Representation in the Media

The group I would like to represent within my project are Immigrants. Immigrants are generally seen as foreigners who come to the United States, especially, to take the jobs from American citizens. Furthermore, individuals assume they are here on illegal status and do not deserve the same rights and opportunities.

In CBS News article called Undocumented workers say Trump golf club hired them despite their immigration status, Trump’s business supposedly hired individuals with an undocumented status in the United States and had prior knowledge to this before they were appointed for the job; additionally, the manager gave her money to get a fake green card and social security number. Here, immigrants are represented as struggling through societies difficulties. They cannot legally find a job without legal residency status in the United States, but found a contingency in order to make money to survive. They knew that assessing this issue about Trump’s unethical business practices would make them eligible to losing their jobs; however, they morally did so anyway. This represents immigrants as moral because they aim to follow the rules even when they know it is wrong.

In a news article in Cut called The Trump Administration is Still Ripping Kids From Their Families at the Border, it discusses the federal laws put in place to diminish the amount of illegal immigration in the United States throughout the Mexican border, no matter the consequence. Immigrants here are demonstrated as isolated and helpless as they cannot do anything to protect themselves since they have no legal rights in the United States. However, they come to seek refuge from the dangerous economic and political arena in Mexico. It is evident that they are ignoring legal practices, but they do so morally understanding that the risk to safety is better than the risk of staying in their little-opportunistic country.

The representation characteristics reveal the struggle and isolation that comes with migrating from one’s country of birth to another, by taking the risk of being deported back. I believe their stories of why they chose to come here are represented lightly as they are not discussed heavily in comparison to the issues they pose when they come to the United States, such as economic disparity. The representation characteristics that I would retain would be the feelings of displacement in the new country they immigrate to, as well as how this impacts society as a whole. Immigrants are viewed as dangerous simply because they are exposed to violent governments and groups single-handedly, which is unfair. Their strength to overcome these issues to leave behind their entire life for the opportunity for a new one is never mentioned. Stereotypically, they are depicted as the “problem;” however, their attempt to best adapt to the drastic lifestyle changes they are faced with is ignored.

Business Genre Post

The genre I will be choosing to explain in this blog post is the business genre. They include discussions of accounting, finance, sales, marketing, management, etc while exploring the current events of business trends around the world.The conventions of the business genre magazine include the updated discussion of global markets and finance. They usually use trends and developments to convey the most important topics to their target audience in exclusives and headlines. This further emphasizes their intended purpose to portray the study of business around the world.

Business magazines also reinforce their topics through the production techniques they display throughout the magazine. Dark colors, like navy blue, symbolize power and masculinity, which is commonly seen on covers and headlines of business magazines. The color directs the target audience to focus their intent to demonstrate unparallel perspectives on business and economic views. Their simplicity and placement of phrases on the cover are kept to a minimum because it demonstrates the sophisticated voice they project. Specific font designs are used to heighten how they are presented; the magazine company or writer has demonstrated an advanced, wordly voice so the information they share is at an educated level. Furthermore, their front covers can present a celebrity that has the high prestige that the magazine wants to embrace. They use icons to endorse their message and appeal to their target audience which leads to higher attraction to the magazine.

For example, Fortune magazine is a multinational company that discusses national business areas that distinguishes themselves from their competitors by including long, featured articles. These articles discusses accounting, finance, international business, and marketing sales that are recent current events around the world. A recent article in their November 2018 edition discusses Apple’s new discount for veterans in their store. This 10% discount in stores and online is portrayed in a long article that discusses the features on business and economy.

Another example for the business magazine genre is Forbes magazine. Forbes magazine is known for their invested articles relating to the business industry, such as marketing, advertising, sales, and management. They utilize similar production techniques of a business genre magazine for their cover page. In the August 31, 2018 issue of Forbes magazine, they feature Kylie Jenner as the celebrity on their cover page. She exemplifies the role to model for a business woman. She is dressed in a navy blazer with a blank white cover surrounding her.

Examples of other similar magazines in the business genre are Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Black Enterprise, and Hawaii Business.

 

Health and Fitness Database Entry

The Health and Fitness genre for magazines will either be instructional or medical titles. This may include exercise, mental health, personal training, and alternatives to medicine.

The conventions used vary from purpose and effectiveness.

Headlines depict the desired, overall topic that develops the essence of the magazine that may include puns or word play to draw the reader’s attention. Subheadings and cover lines provide additional information about the Health and Fitness topic that is being promoted in the magazine, providing insight so the audience can select the best fit for them.  A cover line gives a glimpse of what is inside to engage in the fewest amount of words. Under the cover lines are subheadings; they’re strategically placed to assess detail of the article. A selling line is typically bold and colorful, which is used to sell the main topic of the magazine. Buzzwords are used to attract the audience and make them feel included.

Furthermore, barcodes, puff, and price and dateline are typical content of magazines. Barcodes are a machine-readable representation of data used when purchasing an item at a store that utilizes the automate checkout system. Puffs are when the company offers the opportunity to win a gift or prize for free. The price and dateline are placed at the corner. in small font so their focus isn’t shifted to this information as it is not important for marketing.

Production techniques typically use the strategies and layout of the magazine that create embedded interested in the intended topic, Health and Fitness. Color schemes and font styles are usually similar for the magazine and range depending on who their target audience is. For example, a Health and Fitness magazine will use bolder fonts and stronger colors to draw attention. Their different style is called a house style. The main image included conveys a close up or medium shot usually to catch the attention of the audience. A Health and Fitness magazine may use an icon who is famous for their lifestyle to promote what will be introduced in the magazine. For example, Dwayne Johnson, famously known as The Rock, integrates himself into the fit lifestyle that the magazine intends to develop the article on. This connects the audience to the article in the magazine.

Institutional conventions are involved with the marketing of magazines. The cover of a magazine may include an image of a muscular, bare-chested male models and personal trainers because it portrays the desired image the audience has because they want to look a certain way. It also provides a sense of credibility because the magazine serves as a guide to the body. A specific individual may be the main focus of the cover-shoot to retain interest based solely on the person, rather than the information.Furthermore, the titles are significant in the marketing the magazine because it is one of the first contents that draws attention.

One example that embraces the Health and Fitness genre is “Men’s Health” because it includes varying topics of a fit and healthy lifestyle. For example, the October 2018 edition features JJ Watt, who is a defensive player in the NFL for the Houston Texans, as the cover model. Additionally, the subheadings assess health issues, such as flu shots, and sufficient sleep affecting an individual’s lifestyle.

Another example is the Canadian natural health and wellness magazine called “Alive.” The company, established in 1974, focuses on organics, fitness, and holistic lifestyles. The October 2012 issue uses soft greens and pinks to convey the robust idea of “health.” Articles in the magazine address resistant health exercises for brain health and whole foods recipes to prevent inflammation. This follows the health and fitness genre because it discusses healthy lifestyles that should be followed, like diet choices.

Other examples include Women’s Health, Clean Eating, Women’s Running, Self, Prevention, and Oxygen.

Health and Fitness

Hello, my name is Erika Casadevall. The purpose of this blog is to provide a database entry of the magazine genre. I chose to research Health and Fitness. I hope to discuss the institutional and genre conventions, as well as provide examples of the Health and Fitness genre.