The Gendered Image of the Magazine Journalist on Television and Screen

This book extends the study of depictions of journalists in popular culture by bringing fashion and style magazine journalists into view.

The collection examines magazine offices as glamorous backdrops for television dramas and sitcoms with magazine staff both idolized and satirized in series like Ugly Betty and Suddenly Susan, and films like The Devil Wears Prada. It also examines how iconic magazine editors like Anna Wintour, Carine Roitfeld, and Ita Buttrose are represented in documentaries and fictionalized depictions of their careers. It makes a case that so‑called soft journalism and women’s media deserve more critical attention, as do contemporary representations of gender and the media’s role in reproducing normative constructions of femininity and masculinity. This edited collection of 14 central chapters draws together scholars working in magazine studies, film, television, gender and cultural studies, fashion, and media to interrogate magazine stereotypes and to examine what these shows reveal about magazine media, media reflexivity, and the changing media landscape. It also provides a historical overview of the rise of feminism and women’s media and of how the magazine and publishing world has adapted to the rise of digital and social media through hybrid models of publishing and content delivery. The included case studies each examine a television series, film, or documentary to explore how representations of magazine editors, journalists, and creatives might reinforce or challenge stereotypes about fashion and style journalists and women working in the media.

Readers who are interested in media, fashion, publishing, cultural studies, gender, fat studies, and critical race theories will benefit from reading this book.