Language Analysis

The article I analysed:

(Q Magazine (September 2017) James Lavelle, Dorian Lynskey)

This article is a biography about James Lavelle. There is evidence of the journalistic technique that talks about ‘Who, What, Where, When, Why, How’. 

• Who – James Lavelle
• What – He is the founder of Mo’ Wax label. He launched DJ shadow and invented trip-hop.  
• Where – London Met Bar is mentioned. 
• When – 1995,1998,2003 2013,2014.
• Why – How his career developed/the outcomes of it.
• How – His career came about from meeting people.

It engages the audience with a number of catchy words and phrases, such as ‘visionary lightning rod’, ‘ impeccably cool’ etc. It also ends with some questions posed to the star of the article, which provokes thought for the audience. The short sentence after this shows that it is the end of the article and ties it off nicely. This is clearly a biography, we can tell as it is written about a person and the recent/not so recent events of their life.  The columns make it easy to read, and the bold introduction catches the eye and informs the reader. We are aware of the presence of the journalist whilst reading the article, we can tell it is someone writing about another person due to the facts, quotes being written in 3rd person. The impact of this is that we feel the article is being narrated and we can trust the sources given to us. There is a clear structure apparent, with an introduction, middle, and small conclusion. A few swear words have been included in the article, this suits the tone of the article and shows the target audience of the magazine is adults. Quotes are used to tell us more about James, and the article also feels more personal, as if he is involved in the writing of it. This article gives the audience an insight into his life, as well as making them feel like a part of it too. It attracts, informs, and creates desire to find out more. These are all elements of AIDA. The journalist creates the star image of a fun, reckless, bold and inspiring entertainer throughout the description of the star. This portrayal also helps keep the article interesting and unique, it is not like other magazines in the way that it really goes into depth about his life and discusses the ups and downs.