Appeals essay

The first text I will be looking at is the 1998 British crime film, Lock, Stock and Two smoking barrels. This text appeals mainly to fans of the British crime genre, this is due to it fitting the conventions of a stereotypical British crime film. It features: The London criminal underground, drugs, stereotypical "geezers" and plenty of violence and obscenities, which are all staples of the genre. The film could also be argues to appeal to fans of dark comedy, since it is implemented quite a lot in the film. Jokes are often being made out of things which would usually be seen as disgusting or horrible. The text itself would appeal to the mainstreamer, it is a conventional British Crime film, the genre has been around for decades at this point, so it is a genre nearly everyone has encountered as some point in their lives. Star power is also used as an appeal to the audience. The film features actors such as Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones. These actors are well known, especially in Britain and are most known for their work within the British crime genre. The text also appeal to our need for escapism, as it transports the audience to a world that is similar to their own but somewhat surreal with the situations, characters and events that take place.

     The second text that I will be analysing is the music magazine Kerrang. This text would appeal to teens/young adults due to the variety of musicians and bands featured, both in style and age, it appeals to a wide range of ages. This text would also appeal to the explorer audience type. This is because the content of the magazine is very different than mainstream music magazines such as "Q", this features more "niche" bands and therefore the mainstreamer would not be interested due to it not being mainstream. The text also appeals to the need for social interaction. This is because, like most print based texts, people will often discuss the content inside, especially with Kerrang as people who read the magazine are likely to share similar opinions on the content and therefore are able to socially interact easier. The magazine also appeals to the need for information, this is because, again like most print based texts, they give us information. It's purpose as a magazine is to inform us on the subject that the magazine covers, in this case, music. So it appeals to audiences by promising to fulfil that need.

  The third text I will be analysing is the front page of british broadsheet newspaper website, The Guardian. This text will mainly appeal to the mainstreamer, since it is a very popular newspaper in Britain, since this is a newspaper we can also apply the status and income model to see what audience that this newspaper would appeal to. I believe it appeals to people in the AB category. This means people who are either upper middle class or lower middle class. The Guardian appeals to this audience type by reporting on stories that would interest that group such as: Politics, the economy, world affairs etc. This text can also appeal to our need for affiliation, this is because the newspaper is very good at making an opinion or view seem like common sense, because of this the newspaper will often create groups with the same opinion as them. The text also appeals to our need for information, because much like Kerrang magazine, it's main purpose is to provide information on the subject it covers, therefore people will view the website in order to have that need fulfilled. It also appeals to the need for social interaction, since the content of the paper is often discussed, either positively or negatively between people who view the website. Finally the website can evoke our need to aggress. This is because the website, unlike the paper version, gives the audience the ability to post their own comments regarding the stories presented. This may evoke an emotional response from the audience, since newspapers are notorious for running stories to get a reaction from the audience. For this reason the ability gives the audience the ability to present their anger and aggress.