Ideology essay

An ideology is a set of beliefs or ideas that guide an individual or group. Magazines

can display these ideologies that they may have in many ways through the articles

that they feature and that is what is going to be explained and analysed throughout

this essay with reference to a particular article.

In this example of an article from the magazine Q it is clear to see that the artist is

about the hip-hop artist 50 Cent. This straight away gives the reader an idea of one

of the magazines ideologies. Q is a popular music magazine that intends on

providing its readers with news on the latest artists, tracks and interviews with the

hottest artists out there. So by having a large image of 50 Cent, a very popular and

well known artist, taking up a whole page the magazine is showing the readers that it

is including the best artists and the ones that they know their readers want to know

about. So one of Q magazine’s ideologies is that they want to showcase the hottest

artists and in this article they have done just that.

In the image, 50 Cent has a very serious and almost intimidating look which can also

suggest another of Q’s ideologies. This magazine has made it clear through its

exclusive interviews and rating systems that it is very much focused on the music

industry and as well as it containing some fun elements e.g. photoshoots it

particularly wants to zoom in on the music side of things. So through 50 Cent’s

serious face, he is giving across the message that Q magazine is serious about the

music and wants its readers to respect that.

The language used in this magazine article are really a combination of formal and

informal language which again presents another possible ideology of Q magazine.

The use of informal language will be focused on this paragraph. For instance, in the

main heading the word “hell” is used and it is also printed in italic font. The word

“hell” is evidently a slang term and it shows that as Q is informing its readers about

this hip-hop artist, then it must also reflect the language of the artist so that the

reader can really engage with the artist and understand his terminology a bit better

than they would have if the whole article was in formal language. The tag line

beneath the main heading also demonstrates slang being used in “fiddy” which is

what 50 calls himself and what other people call him too. This again helps the reader

to engage with the artist more and supports Q’s ideology of getting their readers as

close to the music as possible.

The use of formal language in the magazine could possibly represent another

ideology of Q magazine. As well as including informal language to entice younger

audiences and upcoming artists, it is important to appeal to slightly older and

sophisticated audiences such as record label executives. This can be achieved

through using formal language because it gives the idea that the magazine attempts

to address music with a professional approach. This implies that the magazine Q has

the ideology of viewing the music industry through refined and experienced eyes so

that it appeals to audiences who would approve of this e.g. those involved in

business in the music industry.

There is also a more meaningful and heartfelt ideology revealed in this article. The

pull quote in the bottom right hand corner of the magazine on the image says

“getting shot didn’t hurt as much as you’d think”. This suggests that 50 is tough and

is able to deal with bad things such as this which then makes the reader delve into

50’s early life. 50 had a tough upbringing, growing up in the violent and poverty

infested neighbourhood of South Jamaica, located in Queens, New York City. This

tells the reader that 50 is rapping about his life and how hard it has been for him but

he wants to encourage other upcoming artists to express themselves in similar ways.

So, it can be inferred from this that another of Q’s ideologies is to promote inspiring

and thoughtful messages to their readers who they hope the majority would be

aspiring artists.

Another ideology of this particular magazine can be derived by again analysing the

image of the artist 50 Cent and the pull quote. As mentioned before, the facial

expression of the artist shows the serious nature of the magazine and the pull quote

shows that it intends to appeal to new artists that are struggling to find inspiration. In

addition to these points, the serious face of 50 Cent and the pull quote can very well

show that the magazine is genuine and authentic unlike a lot of music magazines in

today’s society. A large amount of music magazines nowadays consist of a lot of

artificial and fake information such as rumours and ‘gossip’ being passed around in

the music industry and the media. However, Q magazine shows through these two

important features that they aim to provide their audience with factual and real

content as they actually delve deep into artists’ backgrounds as well as their music.