Teen Vogue
might, in a terribly patriarchal way, conjure up images of ultra-feminised
vapidity but it has become highly politicised and socially engaged – in fact it
has become the go-to news source for a particular slice of the audience (some
surprisingly big news editors keep an eye on Teen Vogue’s pages). Go and check out their homepage right
now!
As I write the top
stories include abortion rights, whitewashing in Hollywood and youth voting.
The mag has been at the forefront of both the gun control debate and the
anti-Trump resistance.
Some
really useful articles about how Teen Vogue changed and became impactful can be
found here, here, and here!
Remember
that Vogue is the most famous magazine in the world (it has been doing its
thing since 1892. In 1905 Condé Montrose Nast bought the magazine and it has
been the heart of the Condé Nast magazine empire ever since. Italian Vogue
is the fashion bible and the brand has a cultural impact like
no other. Even Playboy didn’t have an undergound dance
culture and a Madonna song!
Teen Vogue started
as your average magazine spin-off in 2003. After a collapse of sales, due to
changes in audience consumption habits, the mag went online only in 2016. It
also changed focus. There is some argument to be made that women’s magazines had
always been more political and subversive than many expected (Cosmopolitan’s
championing of the sexual revolution through articles and advice for example)
but Teen Vogue put news and politics first as a way of connecting with what
they saw as a more engaged audience (woke in the current parlance). Editor
Elaine Welteroth (who was both young, at 29, and African American) steered the
online magazine down the path of identity politics (a direction continued by
current editor Phillip Picardi). Audience numbers grew accordingly and the
politics section is more visited than entertainment.
“The pivot in editorial strategy has drawn praise
on social media, with some writers commenting that Teen Vogue is
doing a better job of covering important stories in 2016 than legacy news
publications.”, Sophie Gilbert.The Atlantic.
•
Media Language
If you look at the
landing page of the site you need to make sure that you have notes on all the
ways that it signifies what it is and what it thinks is important. The logo
builds on the heritage of Vogue magazine but the rest of the page signifies how
different the product is from the print-based parent title.
Currently (and
remember the product could change at any time) the page is organised with a
contents list at the top and on a menu bar. Both place “News and Politics”
before all other categories. This signifies the priorities of the product.
Headings are
presented in sans-serif typeface (making it feel more stylised, youthful or
modern depending on your take). Articles use serif typeface which gives them a
certain gravitas and authority. The choice of red, black and grey accenting on
the page is stylish (in a Bauhaus design way) and not overtly genderised; which
also helps the site switch from news to style content seamlessly on the page.
Bauhaus
was a German design movement during the interwar period. It has had a huge
impact on design since, including print and online publications. Look at the
colour and style similarities between this poster and Teen Vogue.
The articles themselves
are tiled, which helps to reinforce the online identity of the product; as it
is a key difference between this media form and others. The use of the content,
menu bar, footed information and links (as
well as registration, Log in and Facebook like button) are all standard website features.
The overall
impression created by the design is one of competence and contemporary
relevance (there are no dated elements). This lends the product an aura of
trustworthiness as quality in media production leads to audience trust.
•
Media Representation
Think
about how teenage girls are traditionally presented in the media. This links to
the work you have done on feminist theory Teenage girls, especially in American
culture, are presented through a web of stereotyping and patriarchy. On screen
they tend to be sexualised and represented by actresses considerably older than
the age they are playing and there exist well worn stereotypes Often they are
presented as vapid, bitchy and cliquey and they seem to only be worthy of
representation when they are attractive. Add to that the way that both the
media and fashion industries fetishize youth (teenagers presented as adults in
U.S. fashion has an icky history back to the use of Brooke Shields in 1980; who
was both the cover star for Vogue and appeared in controversial ads for Calvin
Klein jeans). There is an argument to be made that, like racial and ethnic
minority groups, it is hard to find representation of teenage girls in America
that is grounded in the real.
This is what makes
Teen Vogue so subversive. Its parent publication has a history of abusing
teenage representation and its own history was based on representing narrow
concepts of teenage girl identity.
NOW GO TO TEEN VOGUE AND FIND TEN
EXAMPLES OF THINGS THAT RESIST STEREOTYPICAL REPRESENTATIONS- THEN DESCRIPE THEM HERE-
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