lecture presented by Wayne Gross
Creative Director of GQ Magazine Australia
GQ magazine is a mens lifestyle magazine focusing around 'Style, Luxury, life and Girls'. Aiming to engage a wide market of style conscious men, and women, it presents articles on mens style, health, current issues, how-to's, travel, food and women. Concerned with the creation of the 'new man', it presents an idealised image of contemporary masculinity, a style aware, expressive and culturally diverse man, who treats his body with utmost respect.
Whilst the magazine works to depict the contemporary man, and in doing so promotes an ideal masculine form, it references the masculine ideals of the past through images steeped in cultural iconography of the brusque, emotionally conservative and socially dominate male valued in the 1960's. These interconnections suggest that the 'new man' hasn't infact strayed that far from the man of the past. I found this particularly interesting in that most of the fashion editorials adopted symbols of the past, seen below.
Dave Franco in GQ editorial referencing the life of artist David Hockney. Photographer David Slijper.
images occupanying how to article: 'How to be a Better Man' June 2013
Gross Touched on the conflict that lies at the heart of fashion Magazine publication: retaining journalistic integrity whilst remaining commercially viable by obliging the advertisers demands. This is explored by Cyndi Tebbel in the piece 'Periodical Pains' (2000) which focuses on the bias that exists with magazines as a result of the pressure the receive from advertisers to promote their products, and ultimately their ideals. With magazines totally dependant on their advertisers to fund the production of the content, we have to question what impact this has on the content, and ultimately on the reader...if the content is biased, should the reader be made aware of this conditioning of their opinions, ideals and values stipulated through the promotion of products and images which work to cretae an idealised form of male and female gender.
With magazines promting themselves as having a positive impact on society through their 'aspirational' images, which ultimately are oppressive images as they breed negative attitudes regarding gender formed due to actually depicting the desires of the consumer market. Tebbel reveals the impact magazine culture has on the representaion of the ideal women by creating 'the Magazine woman.. a "selfish, sex-obsessed, lazy, intellectually incurious and morally vacous" model of femininity.
Sean Nixon in his article 'Looking for the Holy Grail: Publishing and Advertising Strategies and contemporary men's magazines' (2006), detailing the rising image of ideal masculininty through his analysis of the 'New Man', he questions what the impact of depictions of contemporary masculinity will have for the future man. This article presents the ideal male as diverse in his interests, and image conscious to the point of dangerous obsession with the ideal body. Federico Boni, also traces the development of new idealisations of masculinity, looking specifically at the Italian magazine 'Men's Health'. through this limited representaion we can question how pervasive these ideals are, but he still presents an interesting case more concerned with the development of body politics within mens magazines. Suggesting there are competing forms of masculinity due to holding the male body under such scrutiny, there is a clear sugestion that the representaion of the idealised image relates to the depiction of male sexuality by the consumer market. he ponders the impact this treatment of the male body as an object will have on male idealisations and specifically notions of masculine power.
What was intersting within these readings and the talk by Wayne Gross, was uncovering the intense connection that exists between magazine content and the pressure by advertisers to commodify content. With magazines ultimately representing the ideals of the consumer market, we have to question what impact this will have on the values held by the readers, who are viewing the content through a lense framed by a desire to make readers feel they have to alter themselves, and thus buy the products, to fulfill ideals relating to beauty, the body, and erotic desire.
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