magazines - Big Issue
Q: Explain how the representations in magazines reflect their contexts. Refer to The Big Issue covers you have studied to support your answer. [10 marks]
- Hamilton (straight men / BAME) / Boris and ghosts (Boris / Nigel)
- point evidence theory evaluate (PETE) x4, conclusion sentence
- social / political / cultural contexts at timer
Throughout my essay, I will be evaluating the ways in which 'The Big Issue' uses representation in its magazine covers to reflect the social, political and cultural contexts of the 21st century time period in Britain. This includes the representation of heterosexual males in the "all rise" issue and the representation of various politicians in the "Boris the pumpkin issue".
The "all rise" publication (issue 1381), highly involves the representation of heterosexual males, via the 'Hamilton' Broadway musical star, Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is featured as the main image in the foreground of the poster, with his name anchoring his predominance in the poster, in a bright gold font. This use of the colour gold, in the headline could connote to the wealth, fame and glamour, which has been brought upon Lin-Manuel due to his dominant appearance in the theatre world, or the world of Hollywood and its dazzling lights. This presents an influential heterosexual man in a subverted straight-male stereotypical career, in a positive (and metaphorical) light, which is reinforced by the dazzling and glittering, almost-stage lights, above him. This could also be suggest heaven, which further reinforces the magazine's representation of performing arts and staring in West-end musicals as a positive career choice for straight men, at a time, currently, where there is still a stigma / expectation for heterosexual males to pursue careers into stereotypically masculine fields, such as more physically challenging careers like the sports industry or careers which are more professional and require leadership skills. The fact that The Big Issue are promoting alternative careers, like working in the West End, which are more often associated with homosexual males, shows their progressional views as an organisation.
This issue also features an individual from the BAME community (Lin-Manuel, Puerto-Rican) who is the headliner of the magazine, and is directly addressing the camera, thus directly addressing the target audience. He is being positively represented, as previously mentioned, which could be interpreted as normalising the inclusion of ethnic minority groups. This relates to one of The Big Issue's values, which is 'non-judgemental'. Although I believe that the inclusion of different ethnic groups should be a regular expectation, unfortunately, within the media, this still isn't always the case due to limited representation of Puerto-Rican individuals, along with many other ethnic minority groups. This positive representation is reinforced through the mise-en-scene of Lin-Manuel's body language as he points his finger upwards to the sky. This could be anchorage to the headline "all rise", which could be referring to the audience of the musical "Hamilton", following Lin-Manuel's performance, showing that he is the number one, or even relating to the theme of magic. This could show that the magazine view Lin-Manuel's achievements as 'magic' and that his success story should be shared, in order to inspire other members of the BAME community to get involved with performing arts, which is currently dominated by white people.
In the most recent issue of The Big Issue, there is heavy representation of politicians, more specifically, Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, Jeremy Corbyn and Jacob Rees-Mogg. Boris is presented as the face of a pumpkin, which can be easily identified by his trademark shaggy blonde hairstyle. This is accumpanied by a confused and worried expression, which could represent his feelings towards the Brexit deal, as reinforced by the headline, "trick or treaty". This could show that he is being represented as anxious and uncertain towards the outcome of the Brexit deal, or even could be 'taking the micky' and poking fun at his stupidity as our democratic leader, perhaps suggesting that he isn't suited to be Prime Minister. This appeals to an anti-Brexit, anti-Boris Johnson, anti-Conservative party audience, which currently, is very broad as the majority of UK citizens are unhappy about Brexit and Boris as PM. This idea is backed up by the connotations in which can be gathered by the use of the pumpkin. This very explicitly makes fun of Boris, as a politician and suggests that the whole concept of him being leader is a joke. It could represent the constant defeats in which Boris is facing, at the time of publication. It could also symbolise the much-loved and easily recognizable Disney film, "Cinderella", with the concept of Cinderella's carriage turning into a pumpkin at midnight. This could illustrate either Boris being truly exposed for who he is, or perhaps the Brexit deadline, which is making fun of the ridiculousness of the deadline constantly being pushes back; by ultimately mocking it by comparing it to an old wives tale, in which the politically-aware audience should appreciate the enigma code for and decode.
Q: Analyse why The Big Issue magazine has used an intertextual approach to Brexit on its front cover [15 marks]
In your answer you must:
- analyse the use of intertextuality to create meaning in the source.
- make judgments and reach a conclusion about the advantages of this use of intertextaulity to The Big Issue Magazine
- Boris (the nightmare before xmas / trick or treaty / Cinderalla)
- intro: political and summary, x5 paras, small conclusion
Throughout my essay, I will be exploring the ways in which The Big Issue magazine has used an intertextual approach to Brexit on its most recent front cover (Boris the pumpkin). One way The Big Issue has done this is by making reference to Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas', a 1993 American stop-motion animated musical dark fantasy Halloween-Christmas film directed by Henry Selick. It has be referenced by directly quoting the title of the movie above the headline; prefacing the upcoming story and preparing the reader for the negative, yet politically comedic, take on Brexit. 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' is a well-known christmas poem and relates to the theme of this copy of the magazine, creating a sense of consistency and professionalism in the front cover, despite the reference being to a childhood, light-hearted christmas film. The main character of the movie is a Jack Skellingon, who is also known as the "Pumpkin King", which could be a direct correlation of Boris; poking fun at him as a political leader. Another relation to the movie could be the idea that Halloween is before Christmas, similarly to Brexit (or it should be, if it weren't for the ever-hanging deadline, which is also being presented in a politically comedic light, in which the educated and aware target audience should understand the reference to). The advantage of using this point of intertextuality is to entice the reader through nostalgic and comforting feelings of Christmas and Halloween, with reference to a much-loved Christmas classic, which will, as the magazine says: "ease your Brexit Blues". This could make the reader feel accepted by their political views, in which they are encouraged to share with the magazine, which acts as an almost-friend and vent for political anger for the reader.
Another point of intertextual reference is the reference to Brexit, which is referenced through the headline "trick or treaty". It is a pun on the well-known and easily recognisable saying and is presented to sound like the more pleasant option of the two, how ever neither are good, suggesting that there is no 'good' or preferable outcome to Brexit, perhaps because we have already voted to leave the EU. The quote from the cover "Brexit Blues" also directly references Brexit, making its appearance in this month's issue explicitly clear. It uses alliteration of 'b', which could sound like shivering in the cold, signifying that Brexit is the 'cold-hearted' option and presents Brexit in a negative light. The reference to the colour blue could refer to the UK feeling 'blue' as we are currently under a Conservative government. This use of intertextuality is advantageous as it commonly units everyone, no matter if they are UK citizens, homeless or even originally supportive of the Conservative party and pro-Brexit, but now with more impressionable and changing ideas and political stance.
- Hamilton (straight men / BAME) / Boris and ghosts (Boris / Nigel)
- point evidence theory evaluate (PETE) x4, conclusion sentence
- social / political / cultural contexts at timer
Throughout my essay, I will be evaluating the ways in which 'The Big Issue' uses representation in its magazine covers to reflect the social, political and cultural contexts of the 21st century time period in Britain. This includes the representation of heterosexual males in the "all rise" issue and the representation of various politicians in the "Boris the pumpkin issue".
The "all rise" publication (issue 1381), highly involves the representation of heterosexual males, via the 'Hamilton' Broadway musical star, Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is featured as the main image in the foreground of the poster, with his name anchoring his predominance in the poster, in a bright gold font. This use of the colour gold, in the headline could connote to the wealth, fame and glamour, which has been brought upon Lin-Manuel due to his dominant appearance in the theatre world, or the world of Hollywood and its dazzling lights. This presents an influential heterosexual man in a subverted straight-male stereotypical career, in a positive (and metaphorical) light, which is reinforced by the dazzling and glittering, almost-stage lights, above him. This could also be suggest heaven, which further reinforces the magazine's representation of performing arts and staring in West-end musicals as a positive career choice for straight men, at a time, currently, where there is still a stigma / expectation for heterosexual males to pursue careers into stereotypically masculine fields, such as more physically challenging careers like the sports industry or careers which are more professional and require leadership skills. The fact that The Big Issue are promoting alternative careers, like working in the West End, which are more often associated with homosexual males, shows their progressional views as an organisation.
This issue also features an individual from the BAME community (Lin-Manuel, Puerto-Rican) who is the headliner of the magazine, and is directly addressing the camera, thus directly addressing the target audience. He is being positively represented, as previously mentioned, which could be interpreted as normalising the inclusion of ethnic minority groups. This relates to one of The Big Issue's values, which is 'non-judgemental'. Although I believe that the inclusion of different ethnic groups should be a regular expectation, unfortunately, within the media, this still isn't always the case due to limited representation of Puerto-Rican individuals, along with many other ethnic minority groups. This positive representation is reinforced through the mise-en-scene of Lin-Manuel's body language as he points his finger upwards to the sky. This could be anchorage to the headline "all rise", which could be referring to the audience of the musical "Hamilton", following Lin-Manuel's performance, showing that he is the number one, or even relating to the theme of magic. This could show that the magazine view Lin-Manuel's achievements as 'magic' and that his success story should be shared, in order to inspire other members of the BAME community to get involved with performing arts, which is currently dominated by white people.
In the most recent issue of The Big Issue, there is heavy representation of politicians, more specifically, Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, Jeremy Corbyn and Jacob Rees-Mogg. Boris is presented as the face of a pumpkin, which can be easily identified by his trademark shaggy blonde hairstyle. This is accumpanied by a confused and worried expression, which could represent his feelings towards the Brexit deal, as reinforced by the headline, "trick or treaty". This could show that he is being represented as anxious and uncertain towards the outcome of the Brexit deal, or even could be 'taking the micky' and poking fun at his stupidity as our democratic leader, perhaps suggesting that he isn't suited to be Prime Minister. This appeals to an anti-Brexit, anti-Boris Johnson, anti-Conservative party audience, which currently, is very broad as the majority of UK citizens are unhappy about Brexit and Boris as PM. This idea is backed up by the connotations in which can be gathered by the use of the pumpkin. This very explicitly makes fun of Boris, as a politician and suggests that the whole concept of him being leader is a joke. It could represent the constant defeats in which Boris is facing, at the time of publication. It could also symbolise the much-loved and easily recognizable Disney film, "Cinderella", with the concept of Cinderella's carriage turning into a pumpkin at midnight. This could illustrate either Boris being truly exposed for who he is, or perhaps the Brexit deadline, which is making fun of the ridiculousness of the deadline constantly being pushes back; by ultimately mocking it by comparing it to an old wives tale, in which the politically-aware audience should appreciate the enigma code for and decode.
Q: Analyse why The Big Issue magazine has used an intertextual approach to Brexit on its front cover [15 marks]
In your answer you must:
- analyse the use of intertextuality to create meaning in the source.
- make judgments and reach a conclusion about the advantages of this use of intertextaulity to The Big Issue Magazine
- Boris (the nightmare before xmas / trick or treaty / Cinderalla)
- intro: political and summary, x5 paras, small conclusion
Throughout my essay, I will be exploring the ways in which The Big Issue magazine has used an intertextual approach to Brexit on its most recent front cover (Boris the pumpkin). One way The Big Issue has done this is by making reference to Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas', a 1993 American stop-motion animated musical dark fantasy Halloween-Christmas film directed by Henry Selick. It has be referenced by directly quoting the title of the movie above the headline; prefacing the upcoming story and preparing the reader for the negative, yet politically comedic, take on Brexit. 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' is a well-known christmas poem and relates to the theme of this copy of the magazine, creating a sense of consistency and professionalism in the front cover, despite the reference being to a childhood, light-hearted christmas film. The main character of the movie is a Jack Skellingon, who is also known as the "Pumpkin King", which could be a direct correlation of Boris; poking fun at him as a political leader. Another relation to the movie could be the idea that Halloween is before Christmas, similarly to Brexit (or it should be, if it weren't for the ever-hanging deadline, which is also being presented in a politically comedic light, in which the educated and aware target audience should understand the reference to). The advantage of using this point of intertextuality is to entice the reader through nostalgic and comforting feelings of Christmas and Halloween, with reference to a much-loved Christmas classic, which will, as the magazine says: "ease your Brexit Blues". This could make the reader feel accepted by their political views, in which they are encouraged to share with the magazine, which acts as an almost-friend and vent for political anger for the reader.
Another point of intertextual reference is the reference to Brexit, which is referenced through the headline "trick or treaty". It is a pun on the well-known and easily recognisable saying and is presented to sound like the more pleasant option of the two, how ever neither are good, suggesting that there is no 'good' or preferable outcome to Brexit, perhaps because we have already voted to leave the EU. The quote from the cover "Brexit Blues" also directly references Brexit, making its appearance in this month's issue explicitly clear. It uses alliteration of 'b', which could sound like shivering in the cold, signifying that Brexit is the 'cold-hearted' option and presents Brexit in a negative light. The reference to the colour blue could refer to the UK feeling 'blue' as we are currently under a Conservative government. This use of intertextuality is advantageous as it commonly units everyone, no matter if they are UK citizens, homeless or even originally supportive of the Conservative party and pro-Brexit, but now with more impressionable and changing ideas and political stance.
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