Ideological analysis of two different magazines Essay

Ideological analysis of two different magazines - Essay Example The magazine was founded in 1977. Acquired by Werner Media in 1986, it currently has a circulation of 1.7 million, and a web site that has approximately 2 million unique hits a month. Upon first glance of U.S. Weekly, the reader is bombarded with images of fashion, stereotypical beauty, and often current scandals in the entertainment world. Glamorous ideals promoting the everyday lives of the wealthy, and advertisements centered on makeup, lingerie, acne medication, and ads for television shows that are marketed to woman as well, make up the majority of the sponsors. On the cover of issue 629 March 5, 2007, there were three main pictures on the front cover. One was of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie walking their newly born and adopted children in dual strollers through the streets; below this was a picture of a very glamorous and happy looking newly coupled Kate Moss and Owen Wilson, both with bright blond hair, shiny white teeth and blues eyes. Next to these two small photos, was a hu ge leading photograph of Britney Spears with a partly shaved head and a lead title statement saying, Help Me. This cover page gives perfect insight into the magazines ideology, in that it shows what ideals the editors promote as well as what goes against their values. By U.S. Weekly degrading Britney Spears for shaving her head, as apposed to putting it in a positive light, or doing any genuine investigative/informative journalism on her motives, the magazine takes a definite stance. Using Spear’s image in this way is a combination of exploitative scandal, and the magazines way of taking a finite stance against her fashion decision, but it takes it even further. The fact that she cuts her hair is not treated as just a fashion mistake, but as a sign that she needs psychological analyses. Her personal and family life is put in question and she is virtually crucified by the magazine for simply cutting her hair. Of course, the hair she cut was the key