Standing out from the Crowd a Study of Frankie Magazine
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Standing out from the crowd A study of frankie magazine, niche branding, and alternative femininities by Rosanna Hunt Bachelor of Arts (Hons) School of Social Sciences Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts University of Tasmania November 2016 Contents Contents ............................................................................................. ii Abstract ............................................................................................. iv Declaration ........................................................................................ v Acknowledgments ....................................................................... viii Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................... 1 Introducing frankie magazine ..................................................................... 3 Definitions ...................................................................................................... 5 Research Aims and Scope ............................................................................ 7 Thesis Outline ................................................................................................ 9 Chapter 2: Literature Review ........................................................ 10 Women’s magazines .................................................................................... 10 Feminism in women’s magazines ............................................................ 15 Conceptualising the audience ................................................................... 16 The industry of women’s magazines ....................................................... 18 Feminist magazines ..................................................................................... 20 Men’s magazines ......................................................................................... 22 The magazine industry ............................................................................... 25 Indie media ................................................................................................... 28 Chapter 3: Theory & Methods ...................................................... 32 Industry and text .......................................................................................... 32 Interviews ...................................................................................................... 33 Textual analysis ........................................................................................... 37 Theory ............................................................................................................ 39 Chapter 4: Analysis ......................................................................... 43 Constructing frankie: Its public brand and production discourses ... 43 ii ‘How not to be a good girl’: Gender maneouvring in frankie ............. 54 frankie’s covers ............................................................................................. 59 Indie craft and ethical consumption ........................................................ 64 Complicating frankie’s difference ............................................................ 68 frankie’s success ........................................................................................... 79 Chapter 5: Conclusion .................................................................... 84 Recent developments .................................................................................. 87 Reflections .................................................................................................... 88 References ......................................................................................... 90 iii Abstract In the digital age, print media is said to be in decline. At the same time, the genre of women’s magazines has been subject to escalating critique for its practices of production and representation. In this context, an Australian ‘indie’ niche magazine for young women has achieved remarkable success. Launched in 2004 by an independent publisher, frankie magazine now has circulation figures that outdo established glossy women’s titles such as Cosmopolitan and Vogue Australia. The magazine has received multiple industry accolades, and in 2014 its publisher was sold for a reported $10 million figure. This thesis employs a combination of industry study and textual analysis in order to examine frankie magazine’s success, which is notable when compared with other niche titles. The thesis is concerned in particular with the gendered dimensions of the magazine, given the focus in lifestyle magazine scholarship on gender as the central ‘problem’ of magazine texts. To this end, the thesis explores ways in which frankie magazine and its production are discursively constructed in opposition to mainstream women’s magazines, and identifies potentially subversive “gender manoeuvres” (Schippers 2002) in the text. However, the analysis also highlights ways in which frankie and its production can be thought of as distinctly ‘mainstream’. The thesis argues that frankie has been successful because it balances an appealing textual subversiveness with conventional production practices, thereby allowing it to both signify an ‘alternative’ identity and occupy a lucrative position within the mainstream market. This is significant because it suggests there is room for subversiveness within a genre that has typically been thought of as inherently conservative, and indicates that alternative representations of femininity can have mainstream appeal. At the same time, this thesis demonstrates continuities between frankie and the conventional women’s magazine industry, both in terms of production practices and the pervasiveness of gendered representations in which white, middle- class femininities are most visible. This thesis contributes an analysis of a contemporary magazine and its production to the field of women’s magazine studies, in which studies of the industry contexts and dynamics informing magazine texts have previously been underrepresented. iv Declaration This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for a degree or diploma by the University or any other institution, except by way of background information and duly acknowledged in the thesis, and to the best of my knowledge and belief no material previously published or written by another person except where due acknowledgement is made in the text of the thesis, nor does the thesis contain any material that infringes copyright. Rosanna Hunt 04/11/16 v Earlier versions of sections of the analysis in this thesis have appeared in the following papers: Hunt, R 2015, ‘The shifting ‘indie’ femininities of Frankie magazine’, in P Mountford (ed), Peer reviewed proceedings of the 6th annual conference of the Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealand, POPCAANZ, Wellington, New Zealand, pp. 63-73, <http://popcaanz.com/conference-proceedings-2015/>. Hunt, R and Phillipov, M 2014, ‘“Nanna style”: The countercultural politics of retro femininities’, M/C Journal, vol. 17, no. 6, <http://journal.media- culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/viewArticle/901>. The publishers of the papers hold the copyright for that content and access to the material should be sought from the publishers. This thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying and communication in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. Rosanna Hunt 04/11/16 vi The research associated with this thesis abides by the international and Australian codes on human and animal experimentation, the guidelines by the Australian Government's Office of the Gene Technology Regulator and the rulings of the Safety, Ethics and Institutional Biosafety Committees of the University. The research associated with this thesis was approved by the Tasmania Social Sciences Human Research Ethics Committee. Rosanna Hunt 04/11/16 vii Acknowledgments There are many people whose support has been invaluable to me during the writing of this thesis. I would like to sincerely thank my supervisor Michelle Phillipov for her feedback, guidance, and understanding throughout the course of the project. I am so grateful for her help. Many thanks also go to my supervisor Katrina Clifford for sharing her industry expertise and providing useful comments on the final draft. I would also like to thank my interviewees for the valuable time and insights they gave to this project. Thanks go to Kris McCracken and Derek Rowlands for their advice on formatting the thesis. Thanks also to Kesherie Gurung, James Ewan, and all those who answered my Word-related questions. Special thanks go to friends who have supported me: Prue Evans, Miloš Nikolić, Lydia Nicholson, Zoë Jay, and Megan Tighe all need a special mention. Finally, I wish to thank my family for their care, encouragement, and patience: thanks to Rod Hunt, Jan Hunt, Will Hunt, and Lynne Fitzgerald for always being there. viii Chapter 1: Introduction ometime around 2008, I became aware of a new magazine for young women. It looked a little different to the usual glossy suspects, and its contents S seemed much more off-centre than any Australian women’s magazine I had read before. Having grown up with girls’ glossy Barbie Magazine, sought advice from Girlfriend and Dolly magazines in the early teenage years, and then moved on to Cosmopolitan and Cleo, this new magazine felt like a revelation. frankie referenced Australian ‘indie’ culture and featured art, craft, indie music, and