Audience analysis

I’m not big on reading book reviews. I’m one of those people who will pick a book up off of the shelf, read the back cover and decide if it is something that I would like. As I was looking at the reviews for this assignment, I was bored. That is until I read the one written by Nina McLaughlin for the Boston Phoenix. This one sparked my interest. It is more of a review of a review. I found it very interesting and funny.
I think I should point out that I am not so fresh and young anymore. That being said, it does not necessarily mean that I can’t appreciate a writing style that fresh and young. The Boston Phoenix seems to be a fresh, young, and edgy publication. It is aimed at the under thirty, educated, open minded crowd. If you look at the different blogs on the website, you see blogs on politics, Laser orgy (for video gamers), outside the frame (about foreign films) and something called phlog (which is entertainment related. I have to admit, there were many things on those blogs that I had no clue about. Perusing the website before reading the review would have made me choose another review. Fortunately, I did not judge “the book by its cover”. Yes, the slideshow about the Boston Tattoo Convention may have made me think twice!
But wait a minute! I have tattoos, could I really be that different from their audience? Maybe not so much. McLaughlin starts the review with a disclosure about not going to hear a reading by John Updike at a Unitarian Church. She talks about how she doesn’t really like him, but her friend does and she respects her opinion. She refers to him as being old. He was born in 1932, so I guess that would be old, even by my standards.
McLaughlin refers to her dislike being in part because she is not a 53 old divorcee from Concord. I took that to mean that she felt that Updike only appealed to that demographic. This furthered my opinion that she was young, and this was meant to be read by young readers. She refers to Updike’s story “A&P”. I found this interesting since I first read this last semester in Literature class. (Okay, I know, I am a non-traditional student. McLaughlin probably read in frosh lit class as well .) She rather liked “A&P” and the subtle sexual overtone. (She did however, say that it reminded her of her parents, and thought it was an old man reimagining his high school lustings.) For this reason she could not understand why Updike trashed Foer. She said his review was self serving and outdated because Updike felt that a 9 year old was not sexually mature enough to be a protagonist in a novel. That points to a generational difference in morality, and McLaughlin acknowledges this. Apparently the maturity level of kids is viewed differently these days, and her targeted audience would know this without saying!
The words and writing style point to the more casual style that would appeal to a younger audience. She uses some phrases that I found entertaining, such as referring to Foer as “Saffy-fo". She writes in a style that is meant to edgy, and she succeeds. She is an intelligent writer, who uses decisive language.
I am fairly certain that the target audience would not contain many Republicans, or members of the religious right wing. The slideshow “Boston League of Women Wrestlers” gave me my first clue! I am sure that there are folks that may find some of the content of the websites offensive. I guess if that is the case, they should probably go to a different website.
I can admit that there are many things that “kids” are into that I just don’t understand. I am of a different generation. I have kids older than some of the students in my classes! Though I may not understand it all, that does not mean my mind is not open. I think that if one takes the time to read between the lines, and look beyond the cover we can find things that we can really enjoy.