“A picture is worth a thousands words” is a something that is often said, and for good reason. In this essay I use myth analysis to argue that teen magazines, specifically looking at Cosmopolitan, are constructed in a way that puts forth a false identity towards women. There is a controversy that magazines sexualize women, but some argue that it does no harm and there simply are problems that girls face from within. I discuss how the way Cosmo displays female beauty and identity are myths; the links between women’s magazines and body image issues are very much a reality. Everything has meaning, whether it is direct or indirect. The message can be something we didn’t even know was a message in the first place. Cosmopolitan push
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After carefully reading different scholarly articles I saw that one of the covers stood out from the most. This was Dakota Fanning on the cover of Cosmopolitan Magazine in 2002 (Appendix 1). She was 17 years old in this cover, dressed in a revealing dress and with various sex headlines surrounding her. This stirred up plenty controversies, many critics stated she was too young to be posed beside statements such as ‘His Best Sex Ever’ and ‘Too Naughty To Say Here: But You Have to Try This Sex Trick!’. Since Cosmo is the highest selling magazine since 1972, it holds massive power on the messages it sends out to the world, creating a cult audience. What was this cover promoting to the massive young audience? “Sex, due to its connotations of dangerousness and the non-traditional, has been used heavily in women’s magazines and other mass media to signify core values of power and freedom as part of their brands”(Machin & Thornborrow, 2006). Sexual objectification is accomplished in media by the visual presentation of bodies and content that emphasizes the importance of appearance in sexuality, the message that Cosmo is trying to send is that a healthy sex life is dependent upon what a women looks like. There is an increased important of sex, in many magazines which Cosmopolitan being at the top. A healthy sex …show more content…
In China, the magazines put forth social myths of women, and encourage women to practice the consumerist ideology constructed by the patriarchal system. They often put successful career women on the cover, and the social myth that is discovered is that successful career women owe their success to a supportive family and women are natural good at housework. Family is a very important in China, and in magazines myths about how women can’t succeed without a supportive male backbone still survives. Secondly looking at Indonesia, where beauty is a big part of their culture. They focus on hair, and a good face rather than the body. They’re magazines uses international celebrities that present Caucasoid figures rather than girls from their country, because “the practice of putting Caucasoid figure on the front cover carries on the myth that Caucasoid is still has the value of selling point in entertainment industry” (Charenia, 2009). These magazines are similar to Cosmo, because they are aimed to teams; each magazine has their own taste in offering the guides to beauty. There is some criticism to Barthes’ “Myth Today” regarding that he denies the masses capacity for independent thinking and creative or deliberative consumption of cultural products. All the blame has been put on the Magazine, but the way
After carefully reading different scholarly articles I saw that one of the covers stood out from the most. This was Dakota Fanning on the cover of Cosmopolitan Magazine in 2002 (Appendix 1). She was 17 years old in this cover, dressed in a revealing dress and with various sex headlines surrounding her. This stirred up plenty controversies, many critics stated she was too young to be posed beside statements such as ‘His Best Sex Ever’ and ‘Too Naughty To Say Here: But You Have to Try This Sex Trick!’. Since Cosmo is the highest selling magazine since 1972, it holds massive power on the messages it sends out to the world, creating a cult audience. What was this cover promoting to the massive young audience? “Sex, due to its connotations of dangerousness and the non-traditional, has been used heavily in women’s magazines and other mass media to signify core values of power and freedom as part of their brands”(Machin & Thornborrow, 2006). Sexual objectification is accomplished in media by the visual presentation of bodies and content that emphasizes the importance of appearance in sexuality, the message that Cosmo is trying to send is that a healthy sex life is dependent upon what a women looks like. There is an increased important of sex, in many magazines which Cosmopolitan being at the top. A healthy sex …show more content…
In China, the magazines put forth social myths of women, and encourage women to practice the consumerist ideology constructed by the patriarchal system. They often put successful career women on the cover, and the social myth that is discovered is that successful career women owe their success to a supportive family and women are natural good at housework. Family is a very important in China, and in magazines myths about how women can’t succeed without a supportive male backbone still survives. Secondly looking at Indonesia, where beauty is a big part of their culture. They focus on hair, and a good face rather than the body. They’re magazines uses international celebrities that present Caucasoid figures rather than girls from their country, because “the practice of putting Caucasoid figure on the front cover carries on the myth that Caucasoid is still has the value of selling point in entertainment industry” (Charenia, 2009). These magazines are similar to Cosmo, because they are aimed to teams; each magazine has their own taste in offering the guides to beauty. There is some criticism to Barthes’ “Myth Today” regarding that he denies the masses capacity for independent thinking and creative or deliberative consumption of cultural products. All the blame has been put on the Magazine, but the way