ENG 101.0800
Miss Bogacka
Gladys Otavalo
November 8, 2010
Masculinity and the link with the magazines
Through the time, the male gender has gone developing his true image through his physical characteristics, behavior, attitude and virility. From a gender perspective is important to understand that there are several types of masculinity in the world. Despite these physical features in some forms of masculinity have just not caused controversy, they have also idealized, refined and drawn true model of masculinity as "rock man". Besides their physical characteristics have been shown and created their own image in advertising. Men's magazine has been the essential key to represent, understand and interpret the true type of masculinity. It creates and recreates the wishes and expectations of a specific type of man in advertising. For instance, in the magazine GQ (2001), which is a popular men’s magazine, has published many article about how a true masculinity influence in advertisement, workplaces and around the whole world. In addition, the men's magazines have allowed to visualize what kind of man masculinity reflects through his physical and facial features. This fact has led to the formulation of some questions:
-How does the personality reflect a true masculinity in advertising?
- Is the masculinity a spectacle in men's magazines?
-Is a strong and hard body necessary for the men’s magazine advertising?
How does the personality reflect a true masculinity in advertising?
First of all, most publicity reflects a specific and appropriate masculinity to present a particular product, interview or simply an article, which is regarded as a close and perfect relation between masculinity and product, masculinity and person and/or masculinity and body. In fact, in GQ men's magazine there is an article by Bill Prince called “Colin Firth who is the GQ man of the Year 2001”. It is about the Colin’s life. He is a man who thanks to his strong masculinity has achieved a perfect life. His attitude and personality as a tough guy have allowed developing well in different acting roles in movies. His masculinity is one of the main factors that have helped him score points in their work and the significant appreciation of their public. His positive personality have also developed a strong element in his life, his love for the liberation of not having to win or compete with someone within have to expect others teach him about his attitude or aptitude saying it is incorrect that he should be sexier or funnier. Finally, Colin's determinate masculinity has helped him to continue their professional success. In addition, there is influenced evidence on the development of masculinity in magazines in an interesting book called "Creating Modern Man American Magazines and Consumer Culture, 1900-1950." It relates how men create or recover the missing elements of masculinity through him developed in your work area which enabled them to establish their specific personality in advertising (magazines). In the beginning of the century, males were encouraged to individuate themselves and by pursing a number of possible opportunities to the self expression as engaging in recreation, expressing an interest in sexuality, self gratification, or developing a personality pleasant were all presented as viable ways for men to express their masculine identity. Finally, their physical traits of a strong and detailed masculinity convey the true message of advertising to the public.
Is the masculinity a spectacle in men's magazines?
Men's magazines have pushed the male gender to perceive, symbolize and express their own masculinity through advertising. For that reason, masculinity has come to a realty show in each of its vast fields. Today, every man’s magazine strives to convey his message right through a different specific type of masculinity. For instance, In an interesting article in GQ magazine, march 2001 "Ed Norton Just Wants It Perfect" by John Brodie refers about Edward Norton's life who gained a reputation as the more intense gifted actor " man 1". His power and strength led to the seduction of a spectacular audience, especially His physical appearance has been a vital element to test his strong and dominant masculinity. This fact has led to a long and interesting career, which has become the most important actor of male actors of his generation. Besides his character and attitude was never allowed to be satisfied simply by to be a male public figure, unlike, his crops literary sensibility had pushed him to overcome obstacles to maintain its role of masculine hero in advertising. In fact, his personal life is showing signs of brilliance, strength and powers which have led to the top of fame. In retrospect, the article by Edward Norton seems to have been specific. Despite the difficult obstacles in his life, his masculinity and personality have led him to be a perfect model of man. Furthermore, in a influential book "Men and Masculinities: Theory, research, and social practice." by Chris Haywood, Martin Mac an Ghaill discusses about how man and masculinity can be seen as crucial points of intersection of different forms of power, stratification, subjective desire and identity formation. The lives of men are one of the most popular stories through advanced capitalist society because their behaviors and attitudes allow men to show expectations of power, strength and sensual and sexual competition which are essential foundations their male roles. For instance, Tolson (1977) pointed out connections between types of work that men do with the types of men they are, which leads them to identify their workforce development. His work often Entail establishing control over a specific personality and masculinity (p 31). Therefore, masculinities are produce in this essence right through work, in which the bodies are involved. In other words, a strong body becomes a symbol of masculinity which means that masculinity is made through the body work and what the body does. Definitely, masculinity is a big and significantly element in the most popular men's magazines.
Is a strong and hard body necessary for the men’s magazine advertising?
Although no doubt admit that the idea of how it is interpreted varies but is necessary to say that a strong and muscular body in all its angles is essential to convey the message of the product. Men's magazines are focused on a common and main idea, which is based on building a healthy, strong, and dominant and at the same time intelligent in the male gender. Thus, men's magazine like GQ has got an interesting and influent male image. In fact, the GQ magazine published in May 2001 an article about The Adonis Complex which refers to the secret crisis of obsession that many men suffer by getting or keeping a strong muscular body. Many men think that a rough and large body reflects a true masculinity, but it is not true. Unlike their obsession is affecting their masculinity image because they are taking steroids or supplements to improve their physical appearance. However, men should be aware that a body tough and big without personality and attitude do not reflect a true masculinity .In other words, masculinity is only not physical appearance, but also mental. The most important thing is to determine the type of masculinity and physical characteristics to develop a strong image in advertising. In fact, in men's magazines, there are different sections and are also different types of man, but if we focus on the most fashionable section, men do not reflect a rude or muscled body nor their facial features show power or dominance as a rock male. In contrast, they reflect a formal, delicate and sensual appearance in advertising. In addition, companies try to develop and generate a huge list of products to use a strong or delicate male body at the time of publishing their product.
Although different types of masculinity continue to generate controversy it is necessary to mention that kind of masculinity reflects, creates and develops a true image of advertising in men's magazines. Through his masculine physical characteristics can express the deep and intense message of the product or article.
Word Cited
v Brodie, John. “Ed Norton Just Want It Perfect” GQ. March 2001. Vol. 71. Print.
v Gilbert, Elizabeth. “My Life as a Man’. GQ. August 2001. Vol. 71. Print
v Maywood C., and Mac an Ghaill M. “Men and Masculinities: Theory, research, and social practice”. Philadelphia. Pa, 2003. Print.
v Pendergast, Tom. “Creating the modern man: America Magazines and consumer culture, 1900-1950”. Columbia, Mo: U. of Missouri P.C 2000 P (269-283).
v Price, Bill. “Colin Firth who is the GQ Men of the Year.” GQ. Oct. 2001.Vol. 71. Print.
v Sedgwick, John. “The Adonis Complex.” GQ. May 2001. Vol. 71. Print.
I've e-mailed you my comments and points for your first draft.
ReplyDeletea\ the drafts biggest strength is information. there is clearly no lack of research done here and you do an excelent job with combining your first and secondary sources.
ReplyDeleteb\ You should really try to make your thesis a little more clearly and not have them posted as questions rather than statements. remember you are not asking the reading if that is the masculinity that gq is demonstrationg but rather telling them.
all in all it is well organized but you should really think about changing your first body paragraph and making it your third. it would just run better since you end your third body paragraph by saying that muscles alone dont make the man but they must have a brain.