Are the same four themes repeated in every issue of Men's Health

Examples of Men's Health

•Quick-fix problem solving

There is significant evidence of this in all of the magazines I have looked at (both copies on the internet and actual hard copies of the magazine), and I have found that the theme of quick-fix solutions to long-term problems seems to be a recurring theme for all Men's Health magazines. The use of short mono-sylabic words puts emphasis on the speed at which the weight can be lost, "Burn fat fast!" "Look Your Best Now!" "Fight Fat and Win!" is an example on the above cover featuring boxer Manny Pacquio delivers a punchy ryhtyhm to the speed at which weight can be lost.

•Male narcissism
Narcissistic identity is present in most issues of Men's Health, as males try and identify with the role model on the cover of each issue. The idea of having most of the cover images in black and white helps de-sexualise the image of the man and present the male body as "a machine", and with the target audience being mostly hegemonic, heterosexual males, it helps men feel unthreatened by buying a magazine with the lead image being another half-naked male, otherwise this would problematize the male gaze, as the magazine is shot through a man's eyes.

•New male sensitivity

•Male superiority/Manipulation
A common theme in Male Superiority is shown through the "sexual side" of the magazine, as it highlights how men can take the authourity and dominance of sex and use it to their own advantages. Again, repeated sell lines of "What Women Want!" is a theme which we see throughout every issue of Men's Health, either that or "How to get what You Want!" These lines help to encourage the idea of women as objects.



What representations are offered/constructed of men in the media forms I have studied?

In modern films, men are often portrayed in very similar ways to the men represented in the films often being represented by the same actors, such as Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd. The new stereotypical view of men is represented by these actors in a very Complicit sort of manor, and are very 'new man' as opposed to the portrayal of a very hegemonic man roughly 10-years prior to this.
   The evidence we have to build these theories is that we have looked at films produced in the 1990s, such as 'Fight Club' (D. Fincher, 1999), is explained by Connell's Types of Males, and the character's of 'Fight Club' present the image of a male society who are very hegemonic and traditional, who are very aggressive and macho, using this as an excuse to have a weekly fight club in which they can express these emotions of anger. Also represented in this film is the idea of a Marginalised society of men, who seek the fight club as their place in society, and as the film's antagonist Tyler Durden (portrayed by Brad Pitt) theorises that "they are the middle children of history", and uses this labelling system as a method of categorising the men in the film.
   This is also represented and explained through the use of Bly's 'Mytho-Poetic' theory of men (1992), and it could be suggested that the reason these men have all of this built up anger and rage is due to the collapse of industry, and the image represented here is that of a post-industrial man, who is refused the role of 'hunter/gatherer' role due to the uneccessary need for him now to adopt that role, as he has been emasculated by the female becoming the 'pre-dominant breadwinner' of the family.
   The representation of the male species in modern-day cinema contrasts greatly to this, as nowadays we are presented with a 'new-breed' of man, the as Connell would describe them to be complicit, where they adopt a shared role in the family, but also have underlying tones of a subordinate man, and they show examples of sterotypical 'camp' behaviour and are more comfortable to show these attitudes as opposed to a hegemonic male.
   Also, most of the representations of the 21st Century New Man are seen in comedies, often with an underlying average dramatic situation, but one largely constructed just for the sole-purpose of applying to the film. An example of such a situation is shown in the film Stepbrothers (2008), staring Will Ferrell and John C. Riley as two forty-year old men with issues of change and refusal to move out of their childhood homes, even though they are both middle-aged men living with their newly married parents. Such an example would not really be applicable to real life, but they both portrayal a new style of marginalised man, who are out of a place in society and as a result have never been able to fully develop into the men they are supposed to be.