Oh Comely - Language and Representation

Language: Close textual analysis:

Front Cover:

1.
The masthead is written in a sans serif font which seems to be handwritten which suggests that Oh Comely has already started to create personal relationships with the audience.

2.
The audience of Oh Comely have very creative and unique lifestyle and thinking.

3.
The cover lines on the front cover are short and vague which creates questions to the audience and make them wat to read on to find out about them.

4.
The central image is of a woman who is shown in an androgynous way meaning she is not seen with more masculine or feminine fashion traits. In other words a blur between male traits and female traits.
Unlike other magazines aimed at females, she is not overly sexualised (male gaze).

5.
Conventional gender stereotypes are not reinforced in this cover page. The central image features a female presented in an androgynous way which means it doesn't reinforce any gender stereotypes.


Feature: Speaking out:

1.
The headline which is written in bold gives a clear indication that the articles to follow with talk about empowerment of women. This shows that the magazine is suitable for readers with feminist thoughts.

2.
The interviewees suggest that Oh Comely values the power of women and minority groups. They also attempt to support and help readers cope with their own problems.

3.
The page design is not very conventional since it is very minimalistic which is not what you tend to see in other magazines which are seen to have much longer articles.

4.
'My beauty ripples' subverts the stereotypical representations of Eurocentric female beauty. She chooses to love the way she is instead of try to change herself to fit in with the society built expectations of beauty.

5.
The photos aren't photoshopped in order to present certain meanings of beauty but is natural and shows the real side of people. This may mean that the magazine wants to create a fresh and personal feeling to their magazine.


Feature: More than gender:

1.
This feature allows audiences to see a different side to gender and supports the idea of gender fluidity.

2.
The sister of the two siblings was the writer of Oh comely where the brother was the photographer for Oh Comely. This is significant as it creates personal connection between creators ad audiences.

3.
Another way of creating a personal touch with the audience is through the photography. IN Oh Comely, the type of photography was candid photography.

4.
Issues regarding being a transgender in this society is highlighted and the feature includes ways to cope with them.

5.
The biographical information adds a sense of realism and allows the magazine to promote the writers other outlets.


Representation and identity:

1.
The images to the content all subvert traditional stereotypes. An androgynous central cover image and articles from people of who are trans or gay or from backgrounds where they are often looked in a different light.

2.
A FGM campaigner is featured in one of the speaking out sections. She is a young Muslim woman who talks about FGM and the issues around it. This is an example of representation of culture and diversification in the magazine.

3.
There is a lot of women empowerment in Oh Comely and showing a lot of feminist views. The magazine teaches audiences to love themselves the way they are.

4.
Oh Comely has its target audience as women. They expect women to read this magazine rather than men therefore under-representing men.

5.
I believe that Oh Comely fits into the fourth wave of feminism since it clearly shows feminist ideologies and attempts to empower women.

6.
The more than gender article blurs the society made representations of the two genders.

7.
Compared to the cover page of Men's Health, we can see a clear different in gender representations between the two. In Oh Comely, the cover star is shown in an androgynous way in order to not reinforce any gender stereotypes. Men's Health on the other hand shows a very built Vin Diesel as the cover page which already shouts out traditional men's stereotypes.

8.
Unlike other magazines aimed at female audiences, Oh comely doesn't take on the male gaze and is much more gender neutral. In magazines like cosmopolitan, the cover image tends to be an over sexualised and over edited female male to attract the eyes of a male person but aimed at a woman.

9.
Oh comely does support Gauntlett and shows this through their choices of images and choices of content to include within the magazine.

10.
I believe that Oh Comely is an open text since it's minimalistic design means that there is a limitation of words and explanations which would allow more discussion with the audience about the meanings behind the articles or the photos etc. Oh Comely does not force ideologies into their audiences minds.