ElLe MaGaZiNe

The pop culture text I chose to write about is the June 2005 edition of the fashionable Elle magazine. This magazine is very popular with young women, fashion editors, and designer names. Along with photo spreads, advertisements, and articles, this magazine also includes diet plans, beauty advice, and surveys. It is easy to see why this magazine would appeal to so many women, and it is a seemingly healthy way for women to appreciate high class style, and escape from the mundane “real world” that they are accustomed to.

It’s interesting to look at why Elle gains support from readers who are mostly women. The men’s magazines often show sexy women on the covers of their magazines because sex sells. Could it be the same for women? Women would rather buy a fashion magazine with a beautiful model on the cover wearing designer clothing than one with an average Jane wearing JC Penny. Sex sells to both men and women, but for different reasons. Personally, I read these magazines to gain insight on hair, make-up, and fashion, but mostly to daydream about being able to afford the expensive clothing and high class lifestyles that these models and celebrities are able to experience.

The advertisements in Elle are centered on outrageously priced jewelry, expensive make-up and perfumes, hair care products, elegant clothing, and various products to make one look younger. The latter includes wrinkle reducing lotion, eye cream to eliminate dark circles, firming lotion for cellulite prone legs and buttocks, advanced razors to get a closer shave, and exfoliating lotions and scrubs to remove dead skin. These ads subtly introduce to women readers the idea that we must resort to numerous, pricey products in order to look and feel sexy. In other words, we, as women, are not good enough or sexy enough without extensive work on our external beauty. This idea is exemplified with the realization that every single page including an article on beauty, or a beautiful woman, is accompanied by an advertisement or brand name.

Although these ideas of commercial beauty may cause a controversial twist to the magazine, it is important to recognize the positive elements as well. A specific ad in the magazine, for a right hand diamond ring, states that “Your left hand sees red and thinks roses. Your right hand sees red and thinks wine. Your left hand says, “I love you.” Your right hand says, “I love me, too.”” This page of the magazine, although an advertisement, suggests the importance of being an independent, strong woman in today’s world. The right hand ring is representing the idea that a women does not need to wait and find a man to make her happy, although the idea of diamonds alone having the power to satisfy a woman’s needs is another popular, controversial stereotype.

I believe that Elle magazine, along with many fashion and pop culture magazines, are both demeaning and empowering to women. Readers must remember to take nearly everything with a grain of salt, and use the text more as an entertainment source than anything else.

Eng 1020 Expectations

I think English 1020 will be a pretty interesting class. It doesn’t seem too difficult, which is good, and I think it will be fun and enjoyable. The other students in the class are funny, and our teacher isn’t boring at all, so it makes the time go by a little bit faster.

I hope that I’ll be able to work on and improve my writing skills for future college courses, since high school honors English was a huge blow-off. Even though MLA formatting is annoying, I’m glad that we are going over it, so the whole process will be easier in the future, when we have to write huge thesis’s and research papers.

I’m also interested in writing the three papers that are assigned. The one paper on our favorite music, for example, should be nice to write because we are writing on something that we are interested in.

I used to read a lot before high school, but during honors English we didn’t really do anything. I think the last book I read was The Great Gatsby, back in the 11th grade. So I wouldn’t mind freshening up on my reading skills too.

So other than all that English junk, I think us classmates will be closer because of the Blogger assignments, and I think the fact that we know each other will make the class more fun, and make papers and assignments easier because we won’t have to go to the teacher for every question we have.

This is ME

Hey everyone! My name is Tina and I’m from Macomb, Michigan. I’ve recently moved out of my parent’s house this year and I love being on my own here at college. My little brother Tim is my best friend. He’s had a hard time dealing with my strict parents without me this year, but he will be attending Grand Valley in the fall. Growing up, I spent a lot of time with my family. We love snowmobiling, skiing, fishing, backpacking, camping, and hanging out at our cabin up north. I feel like now that I’ve moved out of the house, the time I spend with them is more valuable, and there is less fighting over stupid issues.

I love hanging out with my friends here, but I’m also hoping to concentrate more on my school work this semester than I did the last. I think that it’s sometimes harder to buckle down and get work done when you live steps away from 20 of your friends, but I would never want to be separated from this amazing college life.

I am studying Pre-Med here. I want to major in chemistry and minor in Spanish. I am a lifeguard and I spend every other weekend working at a rec center near home in order to make my car insurance payment. My car is my pride and joy, along with my “nephew”. My boyfriend’s older brother and his wife had a baby back in September, so I’ve been spending a lot of my free time watching him grow up. I guess that’s it for now. Thanks for taking the time to learn a little bit about me!