Mark, Set, Go A 300 Page Guide to Win the Diamond Ring

 

Like any magazine, Cosmopolitan provides a Table of Contents for its readers. At first, this Table of Contents (Oct 13, 16) appears to be a simplistic layout, but Carey Jewitt and Rumiko Oyama's "Information Value" (Jewitt et. al. 147) tells us of the actual complexity of what is at hand. In the upper, left quadrant of the Table of Contents the reader is immediately drawn to see an ideal/given image of a man and woman naked and involved in a sensual moment. The upper, or ideal location denotes the image to be the "ideologically most salient part" (Jewitt et. al. 148), and the left, or given location to signify "a familiar and agreed departure point for the message [or discourse]" (Jewitt et. al. 148). I argue that this 'agreed ideological discourse' stirs up the mythology of the 'female-male romance that finales with a perfect ending'. What is this ending then you ask? Perhaps a diamond ring!

 

Now, in order to play the game of hooking a guy, one must know how to play the game correctly, therefore, Cosmopolitan presents its female readers with a packed reference list of do's and don'ts via the Table of Contents. These tips and strategies lay the ground for a successful fight to the prized diamond ring, and do not forget that this diamond ring is only for heterosexual relationships. Every article and visual of couples represents commitment through the relation of a 'man's member' (March 145) and woman's 'Va--jay--jay' (March 234). The intertextuality of these texts and the ideal/given image function to substantiate the discourse and mythology at work, each component relying on the relationship with the "meanings carried by other images and texts" (Rose 142). With this conversation between images and texts, readers are more fully able to grasp what Cosmopolitan has to offer, and who it is offering to. The Table of Contents' do's and don'ts expand into articles throughout the magazine; titles include: "How to Reach Soul-Mate Status with Any Man" (Sept 157), "What Makes Men Fall in Love" (Oct 134), "Hair That Gets You What You Want" (Oct 204), and others which assist women on how to hook a man through body, beauty, and sex. As a play on with the discourse in Cosmopolitan an article even exists titled "Games You Shouldn't Play" (Jan 103). The presence of this article reinforces that there is a 'right' and 'wrong' way to play the game, as well as rules one should follow.

 

Just incase the articles do not give enough information for women, a "Man Manual" is included within each issue of the magazine. It is here that a woman can "learn to interpret the subtle signals he's sending" (Oct 58), as well as finding truth in these claims through the quotes of medical doctors, psychologists, and authors of relationship help books. Cosmopolitan has never been known to work off of scientific information, but when figures who are "endowed with authority" (Rose 166) are quoted, articles such as "How to Tell If He's Hooked" (Oct 58) become backed by truth claims. More subtle then quotes, the Man Manual's use of objective correlates direct a woman in her choosing of the man to hook. The Man Manual opens up with a young, white, shirtless, muscular boy-man, a signifier Rose feels demonstrates "strong, dependable, [and] irresistible" (Rose 90) - of course a look every girl would want at her side, right!?! Due to the wording of helpful handout, women have all the reason to think that they can this guy. The use of the words "Man Manual" lend the reader to view a man as something they can play and control in order to win the diamond ring. Outside of Cosmoplitan, people receive manuals on how to work their mp3 players, how to program their televisions, how to fix their car, and even how to play games. Due to the absence of articles in the Man Manual and magazine about 'equality amongst sexes', 'working as a couple towards happiness', or 'waiting until a guy is ready to marry', it is clear that the discourse is constantly wrapped around the previously stated mythology as well as a belief that women have the power in the relationship - because of course they have the manual. Rose states that this "invisibility can have just as powerful effects as visibility" (Rose 165). Both visible and invisible signs work to support that "all knowledge is discursive and all discourse is saturated with power" (Rose 144), only further substantiating the heteronormativity within broader society.

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