Representation of Celebrity- Justin Bieber

Text 1- Justin Bieber MTV VMA Awards Perfomance 2015
The image shown is taken from an article from OK! Magazine of Justin Bieber during his come-back performance after a year long break... In this article, they represent Justin as being emotional, overwhelmed and being grateful- which reinforces the representation of dedication as denoted by his evident emotions . This image in particular has a representation of stereotyping due to his over all look and how he is dressed in black from head to toe and also has two arms full of tattoos which has connotations of the bad boy look, where his whole appearance contradicts him as a person due to him crying over his performance, which could lead to the representation of being fake.

The encoders of this text, in this case the photographer at OK! Magazine have represented Bieber as a role model. This has been represented as due to Bieber's microphone headset, we can clearly see that he is a famous singer, therefore we automatically believe him to be a role model to many people. The image uses Bieber as the central protagonist, however, out of focus we see fans with their hands in the air which is evidence of Bieber being a famous singer and a role model. This image shows Justin to be bold and simple due to his choice of clothing as black is a simple colour and stands to the representation of being "bad" which he has a representation in the media of being in his fairly recent past, after being arrested for DUI, but being bailed out as such.

OK! Magazine audience would expect to respondwith the preferred reading of this article, to see Bieber as a changed person and that he does have emotions and was just going through a phase, where he was big-headed, but now he has realised that singing is his passion and wants to make his fans happy by doing so, at which some people could relate to.

Due to the society that we live in, where pop-culture and fashion is extremely valued, Justin Bieber is known as one of the most influential male artists of the 21st Century, due to his come back and being labelled as so many different names in his younger years of his career. Due to his celebrity status, he is appreciated because we all live in an era where stars in every element of media and film are seen as iconic and people who we look up to and aspire to be like.
                                                                                     
           
Text 2- Justin Bieber Calvin Klein Ad
Justin represents himself in this advertisement through the use of his body language, facial expression s and over all physical appearance. First of all, his body gives Bieber the overall look that he is extremely confident with himself and the body that he is in, which in this century people will aspire to be like, as the way you look is all that seems to matter now-a-days just to be labelled as pretty etc... This gives him a masculine look due to his "buff" body type and his tattoos. Another thing is Justin's underwear, which is the clear promotion of the product. Justin's facial expression is represented as rather serious looking, almost sexual looking, in which case, the desire of a sexual nature is used to attract an audience- this is a juxtaposition whereby it is signified that he is just being serious and looking directly into the camera in a way of telling the audience to buy this product.

Bieber's representation here is one which encourages an audience to buy the product so that you can either look as good as him in the underwear, whereby the male audience may want to be inspired to be "buff" like Bieber. Another way in which he is represented here is as a teenage heart-throb as teenage girls are mostly attracted to boys/men who're big and bulky and looking a certain way, whereby Justin follows this stereotype of expectation. The eye contact and use of personal pronoun in the hashtag, "#mycalvins" makes him a reflection of audience members. Another thing is that he represents the ideologies that you should be confidence no matter what you look like, whether you're muscular like him, slim, or on the bigger side. making him relatable and fulfilling the audience's need for affiliation as he is a role model in the sense that he has/had body confident issues, and that its ok.                     



Text 3- Justin Bieber Men's Health Magazine Cover
Bieber's topless image on this cover of Men's Health Magazine represents him as confident. His arms thrown behind his head is done to show his muscular arms but also adds to the open body language which further represents his confidence. His facial expression and with him looking into the camera connotes that he is confident and that he wants the audience to know that he is confident. This has the representation that he is 'big-headed' and has a sense of cockiness in him.

The encoders of the magazine are representing Bieber as a object for women, even though this is a male targeted magazine. The medium long shot allows his whole appearance to be seen, showing his (again) topless body which emphasises his muscular body type and masculine tattoos, but with the looks of a pair of fitness joggers, by the waistband. Another thing about this main image is that it is in black and white which connotes mystery and sophistication is an sense that even though Justin Bieber is a well-known singer and performer, he is also extremely dedicated to keeping fit which is also denoted by the cover line, 'LEAN MUSCLE'.

The target audience for this magazine for this text would be men aged 18-35, who have an interest in fitness but also, if they want to feel inspired to become fit. these men are probably married with children and would take the preferred reading that Justin is a confident, fitness maniac. Even though this magazine is targets men specifically, I do think that women would buy this magazine just because the 'star' Justin Bieber is featured within, which denotes his stardom, fame and popularity through both genders.

                                                   
                                           
Text 4- Justin Bieber Purpose Album Cover (2015)
Justin Bieber has represented himself through a rather effective album cover being topless (again) however with his hands together connoting his religious background, letting his audience into an aspect of his life and personality. Even though it is evident that Bieber is topless in this cover, the use of effects of drawings/paint connotes that he is surrounded by people who have kept him covered through his rather 'bad' recent past.
The encoder have used this representation of the religious expression which signifies a religious, appreciated musical talent rather than the confident, cocky, muscular man. This cover represents the this in its Mediation of Justin Bieber, The Selection of a photo which shows him praying almost, as he has his hands partly together and his head down which is a connotation of praying and also the use of his topless body being covered by art. The Organisation of the layout is simple yet effective as there is so much going on with the edited use of black and white and art, but shows Bieber in a staged position. Finally The Focus of Bieber as a musician and religious persona being serious about his job rather than being in the media for all the negative and wrong things, rather than the positive things.

The preferred reading of this album cover is that Justin Bieber is a popular musician that loves his job and its eternally grateful due to his stance as a religious person, which has connotations of him being 'blessed' as the pop icon he is. This also stands with the ideology that religion should be something that is taken into account everyday, 1) you don't have to be ashamed as such to express your religion, 2) you should take life as a blessing and not take if forgranted, and 3) that the musical artist in him should be appreciated and more respected, rather than labelling him for all the negative things he's been in the media for, for his celebrity status.