Xmas Task 1: Textual analysis:

This cover is from a magazine called Men's Health, a well respected magazine among the young men that read it (the demographic being ages 16-40). Why the readership ranges from these ages is because men both young and old would feel a desire to stay in shape and the words "from flab to abs" connotes this as young men would desire abs and old men would wish to get rid of their "flab" and look attractive. This magazine aims at the C2 to A demographic as this magazine aims to improve and benefit it's readers lives but improving certain aspects of it such as their social needs, sexual needs and psychological needs (highlighted in Maslow's hierarchy of needs).

The cover shows a still shot a built young man covering most of the page, giving the readers an idea of what to expect within this magazine and reinforcing the idea of an alpha male who is physically superior. Commenting on the mise-en-scene, we can see that the young man in the center is topless, an obvious decision seeeing as removing the clothing would accentuate the details on his body, further anchoring the "flab to abs" message this magazine is bringing across. Taking a pose that would showcase his body would draw more of a female audience, as they would desire physically fit male or alpha male. His facial expression would suggest that he happy to display himself, not being subjected to voyeurism, as he has a certain power of what to expose.

Mostly all Men's Health magazine covers feature a physically fit young man posing featuring buzz words around the model such as "fight fat", "strength", "sex" and "live". These words reinforce the ideologies a stereotypical man is supposed to hold such as being the best, sex being the ultimate goal and aspiring to have a perfect body. Stereotyping the male persona like this emphasises the ideologies this magazine holds on gender such as men pursuing a goal to become dominant. Women on the other hand are being representated as sex objects as they are only being mentioned on the magazine to be pleased by men through means of sex.