Consumer Magazine Covers in the Public Realm
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Consumer magazine covers in the public realm Mehitabel Iqani A thesis submitted to the Department of Media and Communications of the London School of Economics and Political Science in partial fulfilment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. London, July 2009 UMI Number: U513545 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL U SERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U513545 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Lbrary at Poiiftcai *nd Economic Sc*nce Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of the author. I warrant that this authorization does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. 1 Abstract The thesis aims to contribute to a critique of hegemonic consumerism and explores the ways in which its discourses are mediated through glossy magazine covers as constituted in, and constituting, public retail spaces (newsstands). The research is theoretically contextualised in two ways. Firstly, by locating the empirical research objects with regard to existing scholarship that addresses the magazine genre. Secondly, by exploring fundamental concepts invoked by those research objects: consumerism, consumption and commodities; publicity, public space and visual culture. Hinging on a theorisation of the public realm as a space of appearance, admiration and display, following Hannah Arendt (1958), a trio of dialectical frameworks are put forward as fundamental to framing an empirical exploration of consumer magazine covers/newsstands. These are: simulation/ materiality, manipulation/ empowerment and subject/ object. Methodologically, the research employs a combination of social and semiotic methods, the former a participant observation and visual survey of nine newsstand sites, the latter an intertextual, multimodal discourse and visual analysis of a corpus of magazine cover texts sourced from those newsstands. A thick description of newsstand spaces roots the thesis in social context and intertextual milieu, provides insight into the shapes of consumerist discourse in public space, and underscores the detailed analysis of the formal elements of the magazine covers. The thesis makes a contribution to theories of consumerist aesthetics by filling in empirical detail to the theoretical dialectics outlined. As well as this, it provides an account of the material modalities of magazines covers, articulated as the mechanics of gloss, and shows how this contributes to the mediation of celebrity imagery. Further, it argues that consumerism relies upon three core textual strategies that combine to create a powerful form of mediation. The first is commercial heteroglossia, which is achieved through a visual celebration of commodity choice and a multiplicity of voices of sell. The second is a pornographic imagination, which is achieved through the exploitation of the eroticised gaze and commodification of the body, and a language of desire. The third is paper mirroring, which is achieved through the persistent invitation to self-imaging through the appeal of images of faces and verbal, individualising invitations to self-care and management. 2 Acknowledgements I am deeply indebted to my supervisors, Lilie Chouliaraki and Shani Orgad, who left nothing wanting in their mentorship of me. Proximity to each of their many shades of brilliance inspired and challenged me to produce the best work of which I am capable. Needless to say, any shortcomings evident in the pages that follow are mine alone. I gratefully acknowledge funding from the Dan David Prize, the EDS-LSE Research series, Media@LSE studentships, and the LSE In-Course Financial Assistance Fund. I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to Robin Mansell and Paolo Dini for providing me with the expansive opportunity to work as a research assistant in the OPAALS Network of Excellence. I would also like to thank the owners, managers and staff of the nine newsstand sites I visited as part of my participant observation for their kind permission to be present, make observations and take photographs. Finally, my heartfelt appreciation to the people in my lifeworld: the friends who cheered at every milestone, my parents and brother for their encouragement and belief in me, and DdP for his loving presence, indefatigable good humour, and constant support. I dedicate this thesis to them. 3 Contents List of Figures and Tables ..................................................................................................... 7 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 8 Preliminary research questions........................................................................................ 10 Overview of thesis.............................................................................................................. 12 1. Consumer magazines in context ....................................................................................15 Research addressing magazines: An overview................................................................ 15 The “Discourse” Approach .......................................................................................... 16 The “Author” Approach...............................................................................................18 The “Text” Approach ...................................................................................................19 The “Reader” Approach .............................................................................................. 21 Different approaches, similar descriptions......................................................................22 Magazines are commodities .........................................................................................23 Magazines are visual media .........................................................................................24 Magazines are about leisure and entertainment .........................................................25 Magazines address readers as consuming individuals ............................................... 26 Magazines assert an authority on style ....................................................................... 27 The genre of consumer magazines ..............................................................................28 Emergent research opportunities......................................................................................29 The mediation of discourses of consumerism in public space .................................. 30 The structural similarities of magazine covers as a genre .........................................31 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................32 2. Consumerism, visual culture and the public realm .................................................... 34 Consumer culture............................................................................................................... 34 Commodities .................................................................................................................36 Consumption .................................................................................................................39 Visual culture and the public.............................................................................................42 The space of appearance ..............................................................................................44 Public retail sites ..........................................................................................................47 The dialectics o f consumer culture aesthetics................................................................. 51 The commodity tension: Materiality / Simulation .....................................................52 The consumption tension: Manipulation / Empowerment .........................................55 The consumption-commodity tension: Subject / Object ...........................................57 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................... 60 3. Ways of Looking: Methodology .....................................................................................63 Empirical boundaries.........................................................................................................63 Magazine covers ........................................................................................................... 63 Newsstands ...................................................................................................................64