Magazines: Oh Comely - Language and Representation

Magazines: Oh Comely - Language and Representation

We need to analyse selected pages from Oh Comely to explore how it is constructed and the way issues of representation and identity are presented.

Oh Comely deliberately offers an alternative version of the women's lifestyle magazine genre and we need to explore how page design, content and conventions are used or subverted to create this effect. We also need to consider the different representations that can be found in these features.

We recommend you buy your own copy of Issue 35 of Oh Comely - the selected CSP issue. You can order this from the Oh Comely website here. Alternatively, selected pages of the magazine are currently available to view online through the website Issuu here.

Oh Comely Language and Representation: blog tasks

Language: close-textual analysis

Work through the following tasks to complete your close-textual analysis of the Oh Comely CSP pages:

Front cover

1) What do the typefaces used on the front cover suggest to an audience?

it proposes that the magazine is for females. this is on the grounds that on the spread lines for what it's worth about female strengthening. 

2) The words under the title introduce the content and topics addressed. What do these suggest about the potential audience of Oh Comely?

it is strange and for an informed group of spectators yet still cliché for females as it discusses style and so forth

3) How do the cover lines use narrative to create enigma? What do the cover lines suggest about the magazine's content and audience?

they are conscious advertisement uncertain for what it's worth about female strengthening and women's liberation 

4) Write an analysis of the central image.

she is presenting in all respects certainly yet she is additionally exhibited as high society from what she is wearing yet at the same time manly and doesn't coordinate standard excellence principles

5) What representation of gender can be found on this front cover?

she is presenting in all respects certainly however she is likewise displayed as privileged from what she is wearing yet manly

Feature: Speaking Out

1) What does the headline and standfirst suggest about Oh Comely's feminist perspective?

subject of female strengthening, for females age 27, instructed group of spectators. additionally has internet based life following of the females recounting to their accounts. 

2) What do the interviewees in this feature suggest about the values and ideologies that underpin this magazine?

their are unique and offer a decent variety as far as race and ethnicity which likewise strengthens and difficulties generalizations. 

3) How conventional is the page design in this feature? Why?

it is straightforward yet rich as there is so much free space and looks masterful and proficient 

4) Pick out specific aspects of this feature that subvert the stereotypical representation of women in the media. Are they different to what we may find in conventional women's lifestyle magazines such as Glamour or Cosmopolitan? Why is the absence of men a key feature of Oh Comely?

they are diverse in light of the fact that they have an area where 5 females recount to their accounts to move youthful females promotion roll out an improvement where different magazines don't have that

5) How does the photography offer a fresh or unusual perspective on women?

it is exceptionally vivid which is intense to how trust in ladies

Feature: More than gender

1) How does this feature offer a fresh perspective on gender and identity?

it offers a new point of view on sexual orientation and character since it discusses a transgender adventure and the sister is recounting to the narrative of her siblings change. 

2) What is the significance of the writer and photographer? How does this fit with the Oh Comelybrand?

The author and the picture taker is a similar individual and it likewise is exceptional and imaginative.

3) What style of photography is used in this feature?

They had a photo which was inside another photo

4) What representations of the transgender lifestyle can be found in this feature?


it indicates how hard it is toward the beginning however then gets simpler which additionally has to do with society being all the more tolerating. 

5) Why is the biographical information at the end of the article significant? (Clue: the writer is also an editor of a niche, creative magazine called Entitle).

it demonstrates what sort of individuals that Oh Comely are keen on and incorporating into the magazine

Representation and identity

Work through the following questions on representation and Oh Comely:

1) How do representations in Oh Comely challenge stereotypes? 

they talk about things that are surprising for a way of life magazine and furthermore the spread picture as the model has manly includes or is introduced in that manner 


2) What representations of race, ethnicity and nationality can be found in the 'Speaking Out' feature?

every one of the 5 young ladies are diverse as in they are an alternate race, ethnicity and so forth which this subverts typical generalisations in magazines

3) What representation of women and femininity can be found in Oh Comely?


that they can convey what needs be the way they need for instance the model has least cosmetics which difficulties generalisations that ladies done need to look a specific way and can be normal. 

4) Why might Oh Comely deliberately under-represent men? (The absence of men in the magazine appears to be a largely deliberate move by the editors).

as they need to target females and give them a voice and rouse them. 

5) Does Oh Comely fit into the possible fourth wave of feminism? Or is it evidence of post-feminism - that feminism is no longer needed?

imagine that Oh Comely fits into the fourth rush of women's liberation as they are conveying their thoughts through online life and print. 

6) How does the 'More than gender' feature challenge Levi-Strauss's structuralist theory of binary opposition?

cap sexual orientation does not have two contrary energies and it is increasingly liquid. 

7) Judith Butler argues gender is a performance. How does Oh Comely challenge traditional gender roles? You should refer to both the cover and the selected CSP features. 

The 'Standing up' segment you see an individual association with each of the five ladies, which demonstrates the authenticity of their accounts 

8) Angela McRobbie explored the empowering nature of women's lifestyle magazines in the 1990s. Oh Comely seeks female empowerment in a different way. What differences can you find between Oh Comely and more traditional women's lifestyle magazines such as Cosmopolitan or Glamour? 


Style intends to urge ladies to change themselves to fit into the picture of an 'impeccable' lady that has been made by society and online life though gracious attractive is about the eventual fate of ladies and having any kind of effect 

9) David Gauntlett argues that identity is becoming more fluid, media representations change over time and that there are generational differences. Does Oh Comely support this viewpoint?

indeed in view of the more than sexual orientation highlight and how they have the 5 young ladies web based life tag under there highlight 

10) It has been argued that Oh Comely is a far more open text (Stuart Hall - encoding and decoding/reception theory) with more room for negotiation in interpretation. Do you agree with this view? Why?

I concur in light of the fact that the absence of cover lines implies that the magazine is less explicit with its points and perspectives