Cohen's Moral Panic Theory - 30/01/2011

Cohen's theory states that a moral panic is a person, a group of people or things in general that are a threat to society's values and interests. For example drugs, cancer, yobs, knife crimes and MP scandals are all classed as moral panics.

Furthermore, moral panics involve the construction of "folk devils" that need controlling, which leads to increased social control (e.g. ASBOs). This occurs during periods when powerful groups or ruling classes face troubled times. Eventually, the panic becomes a substitute for the real (and more problematic) social issues.

The media constructs these moral panics in order to make money and panic within society. There are five stages in the construction a moral panic:

1. Concern - the behaviour of a group are represented as being a threat the requires our concern
2. Volatility - this is a short lived period. Panic erupts but is difficult to sustain. There are negative consequences for the rest of us
3. Hostility - "folk devils" constructed to create a division between 'them' and 'us'
4. Consensus - there is a widespread acceptance of threat posed by the group. This does not always reflect nation concern, but the campaigner will be very vocal whilst opposition will be weak and disorganised 
5. Disproportionality - there is a wild exaggeration of the evidence presented against the opposition - everything from the number of people involved to the scale of the problem is exaggerated to create a moral panic  

A modern day example of a moral panic is Amy Whinehouse, who is a known alchoholic and drug abuser. The media show her as an uncontrollable woman who represents a negative image for the young aspiring singers/bands of today



"The Male Gaze Theory" by Laura Mulvey - 27/01/2011

This femminist theory emerged as a response to the liberation of women's rights throughout the past years.

Laura Mulvey's theory argues that cinema audiences look at films in two ways:

1. Voyeuristically
2. Fetishistically

The theory states that cinema audiences watch a film without being wanted by the characters on screen, and we usually watch them in a darkened cinema so the characters do not know that they're being watched. Therefore, we are almost like voyeurs watching the people on screen. This can lead to two effects:

1. Objectivisim - of female characters in relation to this controlling male gaze
2. Narcissistic Identification - with an ideal image on the screen (meaning that we want to be like the characters in the film)

For example, women are 'objectified' in the following magazine covers:



The women on these magazine covers are made to look attractive, in order to catch the "male gaze" and encourage men to buy it to see the women. The second magazine cover with the cast from "The Hills" isn't even related to music, which shows how Rolling Stones have lost the main purpose of their magazine by trying to relate to men more.

However, this NME magazine cover of Beth Ditto shows how women don't have to be conventionally attractive to make it onto the magazine covers. NME has stuck to its musical roots and not strayed from the purpose of its magazine like Rolling Stones has, and NME has not tried to win male buyers by objectifying women.





Voyeurism and Fetishism
Mulvey's theory argues that this voyeurism involves turning the represented figure on screen into a "fetish" ('sex' obeject) so that it becomes increasingly beautiful but more objectified. Fetishism leads to a cult of movie stars, who are celebrated for their looks rather than their acting skills. But they are considered as an object and are often treated as such (e.g. Marilyn Monroe). Because of this "male gaze", women and men now have expected roles within movies.

The Roles of Men and Women

• Conventional Hollywood films have a male protagonist (lead role) in the narrative and therefore bring in a male audience
• Male characters are active/dynamic, and are not always conventionally attractive
• However, actresses must be glamorous and attractive, but usually only have supporting roles (which support the male leads)

My Questionnaire - 20/01/2011

I have created a questionnaire to help me identify who the audience of my music magazine is. Please take 5 minutes of your time to answer the questionnaire - it can be found here.

Ideology - 21/10/2010

Ideology is a system of values, beliefs or ideas that is common to a specific group of people.

For my music magazine, the reader will be unique, and will want to get away from the typical mainstream RnB and pop music that is dominating the charts. They will be interested in darker, more moodier genres of music (e.g. rock, emo, punk and alternative rock) and will want to hear about new, unique bands that are waiting to be discovered as an amazing act. The reader will also be more rebelling, and will want to break the mould within society by being totally unique and diverse from the typical mainstream acts.

The Semiotic Theory - 21/10/2010

Saussure stated that there were three components which made usdecide on the mood or feeling of a piece of media. This is called the Semiotic theory.

The components would work as follows:

a sign (maybe a colour or object) + a signifier (maybe a piece of dialogue or music)

= a signified process

So for example, rain combined with a dark, moody looking band on a magazine cover would make see the cover as being of a more depressing, emo style genre. However, a magazine cover with pictures of rainbows and neon bright colours with a girl band on the front would make the cover seem to be of a more girly, young pop genre.

For my music magazine, I am going to focus on the rock/emo genre of music. This means that my magazine will use strong, bold and sometimes dark colours such as black, red and white with pictures of the musical artist (which I haven't decided on yet).

Quantative or Qualitative? - 07/10/2010

There are two different ways in which I can research what the audience would like to see in my music magazine - quantative or qualitative research.

Quantative research investigates a larger amount of people that qualitative, as it includes questionnaires, statistics and surveys. This is quicker that the in-depth study involved in qualitative research, and can be quite accurate in finding the information I need. This type of research can also reach a wider range of people, and it's a lot cheaper than qualitative. But quantative does have it's disadvantages, as it is less informative that qualitative research, and the results can often be "fiddled" (meaning the results are made to suit the designer).

Qualitative research includes more in-depth studies, along with interviews and further case studies. It is better that quantative rsearchas I will get the results first-hand and in a more personal format through interviews, and I can ask more personal questions that people would not be able to answer in questionnaires. But it's also a worse form of research in some aspects as it usually takes longer, is more expensive and has a limited coverage on how many people I want to investigate.

However, I am going to use the quantative method of research as I would prefer to reach a wider audience within my research, which the qualitative research does not allow.

Introduction to my Media Coursework - 07/10/2010

For my AS Media Studies coursework, I must produce a front cover, a contents page and a double page spread for my own music magazine with an artist of my choice. In this blog, I will include all of my research updates, photos, general information on the magazine and the final product design.

In order to complete this coursework, I am going to analyse the following:

• 2 music magazine front covers
• 2 music magazine contents page 
• 2 music magazine double page spreads
• 2 college magazine front covers 

I will then create a mood board and a production schedule to plan and organise my magazine making process. I will also need to create venue release forms and risk assessments to professionally produce my magazine. 

My final process will include practicing with Photoshop by producing the following mock-ups for my music magazine: 

• Front page
• Contents page
• Double page spread
• Shots