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278 views4 pages

MensHealthCover SamplePaper

Uploaded by

heoubpbwd
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Guiding Question: How does the text construct and represent male identity?

This Men’s Health cover, published in April of 2020, is the front of a lifestyle
magazine that uses both written and visual modes to advertise its content for
purchase. Many editions of the text have been previously published, and it is likely
that the magazine cover is a conventionalised text type, with each edition similar in
content, written and visual representation, and main intended purpose. Crucially, the
text constructs an aspirational ‘male ideal’ familiar to contemporary readers. It uses
advertising strategies intended to draw the attention of men in ‘western’ capitalist
societies. Highlighting physical appearance and physique, the text works to construct
insecurities in male readers, offering, through the content of the magazine, to
address and provide solutions to these anxieties. Thus, through a combination of
written and visual elements, the text has a problem – solution logic that seems to
both construct male insecurities and promise, through buying and reading the
magazine, to resolve them.

There are a number of indicators to suggest that the target, intended readers of this
lifestyle magazine are mainly middle-aged men. This is apparent in a number of the
coverlines. For example, phrases such as ‘build muscle in middle age’ and ‘bald truth
about hair loss’ are clear indicators of the intended reader. While, ‘middle age’ is
blatantly obvious, the idea that men tend to lose head hair in middle age is likely to
be familiar to most readers, and not least to men who may be experiencing hair loss.
The bottom left coverline reads ‘ways to dress like a grown-up’, and may serve at
least two functions: grown-up suggest maturity, and this again seems to address
slightly older male readers. However, the term ‘grown up’ is ambiguous; what exactly
is ‘grown up’? The ambiguity is deliberate and important as it allows a diversity of
interpretations, allowing potential consumers of the magazine to construct their own
preferred sense of what ‘grown up’ could mean.

Other techniques such as synthetic personalization, use of numbers, brevity, and


elision are used to quickly construct a sense of the male ideal, and to attract
potential readers. Synthetic personalization is seen in the coverline, ‘The Only 4
Exercises You Need for Any Body You Want’. The second person pronoun ‘you’

© David McIntyre, InThinking


http://www.thinkib.net/englishalanglit 1
artificially constructs the sense that the text is addressing individual readers. And,
again, the text is deliberately ambiguous, claiming that only four exercises are
needed to construct ‘any body you want’. The claim implies simplicity and autonomy,
although it seems unlikely that ‘any body you want’ includes the (presumably
inadequate) body potential readers currently have. ‘4’ is a small, even number.
Arguably, numbers appeal to ‘male logic’, but the relative smallness of the number
intimates a sense in which building a desired physical appearance can be achieved
without difficulty or significant effort. The language of the sentence lacks complexity,
and the words tend to be one or two syllables long, conveying quickly the ease with
which men can attain a desirable physical appearance. The direct simplicity of the
text is also apparent in the ways longer words are elided. For example, ‘maximum’
appears as ‘max’, reducing the effort readers require to understand the text’s central
ideas and reinforcing the relative ease with which middle-aged men can achieve a
desirable physique.

The visual mode of the text works with the written mode, providing an obvious visual
representation of the male ideal. It seems likely that the image of the front cover
model, Aldo Kane, in the middle of the page, and given its relative size, is one of the
first things readers will consciously notice. The image – a shirtless man with a hairy
chest, muscled abs and arms, and beard is, apparently, staring at the reader. His
direct gaze – synthetic personalization in the visual mode – is serious and
determined, and his posture appears steady, connoting a sense of seriousness and
toughness. The image has an important function; it suggests that middle aged men
can achieve the body of (another middle aged man), Aldo Kane. Kane gives the text
a form of endorsement and credibility; he is, in his physical embodiment, living proof
that a desirable physique can be realised in middle age.

The layout of the text, and the various ways in which the visual and written modes
support each other, work to persuade readers of the desirability of a strong, muscled
physique which can be attained, even in middle age, quite straightforwardly, through
buying and reading the magazine. The organisation of the coverlines provide a
logically developed ‘recipe’ that outlines a series of steps that middle aged men can
take to achieve an ideal body. The first of these, the imperative, ‘Get Shredded’

© David McIntyre, InThinking


http://www.thinkib.net/englishalanglit 2
directs readers, using the colloquial word, ‘Shredded’ to highlight the target body
shape. This is followed by a further imperative, ‘Scorch Flab’, creating sibilance with
‘Shredded’, and ordering readers to wholly eradicate their excess body fat. The final
part of the tricolon and the last imperative, ‘Build Muscle’ directs readers to their
ultimate ambition. The authority of the text, apparently commanding readers, is
reinforced through capitalisation, bold font, and the adjacency of the word ‘Muscles’
and their physical representation in the abs of the model, Aldo Kane.

Readers of the text are likely to be familiar with the magazine and texts that are
similar. This familiarity makes it unlikely that most readers will question or challenge
assumptions the text makes. The text works by creating an ideal body type that most
men in middle age probably do not have, developing in readers a sense of
inadequacy that can be quite easily addressed through a relatively simple exercise
regime. The magazine, which must be purchased, claims to help men attain a
culturally determined ‘perfect’ body. There is probably nothing wrong with remaining
healthy and strong in middle age, but the magazine, in fact, contributes to the
construction of an ideal that is extremely difficult to achieve. It is misleading to
suggest that this kind of muscled body – the photoshopped image of Aldo Kane – is
the result of simple exercise, and it is arguably unethical to promote feelings of
inadequacy in readers that, in turn, fuels consumerism and consumption. While the
magazine promotes a particular version of male identity, it is possible to challenge
this, arguing that male identity – being a ‘healthy’ man – is not about the acquisition
of large muscles.

© David McIntyre, InThinking


http://www.thinkib.net/englishalanglit 3

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