Perfect lives: Lifestyle magazines and utopian impulses in contemporary British society

Abstract

This article seeks to explore and uncover the ideological and stylistic elements that typify the ways in which contemporary male and female lifestyle magazines present the world to the reader. Focusing on two of the most popular British examples – FHM and Red – it analyses the language used, the images portrayed, as well as the structures of the two texts. Throughout it engages with the burgeoning literature on utopianism, and in particular with the ‘utopic’ approaches advocated by theorists such as Louis Marin and Frederic Jameson, in order to trace the common tropes and rules that run throughout both male and female lifestyle magazines. Finally, in light of these findings, it asks what role these texts play in contemporary culture and society.