Narrative in Magazines Essay Structure

™Now you should have notes on the layout and content of three different magazines. Using these notes write the following essay:

™To what extent are your chosen texts typical of their genre? 

™(Jan 2012 exam) 

Structure

Introduce magazine industry using relevant information from P.211 – Explain the importance of sub-genres and audience. 

What conventions do magazines share and how are they different in terms of layout and content.
™Now analyse the front cover of The Big Issue and compare it to your other two titles. Give specific textual examples to illustrate your points. 

™Next use your notes on the contents pages, editor’s letter, two page spreads and advertisements to compare similarities and differences. Again support points with specific textual examples. 

™Make sure you use correct subject specific terminology & include key words

Analysing Representation in Action Adventure

When analysing representation of characters in action adventure films you should do the following:

1.  Decide which role in the narrative the character holds (hero, villain, sidekick, princess, mentor) and whether they are stereotypical or not.

2.  Go deeper into the analysis and think of words which describe the character.  Try to make these more about the character's traits rather than just their physical appearance.

3.  Think about why you think this and how this representation has been constructed.  Do this by asking yourself various questions:

What do they look like?

Facial expression?  Clothes?  Jewellery? Stance and body language?

What do they sound like?

Tone of voice? Sound of voice? Soundtrack and music associated with them?

How do they behave?

What is their defining action?

How do other characters see them?

What are the reactions of other characters to this person or people?  Accepting? Positive? Angry?  Lustful? Fearful?

The Haunting - Extract