How the producers have chosen to construct a version of reality that represents events, social groups and ideas to fit their purposes:
MOJO wishes to attract a target audience that shares its reverence for ‘classic rock’ so constructs a version of reality that represents musicians as authentic heroes, striving for excellence
The messages and values conveyed and issues addressed:
- MOJO’s front cover associates musicians with quest, danger and struggle, celebrating the values associated with rock music of ‘living fast and dying young’
The front cover comes off as a sense of darkness and death. It says things like "All hells gonna break loose" which brings out the rock in the front cover. Rock is represented as loud and rule breaking. The front cover also says "let it bleed unseen" the word bleed relates to death and violence which is what the genre rock wants to convey across to people reading the magazine.
How and why (e.g. to enable quick interpretation) stereotypes have been used, including anti-stereotyping / counter-stereotyping:
- MOJO’s selection of a cover photograph of a white male may be to fit the stereotype of rock musicians – this will enable instant recognition by audiences
MOJO’s anti-stereotypical positive representation of older people as popular musicians. This may reflect the anti-ageism of an older audience
Which social groups are under-represented or misrepresented:
• MOJO’s front cover represents predominantly white male musicians in photographs, under- representing female musicians and musicians of colour
White male musicians are often shown in Mojos front covers, un like women. In this Mojo cover Neil Young is the centre of attention, whereas the lady in the right top corner is only presented in a small square of the cover. Musicians of colour are very under-represented in the Mojo covers, we often see white male musicians as the main feature of the cover.
