The big issue revision- lesson 5

 Review:

Who or what is being represented on the front cover, and how does this like to the ethos and ideology of the big issue?

• A hand up not a hand out- this tagline makes it clear that the big issue was created to allow those who needed support to be financially dependent. The Big Issue is not a charity and the tagline constantly reminds potential customers what its ethos is, as well as challenging stereotypes attached to the big issue and those who sell the publication
• Masthead is present, recognisable and is placed at the very top (conventional)
• Central image of Romesh Ranganathan- positive expression- well known comedian discussing poverty, comedy and insecurity
• Colour palette (black, green, yellow etc)
• Feature article- happy money returns (pun) - relevent to current affairs
• cover lines link to money

How do these front covers link to ethos and ideology?

Marcus Rashford:

• As Marcus Rashford is promoting free school meals for children and trying to raise awareness of children not eating enough, especially with this current situation and not being at school, this is very important font cover for the big issue as they are raising social issues that need to be addressed urgently, and getting people's attention to help.
• This links to the big issues ethos and ideology because the big issue have specifically chosen this front cover to help with poverty and people in need, to attract audiences,  not really for sales and profit, but for awareness and change in society

Eddie Izzard:

• This front cover is about being who you are and not hiding, since society can judge people on what is the 'normal' and what is not. Eddie stands up for himself, and many others.

  
  
• This links to the ethos and ideologies of the big issue because they are raising social issues of identity, and since they are not a mainstream magazine, they aren't quick to judge people or fix stereotypes on them because of what gender they are

David Tennant:

• This front cover is promoting mental health issues. This is a very relevant issue surrounding today's situation with people's mental health plummeting as we can't do the things we love or see family and friends. This shows that this is a big issue that needs to be addressed, and the government are seen to ignore it
• This links to the ethos and ideologies of the big issue as they are all about surrounding people with kindness and causing a healthy environment for everyone. Mental health is a huge social issue these days which shows that the big issue desperately want to take on and challenge stereotypes around it

Social, political and cultural contexts:

Ice cream:

• British tradition
• Connections between UK and US politics
• Both affected by trump?

Why flake news:

• Link to fake news (pun)
• Trumps attack on the press

Why a melting donald trump?

• Negative representation but humorous
• Representation of big issue ethos- assumption the reader will agree
• Represents dominant group of white, male, middle class but in a bad/funny way to mock politicians

Hamilton puff shaped like a sun:

• Link to summer theme- ties in with colours
• Positive representation of Hamilton and the man the play is based on which is a direct contrast to trump
• Hamilton play- based on founding father of US

1. This does follow the typical house style of the big issue because it contains illustrated cartoons, with a slight joke to them (snapping of big ben), and the bold, exaggerated colours it users to grab the readers attention and get its message across
2. The central image is significant because it is an emphasis on "rebuild", and uses the image to show that democracy has been destructed and thus it needs to be rebuilt in order to change democracy and fix poverty
3. "rebuilding british democracy" is used in politics a lot, especially the labour party who reinforce it. It is shown that Westminster’s outdated, broken voting system and unelected House of Lords reinforce Westminster’s power-hoarding, leaving voters powerless with no real say over who represents them. This is a significant time to publish this magazine (October 2019) as it is near the 2019 elections for new prime minister.
4. They would make politics a big issue since this was around the time the 2019 election was happening, and voting was a big talk in the UK- this is unconventional for the big issue since they criticise politics and the whole system, but their way of putting it does reinforce their social issues and ideology
5. The cover lines are simplistic and show what is featured inside the cover. They mention the generation bill which reveals plans for Lord Bird’s Future Generations Bill that could finally dismantle poverty. They have chosen this because it links with the purpose of the street magazine
6. Ken Loach features on the front cover because the big issue was offering hundreds of free tickets to a preview screening of Ken Loache's acclaimed new film "sorry we missed you", which also gives them celebrity endorsement

Explain why magazines outside the commercial mainstream construct alternative representations. Refer to the big issue in your answer (10)

• They are outside the commercial mainstream because their purpose is different to others in the sense they are running a non-for-profit organisation to dismantle poverty and bring social issues to real life
• It is owned by Gordon Roddick and John Bird who both realised the bad homeless situation in London and wanted to change this through raising underrated issues which are pushed aside in the mainstream and government
• They feature front covers that represent social issues, such as Marcus Rashfords free school meal proposal in order to create a reality and gather peoples interests to fix these social issues and make a change in society
• Their use of intertextuality and references to other media texts shows The Big Issue as a magazine that is informal and funny which is unconventional for mainstream magazines. For example, This tells us The Big Issue is different because we wouldn’t expect a serious topic like politicians to be made fun of like this. This is a very unique way to show an important event like the referendum and helps to show the magazine as independent and that it might have a different point of view about things. This is important because The Big Issue is a charity so this kind of story might appeal to readers and help the street vendors who sell the magazine.