Media Theory Research

In this post I will be researching the use of media theories in relation to my chosen brief (magazines). I hope to understand the importance of using them and why they will be needed when producing my coursework. Gaining this research into media theories will help me to include these within my own work. Media theories are very important to include in all media texts if they want to be successful. 

In this US weekly magazine featuring Halle Berry, the institution uses Baudrillard’s theory of postmodernism because more than likely they would have manipulated the image of Halle Berry. The audience will believe that the diet they are advertising will be the reason that Halle Berry looks good at her age.The modern audience care a lot about their figures and how they look, they aspire to look like celebrities, they will therefore follow the diet. This links to Baudrillard’s idea of hyper reality- the audience begin to believe they can look like this if they follow this diet however it is likely the image is manipulated or that she has had plastic surgery. The institution is selling a diet based on the fact a celebrity looks good for “using” it. This edition of the magazine focuses a lot of its articles and front cover on weight loss (diets and exercise). This is making the audience focus on the fact society has stereotypes of what women should look like, they feel more pressure to look like this so will follow the articles to fit in with society. This what Baudrillard suggests in his theory of postmodernism.






Elle magazine uses a Selena Gomez as the front cover image, the institution uses this image to attract a heterosexual male according to Laura Mulvey's theory of Male Gaze. Gomez is wearing a very revealing dress and is posing seductively, according to Mulvey women are objectified for the attention and pleasure of the heterosexual male. She is surrounded by cover lines that mention "Beauty" and "Pretty and Powerful" and "The girl who wins every boy's heart" all written in bold,this further adds to her appeal because it implies these things about her. Also the the cover lines do not cover her, this retains the focus on her image/body. Therefore the image is used to objectify her in order to gain the attention of a heterosexual male audience. It could also be argued that a female audience will react by feeling in awe of her figure and beauty, this will make it likely a female audience will also buy this magazine because they aspire to be her.


In conclusion, after this task I now understand the importance of using media theories in magazines. After looking at many magazine front covers I can clearly see that the above media theories are used a lot to attract a wide audience. I intend to use theories such as Baudrillard's postmodernism to attract an audience to read my magazine by editing photos (creating hyper reality) I would also use Levi Strauss idea of "Binary Opposites" because the brief asks for the use of two different models from different social groups, the images I will take will represent two different groups.I intend to use such theories to make my magazine seem authentic and professional. I will use edited, airbrushed images in order to create a sense of hyper reality. I will use people from two different backgrounds for my two front covers to fit with the brief and tie in the binary opposites theory.