creators and
how it is put across to the audience and how they
view it.
“Representation”

3. For example, my front
cover shows the main
image of an all-girl-rock-
band, as well as cover
lines which mention
bands like
Paramore, Biffy Clyro and
You Me at Six. These
bands are well known to
the public, and are very
popular in the world of
rock music so I thought
that it would entice the
readers to see what else
Uprising has to offer.
My pricing is £2.40, and
$4.00, which represents
different classes- the
magazine isn’t too
expensive, so people
aren’t limited by their
social class.
The UK and America are
also multi-cultural, and I
think it is important
especially today, to be
respectful and
considerate of all races.
In the main
image, the girls are
wearing black and
white clothing, and
nothing that is
very exposing or
provocative. I did
this because I
wanted to show
that it’s all about
the music and they
represent
people, particularly
women, who use
their looks to sell
their product. It
makes them role
models, especially
for young women
and teenagers.
The variety in fonts helps to show the different genres I am
representing in my magazine.

4. Personally, I think it would be a successful
magazine as it would appeal to more than one type
of social group. I also have included a
Facebook/Twitter link at the bottom, as social
media is a very popular way for media to be
advertised to many social groups online.
In my contents page, I have included an even
bigger variety of bands- some include Alter
Bridge, Shinedown and Halestorm, who produce
music that is hard rock.
As I wanted it to appeal to a wide range of
people, and both genders, I wanted to have
female fronted bands (like Paramore and
Utopia) as well as all-male bands.
I know that people like more than one
band so I tried to include many of the sub-
genres in rock because I like to read
magazines that aren’t always based
around the same bands.
The colour scheme is mainly black and yellow, which could connote
something to beware of. On the other hand, I think the two colours
together make the magazine neutral- neither for men nor women
specifically.
The image of myself as the editor makes it a bit more
personal, and the audience can see who it is that has
created this magazine. I thought by pulling a face, it
could come across as humorous and easy-going, and not
the stereotypical rock fan.
The photo of Jared Leto entices the reader, as it shows a
world famous star and lets the readers connect with other
fans through their images of live gigs.

5. My double page
spread is based
around
Utopia, an all-
female rock band.
I think that this
can represent
social
groups, because
many people
relate rock music
to being more
masculine and
they make the
presumption that
women can’t
necessarily be
rock stars.
Even though there are bands such as Halestorm and Paramore who are fronted by women,
and bands like Neon Trees and the White Stripes who have a female drummer, there aren’t
very many bands who are all-female and I think that rock is known for being rebellious and
going against the social norm. With this in mind, I thought that having Utopia would be good
because I know that there are many rock fans who understand that it’s good to be different
and to stand out and an all-female rock band can be just as successful as an all-male band.
Having the “most successful female band… of all time” implies
that this genre has been quite male dominated in the past.
The quote “we’re gonna take the world by storm!”
suggests that they are on a road to success and it makes
the reader think that anything can be possible.
The “Quick
Questions” makes
the reader more
involved, and by
including their
inspirations, can
make the reader
feel they have
something in
common with the
band if they like the
same genres. By
giving advice, it can
make young readers
have self belief.
Having images of
the band in a
recording session
represents how
they are true to
their music. There
are also comments
on each
photo, generally
quite funny which
is a convention of
some rock
magazines such as
KERRANG!

6. I don't want to stereotype certain genres within my
magazine so it appeals more for certain social groups
than others, because there are young people who are in
their early teens who like listening heavy metal as well
as indie or alternative rock, so that is why I have tried to
include a variety of sub-genres to make this a magazine
for more than one group of people. I think this could be
a way for people of different ages and backgrounds to
have something in common with each other.