This thesis examines representations of ageing in women‟s magazines. Although ageing is an inevitable part of the human condition, this thesis takes the position that ageing is culturally constructed and that women‟s magazines are a key site in such constructions. It is noticeable that, within the Academy generally, there has been less work into the social construction of the ageing process than there has been into other relations of „difference‟ such as gender or race. That said, in the last two decades, work in this area has started to emerge. Factors which account for this include the influence of the baby boomer generation, a sizeable age cohort, born between 1945-1964 who are now growing older themselves. The thesis presents a textual and semiotic analysis of the way in which getting older is constituted through written, visual and spoken texts. The primary data in the research consists of articles from women‟s magazines, analysed using a range of semiotic and linguistic tools, most notably the theories of Roland Barthes, particularly his concept of „Myth‟. Metonymy and the function of stereotyping are also key theoretical concepts. In addition, I analyse data from transcriptions of informal interviews with women magazine readers drawing on the same theoretical concepts. In this way, I am able to examine how magazine texts are received by their readership and, moreover, how women position themselves in relation to what they are reading. The analysis is underpinned by three Myths of Ageing: firstly, that ageing is a decline scenario: it involves both mental and physical decline; secondly, that ageing is synonymous with loss of power: sexual, economic and social; and lastly that ageing must be resisted. I show how the „new positive‟ images of growing older that are being drawn out and portrayed in media representations are not necessarily positive in terms of the impact they have on contemporary women. These images are presented as „new‟, but I shall demonstrate that they are, in fact, a re-working of the underlying Myths of Ageing, myths which construct ageing as a culturally very negative experience, particularly for women in this historical moment.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

Project (M. Pub.) - Simon Fraser University, 2004. / Theses (Master of Publishing Program) / Simon Fraser University.

This thesis centres on one of the most widely read illustrated fiction magazines of the nineteenth century, The London Journal. Despite its popularity, this penny weekly has received scant attention from either media historians or critics, partly because of the lack of bibliographical tools. My account of its first series (1845 - 1883) aims not only to make up for this lack (notably through its electronic appendices), but, in treating it as a case study, to explore various methods of writing about periodicals in general. I argue the necessity for an interdisciplinary vision that recognises that periodicals are commodities that occupy specific places in a changing market. "Place" here can be understood as where the periodical is located in cultural and geographical space by those who describe it, as well as where it positions itself through its contents in terms of gender and other identity categories. After an Introduction in which I review academic work on the periodical and lay out my theoretical presuppositions, I view the magazine from four main angles. Chapter 2 discusses nineteenth-century accounts of The London Journal, treating it not as a material body but as a polyvalent discursive entity. In the third chapter I read the magazine through the optic of production, examining available circulation figures, labour costs, and profits. I sketch the lives of several of its editors, proprietors and authors, relating them to changes in the magazine's contents, and considering the effects of rivalry with competitors in the same cultural zone and of relations with other now more canonical literary areas. Chapter 4 looks at The London Journal's changing gender profile over its first series, linking it to politics and to consumerism. The electronic appendix maps The London Journal bibliographically. Throughout I seek to locate and thereby defetishise the commodity-text, not least by treating some units of reading that are today considered paracanonical novels as parts of a periodical, rather than as freestanding units. These serials comprise Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret (1863) and a version of Zola's The Ladies' Paradise (1883). A Conclusion seeks an autocritique and proposes areas for continued research.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

The Future Relationship of Print and E-Readers was based on reviewing print formats as they have been, are becoming and could be in the future. This research focused on people's experience with e-readers, tablets, smartphones and laptops. Examining print includes how advertising is processed in different formats. The primary research for this study was done through an electronic survey, after obtaining IRB approval. The results are displayed through different charts and graphs, showcasing the different statistics. There was some cross tabulation as well. In the future, it appears that both mediums could prove themselves valid if they are willing to present themselves as two unique formats that are also able to provide unity to an overall product brand image as well as internal advertising. In the future, the public will be more aware of the different uses of these formats while increasingly using them. Advertising will parallel this trend by increasing as companies grow in utilizing this format to communicate with the public. / text

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Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, August, 2003. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-65)

This study was a qualitative analysis of the covers of six lifestyle magazines, three addressed to women and three addressed to men. We have studied the cover photographs, the teasers and their relations.   The purpose of this study was to answer the questions: According to the magazines, what are male interests and what are typical female interests? Who is the ideal man and who is the ideal woman? Is there a certain way you need to look to be able to be on a magazine cover? And how often do the magazines encourage you to consume?   The study was based on thirty covers, five from each magazine. The Swedish magazines are VeckoRevyn, Amelia, Damernas Värld, King of Sweden, Café and the American version of GQ. We’ve used semiotics and rhetorical methods to analyze the material. We have studied the words in the teasers to find their connotations, we have studied the poses of the cover models and investigated their body language and counted how many times the magazines teases for something that will lead to you as reader having to buy something.   We found out that both male and female magazines use very stereotypical gender roles and they do not show any signs of changing, even though the society in general has broken free from many typical gender roles. They presented an ideal man that are very successful, handsome, well dressed, meat eating and interested in sports. He is neither black nor gay. The ideal woman is a slim, beautiful, successful, white, heterosexual woman who can joggle many things at once.

The purpose with this study was to find out about the perception of a couple of individuals regarding the feature of gender in lifestyle magazines. This is a qualitative journalistic study with focus on gender, lifestyle magazines and reception.   One of our main questions was to find out about our respondents opinion concerning the content through a gender perspective. We were also interested in their thoughts about their own consciousness and others regarding the representation of gender in lifestyle magazines and how they think that their interpretation of male and female features in lifestyle magazines may shape their lives.   In our study we chose to interview eight (8) people. We had a qualitative approach and an open structure regarding the questions during the interviews. Almost all of them took place in Kalmar and a few of them on Skype. To get our respondents to understand our definition of lifestyle magazines we chose to provide them with six (6) articles from the swedish lifestyle magazines Solo and Café, three (3) from each.   The results of the study show that our respondents over all seemed to be conscious readers according to themselves. At the same time they thought that other readers besides themselves did not question how gender were presented in the magazines and therefore contributed to the gender structure in society. According to our respondents one of the main reasons for applying both content and values of the magazines seems to be driven by the age of the reader. Something that we thought was quite interesting, especially considering that almost all of them brought up this subject.   We are hoping this study will contribute to the research about gender and in particular regarding lifestyle magazines and to inspire others to take interest in further studies about gender.