What Image of Masculinity is Represented in Loaded Magazine

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Callum Fisher        English Language        29/11/07

        Mr Binfield        

What image of masculinity is represented in the text and in what way is it conveyed?

Lexis & semantics

The loaded magazine is a typical men’s magazine and is thus addressed for men. The lexical choice is cruder and seems to represent the image of men as less tasteful and more colloquial lexis. For example the use of “thousands of pounds of beer money has been spunked on polystyrene that is destined to end up at the bottom of a shitty lake” the graphic words “spunked” for example give the impression of money being wasted or blown and this imagine is again is of a more male orientated audience. The title also is an example of intertextduality, “Birdmen of alcohol” The title is from the film Birdmen of Alcatraz, the head noun “alcohol” is premodified by “birdmen”. This use of intertextduality is comical here as the image accompanying the title suggests that it is ironic and a joke. As well as this the author personifies “loaded” and is used as a person in the text itself, “loaded drinks booze, builds a flying machine and throws itself into a lake” this use of a more general term for the magazine and its employees has the effect of being informal and much less standard.

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The general lexical choice is simple lexis with a general structure, and the semantic field is generally more male orientated with beer and food a subject of much comment in this article. The piece also uses a simpler lexis; however there are some words that would need certain level of education to have and understanding of “culmination” “eccentricity”. Another example of this is the phrase “Hedonist’s Handbook” the use of this word suggests an educated audience as is rarely used but the meaning is apt for this piece. A pleasure seeking handbook, this in itself assumes that men take pleasure ...

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