Discourse Analysis
‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ is an old popular saying that states you should not choose something based on outer appearances. This statement however is not the case when it comes to women choosing a magazine. Why a woman chooses one magazine over another is generally determined by the appearance and layout arrangement of the cover. Women’s magazines all generally focusing around the feminine ideals and stereotypes and the Cosmopolitan issue of
October 2011 is no exception. The magazine is filled with tips on how to aesthetically and physically please the opposite sex, celebrity articles and advertisements revolving around beauty products. Using semiotics, narrative and genre theory, medium theory and Fairclough’s discourse a deconstruction of the text can be accomplished in order to find the significance of the cover and how it is shaped.
The prominent image on the cover of Cosmopolitan is the bright and bold photo of celebrity Katy Perry wearing a rather voluptuous outfit. The appearance of
Katy Perry is what Cosmopolitan subtly suggests women should conform their role or persona into. This is evident through the semiotic approach as “images, generally speaking are used to represent some state of thing that the user either believes to be true or wishes the public to believe to be true” (Noth, 1997). With that in mind, the image can be broken down further to define what exactly it is representing. The vivid colours of red and black clothing act as signifiers that connect together with the symbolic perception of the colours and in turn project certain connotations. The colour red carries connotations and releases an automatic associative response to emotions such as passion, lust, desire, female

sexuality, danger and love. The colour black however, transmits connotations to traits such as power, strength, mystery and often darkness or the unknown. The signifiers of colour also directly correlate to the signifiers of clothing worn by
Katy. The outfit modeled on the cover was specifically selected and is important as “clothing frequently conveys gender information as another way of publicly indicating an individuals role within a larger social realm” (Leeds-Hurwitz,
1993). The outfit consists of a provocative, skin-tight, revealing top partnered with a conservative, fitted and smooth skirt. The over-all outfit conveys a signified connotation of sexuality and success. Considering the colour of the top is red and the skirt is black expresses the connection both signifiers have. Both the colour and clothing represent a similar connotation. All signifiers present must be explored and combined as a “meaning is only generated by the relationship between signifiers, and the signified is shaped by the signifier”
(Bignell, 1997). Inferring from the signifiers represented on the cover the meaning put forth by cosmopolitan is that of the ideals of a woman and her role in the social order. The red top suggests the role of a woman is to seduce the opposite sex and continually strive to become as aesthetically pleasing as the celebrity represented on the cover. The black skirt connotates that a woman can still be seductive and maintain success and strength. Katy Perry is commonly referred to as a ‘sex symbol’ and a very successful artist who many fans desire and admire which makes her an iconic referent. “Icons have qualities which resemble those of the objects they represent” (Chandler 2007) and since Katy symbolizes the connotations of the signifiers it renders her as an icon.

The textual arrangement and specific selection of text used on the cover of
Cosmopolitan was organized in a certain manner for a certain effect. Narrative theory identifies that everything we read is “a printed text in which an author has deliberately inscribed” (Kozloff 1992) for a specific audience in mind. The cover can be considered a narrative as it is filled with short sentences that link together to inform the reader of what further stories are inside. The most important property of narratives is the order in which it is arranged. The magazine cover is like all other “narrative forms, and takes advantage of the viewer’s almost unquenchable habit of inferring causality from succession”
(Kozloff 1992). At first glance of the cover the words that stand out the most are those written in white. The most captivating of those are the words “Celeb Style
Buys” as it is written in the largest font and contrasted by the black behind it making it stand out. The next text the reader is drawn to is the second largest white font reading “In bed with Cosmo readers”. It is positioned directly left of
Katy’s face and flowing black hair and the text stands out again because of the contrast to the black hair and red background. The small text on the right says
“career special” and is one of the last things noticed by the reader, reflecting the low importance given to this aspect of the magazine. The fact that consumers read the printed text in specific order was purposely formulated by the narrator to inform readers of what articles will be majorly featured in the specific issue.
This narrative feature is important as a consumer can easily and almost inadvertently decide if they require this magazine over another depending on the substance mass of articles. Another variable is the genre of magazine a certain individual wishes to purchase.

Genre is very simply a group or category of a specific medium, in this case magazine literature, which deliberately attracts a particular target audience.
The genre of Cosmopolitan is considered to be a woman’s fashion magazine of which its target audience is adult women around the age of 18 to 30’s. The magazine relies on the cultural and sometimes historical subject of fashion and women’s culture and constantly makes reference to each. This is why the target audience is older than 18 and younger than 30 as those are the women that will be capable of comprehending the pop culture references. For instance, on the cover in a small blurb about women remaining independent it has written, “All the single ladies!” which is a social culture reference to the lyrics from a song by
Beyoncé. This intertextual occurrence would most likely not be recognizable by an older woman compared to the age target group. This audience target exists because “companies producing and trading in media goods try to minimize risk by grouping and selling their products through established expectations”
(Branston & Stafford 2006). There is always comfort and security found with the familiar, which is why companies use genres to their advantage, as consumers will continually persist with purchasing the recognized. It is an ideological approach to genre as it “assures the advertisers of an audience for their messages…and reproduce the dominant ideology of the capitalist system” (Allen,
. When a woman picks up a magazine of Cosmopolitan they already have a notion of what style of content it will encompass. The variable in whether a woman will purchase the magazine is dependent on if the stories outlined on the cover and whether or not they are different to previous stories. Through the
Cosmopolitan genre “a system of expectation is set up around it, one which involves both repetition and difference” (Branston & Stafford 2006). The story

on the cover that is usually different is the one that involves the featured celebrity, for this instance Katy Perry. The rest of the stories touch similar topics in every month’s issue such as sexual stories “sex census” or fashion tips “celeb style buys”. The text itself is also important to take into account and the best method is through Fairclough discourse.
The Fairclough discourse refers to a method of analyzing text through examining vocabulary, grammar, cohesion and text structure. Fairclogh states “people make choices about the design and structure of their clauses which amount to choices about how to signify social identities, social relationships, and knowledge and belief”(Fairclough, 1992). Applying this concept to the clause “In Bed With
Cosmo Readers”, written on the cover, you can deconstruct the clause to ascertain what the structure of it signifies. The cover could have read “What people like in bed” or “Your sexual preferences” which implicates the same thing however it did not. The specific vocabulary chosen to create the clause is what is important to consider. The phrase “Cosmo readers” gives the reader a sense of community, contribution and of belonging. The clause used is also written in a simple vocabulary with no complex words of phrasing signifying the type of casual readers it is directed towards. The distribution of Cosmopolitan is generally ranged from lower-middle class to upper-middle class women from the western countries such as America, Canada, Australia, England and New Zealand.
The consumption of this magazine is generally for leisure and indulgence. The vocabulary and structure used to form the clauses on the cover relates to directly to the consumption and distribution of the magazine. Finally, using the discourse method, when looking at the image of Katy Perry, an image that takes up the

majority of the cover the hegemonic purpose can be deduced. Cosmopolitan magazines are constantly depicting a “western woman (who) appears always stylish, attractive, glamorous and comfortable” (Valdivia, 2006) on the cover. The image is always arranged as the main feature signifying to consumers that women are “unthreatening, cosmopolitan, glossy figures who inhabit the world at ease through use of fashion accessories”(Valdivia, 2006). This social identity of women signified by these magazines have had such a large impact on women it has sometimes triggered eating disorders, lack of self-confidence in young women and a desire to always strive to become more “trendy” and attractive.
A magazine has unidirectional communication and exercises the senses of sight with images and text and touch with its glossy exterior. Magazines are readily accessible but not immediately available as time is required for companies to print and release them and for consumers to obtain them. The magazines often use simple literacy and constantly make pop cultural references. Media theory maintains that these “variables influence the medium’s use and its social, political, and psychological impact”(Meyrowitz, 1994). This is very clear through the purchasing of magazines, as since they are not readily available they become a commodity for indulgence. The use of magazines being a leisurely activity is because there is no effort involved for the reader to communicate back as it is a unidirectional medium. So this magazine is used as a very casual, simple form of entertainment for women in particular.
After using semiotics, narrative and genre theory, medium theory and
Faircloughs discourse method to analyze the cover of the October Issue of

Cosmopolitan it is evident that there is a lot of process and thought that goes into creating and arranging the cover. A lot of different methods are used so that the outcome and message is similar to all consumers. The overall message sent to consumers in society is a conventional idea that women are ‘objects’ and their role is to aesthetically and physically please the opposite sex, which is why such importance is given to fashion, beauty and bedroom tips in the magazine. There are some small parts that talk about women in the career sense, but is usually a very small part of the entire magazine. Women continue to purchase these magazines without realizing what message they are sending to others and to themselves because they are unaware.

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