Woman magazine:

The layout of the magazine page, with the woman's face central to the cover, has a focalisation on her and shows that it's all about beauty. It presents the producer's ideological perspective that all a woman's job is, is to look good. This is the only focus, her appearance and this is anchored by the lexis of, 'are you an a-level beauty'

The masthead is written in a font stylisation stereotypically associated with a woman's handwriting, and therefore indicates this magazine's target audience is the stereotypical woman. Dainty, soft and lacks sharpness.

The lexis of 'for your kitchen', creates the narrative that a woman's only job is to cook and clean. This reflects the time period that this magazine was produced.

The mise-en-scene of the woman's makeup is very natural, indicating that this is the preferred look of the day. She is very pretty and happy, and it sells the idea that if you buy the magazine, you can learn how to be as pretty and smily as her. She's dressed in feminine clothing, so therefore it shows that the woman is expected to dress in a feminine manor.

The colour pallet is stereotypically feminine, including colours such as purples and pinks.

Close up of the female models face, it positions the audience right in front of her. It gives us a pleasant mode of address. This is highly conventional, particularly for a magazine.

A mixture of serif, and sans serif font. Different feelings, emotions and responses. It is aesthetically displeasing.

Assumes the target audience to be those who stay at home and cook, sells the lifestyle.

There's not much copy on the front page, this could suggest that there is a lack of education available for the target female audience.

There's a lot of lighting - harsh lighting, high-key lighting. This makes her seem a bright and happy person, and therefore approachable, making the target audience want to pick up the newspaper. She is smiling, it seems forced. Her eyes give this away, because she seems to be forced into feeling and behaving in a certain way, she seems scared and timid.This shows that women are constructed in order to look attractive.

In small font at the top, it says 'the worlds greatest', the lexis includes superlative and hyperbolic language - 'greatest', and therefore is shows that in order to be the best, you must read this magazine. The producer preys on potential consumer's insecurities, that they are not the best, and uses this in order to make them buy a paper.

Her face is not covered, and therefore suggests confidence and boldness. This could also suggest vulnerability. This has polysemic meanings. This makes her seem like a perfect example and role-model for the target audience, as she represents them. She looks like a regular person in her thirties, which is the audience the newspaper are aiming to attract. She does not wear glamorous clothing, and therefore it's aimed at the average, working class woman.

All topics are not only stereotypically female, but also focused on women appealing to men. For example, 'lingerie goes lively', links into male gaze. It suggests that a woman must dress a certain way, to be looked at by heterosexual men in order to please them.

The shot is eye-level, this can represent that everyone is on the same level, and that this look and lifestyle is achievable for everyone. This is direct and comforting mode of address.

High-key lighting presents a sense of reality, and makes it believable as nothing is hidden. This adds to a sense of reality and believability for the target audience.

Women's lifestyle magazine is indicated by the focus on makeup and fashion. She is conservatively dressed, showing she is dressed to suit the genre and target audience of the magazine.

The inclusion of a pull-quote from film director, Alfred Hitchcock. He directed 'The Bird', 'North by North West' and 'Psycho.' At this stage, he was an incredibly famous director, and everyone knows who he is. He is talking about women, and therefore suggests that the target female audience are constructed by those in power to be appealing. It shows that the target female audience do not do much, apart from please a man by standing in their kitchen. They are not interested in films.

The inclusion of the graphic design, which is a golden bar, composed beneath the dominant image. The symbolic coding of the colour, gold, connotes wealth. By reading 'Women', you can be rich and wealthy.

The mise-en-scene of her floral dress, is symbolic of being stereotypically feminine and acceptable to a hegemonic standard.

Her hair is plain and conservative. There are very few changes over the decade, as the representation of a women's outfit and clothing is still incredibly similar, detected at these target audience.

The masthead is not particularly fancy, and is most likely created by a paintbrush. This is informal, condescending, and implies that the newspaper did not have the funds to pay for a fancier graphic design. This constructs an identity for the audience, that they lack funds.

Facts about women 'magazine'

• The price is 7d (7 old pennies, 80p nowadays)
• It was published weekly, by a publisher called IPC. 
• It began in 1937
• The set addition we are studying, is for the 23-29th August 1964
• Women's magazines became popular in the post-war period and, in the 1960's, sales of women's magazines reached 12 million copies per week. 
• Women Magazine's sales alone were around 3 million copies per week in 1960. That is a significant proportion of British women who were buying magazines. We are looking at a main-stream, mass media product. It reflects dominant, societal values.
• This magazine reflects DOMINANT ideological values, not everyone agreed. Not everyone was sexist, that clearly was not the case.
• They probably became more popular after the war, because women's rights were becoming more apparent. The second world war pushed forward women's roles, because during the war they were mostly doing men's jobs. This meant that they were viewed as stronger.
• From an ideological perspective, one of the functions of women's magazines, was to try to reinforce hegemonic, stereotypical values of women.
• By-Monthly, means every two months - so six times a year. This can include higher-end fashion magazines.
• The magazine we are looking at is released weekly. The more regularly a magazine is posted, the lesser cost of production. This means Women can afford to be produced for a lesser price.

How does the magazine's contents page reflect...

Codes and conventions of the sub-genre of magazine?

• The titles of the main segments all relate to stereotypical roles and jobs women would have had in society. This relates to the sub-genre of women's lifestyle, because it is generalised and appealing to a wider audience. The newspaper's producer makes the assumption that most women will be interested in these things, and therefore more people will buy it.
• The inclusion of the first contents page discussed being called, 'women to women', implies that this magazine is exclusive to the female reader. This reinforces the associated conventions of a women's lifestyle magazine, that it is solely constructed via the lexis.
• The use of the word, 'beauty', informs readers this is a 'women's lifestyle' sub-genre.
• 'A present for your kitchen', informs readers that this is expected of women to always be in the kitchen.
• This newspaper is strongly hegemonic in views.
• 'Back to school clothes', makes the hegemonic assumption that women have children. This is a significant assumption, as it also presumes that they are managed and have stability.
• 'Making the most of bacon', suggests that the target audience are lacking funds as they cannot afford to throw things away.

The social and cultural context of the magazine?

• There are references to multiple cultural aspects, such as 'knitting', which means the producer aims to target a wider audience. Underneath the knitting, it titles it as 'two for you, one for him', it reflects the widely socially accepted ideology of the time period, that women should always respect the male in the household and always look after him.
• The fiction and story genres are arguably softer, and have titles with romance-story connotations. This can suggest that socially women were expected to read more tamer stories. This could also speak for the entertainment of the time period.
• The use of the word, 'beauty' presumes that the dominant ideological perspective of the time period, is that women should look good.
• 'A-level looks', it's important to look good and to have an educated appearance. To always look smart in order to confine to the ideological preference of those in society.

Target audience

• The 'entertainment' segment only consists of news and reviews, this excludes women from enjoying any other form of entertainment such as sport, and constructs the target audience to be incredibly stereotypically feminine.
• The references to 'school' and 'about men', shows that a women's role is to confine to the people around her, and their wishes, opposed to her own.