Media Studies Album Analysis

My Album called Mancho is a 90's themed album based around passion and man power. The age group I would be aiming for would be between 30-50, the front cover making sure to pop out and for the audience to see the blue which most will subconsciously link to the masculine stereotype attracting my main audience. Again the feature of the young women on the front will attract my target audience due to the male stereotype. I have made sure to use my editing techniques to a whole as the original image was rather bland, giving the art the best possible chance. The main editing techniques are the colour separation and the lens blur on the front cover. I also used my phone camera which slightly affected the image quality therefore requiring some technical touch ups.

With all the pieces in the album artwork I made sure to use ideas from Saussure, and his theory on semiotics shows how signs and signals have deeper meanings within media. This can be seen in all my images as I use the blue to signal a deeper meaning simulating masculinity and the trash to symbolise the state of the stereotype. Throughout my album artwork, there is one key feature. On the front, back and insert there is the consistent use of black and white leaving only blue features in the shot visible with colour. When talking about the colour blue it is stereo typically linked to masculinity. The colour blue and masculinity also links to the title of the album "Mancho" which is a synonym for masculinity. The other dominant colour used throughout the album cover is dark/black and white. The black and white colours are literally used to single out the blue in all of the shots and promote this masculine colour, this helps promote the stereotype throughout the artwork. There can be another meaning to the dark colours in comparison to the bright blue. The dark in the artwork can have a connotation to fear and mysteriousness, the lens blur on the front cover again adds to the mysterious feel as if the blue information board is the only structure within the shot that is focused therefore portraying its importance. On the front cover, the centrepiece is the information board, on the information board lies two photos of a woman. The women is, therefore, being objectified, you could also say that the masculinity causes this to take place. 

Although on the album cover there is constant use of the colour blue promoting masculinity, there is also uses of the colour on negative objects such as rubbish bins/litter.  This could refer to the stereotype of blue being simulated as trash, therefore, promoting the exact opposite message as the front cover making both genders happy, yet this representation may be hard to see to the common reader. Overall this, therefore means that the reading will be positive as the targeted audience will be attracted to the stereotypical blue and manly nature of the colour as well as the genre of music the album is based around.

The theory closest linked to my album artwork is Laura Mulveys theory of the male gaze, this is because my album artwork objectives women and forces the audience to view women from the perspective of a heterosexual male. The fact that the picture of the women is on the display shows she is being advertised to people and treated as an object which again supports the male gaze theory. Due to my album cover adding to both sides of the stereotypical masculinity argument this means that my artwork also supports theories such as John Berger's. He believes that "Men look, women appear!" and that women are solely there to be objectified. With the use of the two pictures of the young women, this supports his theory as the women is being heavily objectified and stereotyped. Another theory that can be linked to my artwork is Bell Hooks theory of the colour codes. She believes that lighter skinned women are seen as more desirable in the western ideology of beauty. This links to my work due to the two images that feature on my album cover being of a white young female. 

I feel as if I have portrayed to my preferred well as I have amounted to both sides of the stereotype positivity/negativity. Therefore my audience will have a positive light towards my artwork, yet at the same time others will steel hopefully see the other side to the story and realize how the blue can affect the stereotype in a negative light.