A critical analysis of a magazine article

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Fozia Ali English Language Mr. Jordan

A critical analysis of a magazine article

Gail Porter is a popular British female celebrity. She has recently made it public knowledge that she has been diagnosed with alopecia. Alopecia is a condition that affects men and women, resulting in drastic hair loss. The magazine the article was taken from is called “Closer”. This magazine has a wide target audience of British women of many ages. The article is presented as a personal description of her condition and its effects by Porter herself.

The writer has appealed to the target audience in a good way, because the article is aimed at different audiences. It could firstly be aimed at women who have an interest in Gail Porter, due to the fact that she is a famous TV presenter, secondly it could be aimed at readers who have suffered from alopecia themselves, or know someone who has suffered from the condition. Thirdly the article could be aimed at young women, who are interested in celebrity gossip. The purpose of the text is that the writer is trying to inform readers about Porter’s condition, and also to entertain the audience, because the article could be known as celebrity gossip.

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There is a good use of pragmatics throughout the text. Pragmatics is the social context of communication. Some readers may think the article is subtle, while others may disagree and think it has a hidden agenda. For example Gail has suffered from a terrible condition, if she were to inform readers about her trauma, she would not say, “Before I went out - to the launch of my new programme, Dead Famous Live”, this implies the article does have a hidden agenda because she is secretly trying to promote her new programme.

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