Essay-MagazinesthatBecameOnlySkinDeep.pdf

MAGAZINES THAT BECAME ONLY SKIN DEEP
By Marie Myung-Ok Lee

A. Browsing the magazine rack the other day, I noticed that Seventeen magazine still
exists, but I hardly recognize it: “Sexy Legs Workout!” “The New Party Drug That
Could Kill You,” “How to Get a Natural-Looking Spray Tan.”

B. I read Seventeen magazine religiously in the 1970s and ’80s. Headlines from old
copies that I have saved include: “Five Pollution Fighters,” “How is Women’s
Liberation Doing in the High Schools?” “How to Survive College Rejection” and
“Volunteer Work Does Pay Off.”

C. The last article is one I wrote in 1982, when I myself was 17. The magazine,
especially with its annual fiction, art and photography contest, strongly influenced
my decision to become a writer; it was a perfect forum in which to express my
thoughts. Well into my 20s, I continued to contribute articles and essays — “Taking
a Foreign Language Could Be Your Ticket to Travel!” “Get Growing,” “Computer
Friendly” — and tried (unsuccessfully) to get my fiction in as well.

D. Lately, when I meet other female writers in my age cohort, it turns out we are all
alumnae of Seventeen and other magazines of the day, such as YM and
Mademoiselle. A friend remembers being turned on to Seventeen as a teen by an
article promoting busing and integration. She went on to do an article on the
biosphere for Seventeen and now is a writer on environmental issues.
Mademoiselle (now defunct) published some of the best fiction in the nation,
discovering such talent as Truman Capote (who was also published in Seventeen),
Joyce Carol Oates, Flannery O’Connor and Tennessee Williams. Mademoiselle also
ran an annual college guest editor contest, one famous winner being Sylvia Plath,
who immortalized the experience in her novel The Bell Jar.

E. Of course, back then, Seventeen had a bit of an unseemly focus on appearance
and boys as well, but it is difficult to imagine the slightly neurotic “When Your
Boyfriend Forgets Your Birthday” of 1982 eliciting any frisson compared with
today’s “Do I Have an STD?” There seem to be plenty of articles on what to do
about rejection from a boy but none about rejection from a college. In fact, as
opposed to thoughtful articles on college, joining the Peace Corps or relating to
parents, in the current Seventeen (Spring Shopping Issue!), life beyond instant
gratification seems utterly absent.

F. Another article in that 1982 issue, “How to Make a Candy Necklace,” would today
be relegated to the “tween” (8-13) age group magazines such as Discovery Girl or
Girl’s Life. But even the Girl’s Life covers boast “Hot New Spring Looks!” and “Love
Secrets.” Its “Dear Carol” column receives letters from writers obsessed with
padded bras or lamenting that “I finally found the boy of my dreams . . . The
problem is, he uses drugs and alcohol.”

G. And the first-person stories that used to appear in Seventeen’s “You Said It!” and
“Frankly Speaking” columns have been replaced by “Real Life” (“I Survived a
School Shooting”), written not by the subject herself but by an “as-told-to”
journalist.

H. Celebrities dominate these magazines in a way that they did not 20 years ago. The
celebrity-industrial complex already saturating our culture keeps the reading
experience at a distance, with the reader passively digesting news about an off-
limits “them” and not relating to her contemporaries–and herself. The magazine
acts more as a vehicle for marketing than insight into what girls today are
thinking. Thus, the magazines are thick with celebrity profiles and pages of glossy
ads, but there is little fiction (God forbid, poetry), reader contests are largely
merchandise promotions and the only opportunity to share thoughts is the
woefully narrow: “Your opinions about our January issue.”

I. I recently won a writing prize for creative nonfiction, and scanning the list of
previous winners, I saw a name, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, that was very familiar. Not
because she was a MacArthur fellow or had written a nonfiction book that I
admired but because she had been my editor at Seventeen.

J. Maybe this is a natural generational evolution, the aging baby-boomer reminiscing
on how things were so much better “back then.” But my first novel, begun during
the time I was writing for Seventeen, was called “Finding My Voice” because I had
found my voice as a writer, and it was Seventeen that was the first to publish me,
to make me feel that my words were important.

K. Will the budding writers of today receive the same encouragement? Will the
alumnae and alumni of today’s young women’s magazines include Pulitzer Prize
winners and MacArthur fellows? In 20 years, we shall see.

The Directions:

Your answers must be written in complete, grammatically correct sentences. Be sure to
number your answers properly and to look at the mark allotment for each question. You
may use the Methods of Development, Literary Devices and Tone handouts to
aid in your analysis.

1.In your own words, state the author’s thesis (1M). Then, choose the one method of
development used to support the thesis that you find the most persuasive (1M).
Explain (2M).

a) example
b) compare and contrast
c) cause and effect
d) appeal to authority

2. Identify TWO stylistic devices from the passage (see list below). (2M) Explain how the
devices contribute to the impact of the passage (4M):

a) metaphor
b) simile
c) sentence structure (balanced and periodic)
d) alliteration

3. Identify the tone of the passage (1M) and provide an example that highlights this
tone (1M).

4.Give ONE specific example of the author’s use of diction (specific words chosen for
their connotation/implication) (1M). Explain what makes it effective (2M). If quoting a
whole sentence, be sure to underline a specific word or phrase as the effective diction.