Representing Men: Cultural Production and Producers in the Men's Magazine MarketNew Lad culture boomed in the 1990s with the publication of mens magazines such as loaded, FHM and Maxim. What were the commercial roots of this boom and what did it say about contemporary masculinity and the dynamics of cultural production? Applying a cultural-economic approach and drawing on interviews with key figures at the sectors leading products, Crewe unwraps the means through which publishing companies comprehended and addressed the mens magazine audience in the 1990s. He argues that it was informal knowledge about cultures of masculinity held by editorial practitioners that was decisive in constituting individual magazines and the overall character of the sector. In exploring the cultural resources, identifications and ambitions around which the market crystallized, Crewe provides an in-depth comparison of the editors and editorial identity of loaded, the pioneer of the mass market, with those of Esquire and Arena, magazines associated with the sectors initial reformation. Clear and comprehensive, this work sheds new light on the commercial assessment and representation of modern masculine culture. |
Contents
Literature Review And Conceptual Orientation | 15 |
The Launches of the Mid1990s | 42 |
The Logic of Market Launches | 67 |
Copyright | |
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Representing Men: Cultural Production and Producers in the Men's Magazine Market Ben Crewe No preview available - 2003 |
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advertising ambitions amongst Arena audience Bourdieu brand British Brown and Southwell Campaign chapter circulation Condé Nast consumer consumption creative discourses economic editorial personnel editorial practitioners editors Ekow Eshun Emap Emap's Eshun Esquire expertise fashion focus group football formal gender GQ and Esquire GQ's Guardian heterosexual highlighted Howarth identified identity Independent on Sunday industry interests interview IPC's issue James Brown journalist knowledge lad culture lad mags launch loaded loaded's London magazine's male masculinity McRobbie Media Week Men's Health men's lifestyle magazines men's magazine men's magazine market men's press men's style middle-class Mort NatMags Nixon Peter Howarth political position Press Gazette production professional publishing companies readers readership relationship representations role sector self-conscious sexual significant social Southwell 1998 Southwell's sport staff strategies style press style titles success suggested target tion upmarket Wagadon whilst women working-class zine