The Big Issue
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The Big Issue exists to dismantle poverty by creating opportunity.
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The online magazine covers many topics such as politics, environment, technology and social activism.
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By their own definition the Big Issue is about an award-winning magazine that offers employment opportunities to people in poverty, to a multi-million pound social investment business supporting enterprise to drive social change.
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For over 25 years The Big Issue Group has strived to dismantle poverty through creating opportunity, in the process becoming one of the most recognised and trusted brands in the UK.
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The Big Issue magazine launched in 1991 in response to the growing number of rough sleepers on the streets of London, by offering people the opportunity to earn a legitimate income through selling a magazine to the public.
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Vendors buy The Big Issue magazine for £1.25 and sell it for £2.50, meaning each seller is a micro-entrepreneur who is working, not begging.
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​Since 1991, the magazine has helped over 92,000 vendors earn £115 million. There are currently around 1500 vendors, and last year alone we helped them to earn a total of £5.5 million. Currently the magazine is read by over 400,000 people across the UK and circulates 83,073 copies every week.
Pleasing special effects have been used at the top of the page to add a glittery type water fall, by doing this they entice on lookers to be drawn into the magazine.
Logo and title of the magazine is shown in the top counter of all the magazines.
By using bright colours and a specific celebrity to draw people in to buy the magazine it makes it seem as if they are aiming to have a younger set of people reading their materials.
Celebrity endorsement - telling inside information and having a exclusive interview with the director and actor.
Bright and complementary colours which contrast each other (yellow and blue).
The main cover line is bright yellow and covers half the page, drawing attention from onlookers who may want to buy it. The front is big, bold and somewhat in a reklame text giving it an aesthetic and appealing look.
Need to know for today:
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The purpose and background of the Big Issue.
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The methodology used to analyse media language and media representations.
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Theory and stereotypes linked to the representation of the working class poor/underclass.
Definition; A magazine is a periodical publication containing a collection of articles targeted at entertaining or informing a particular audience
Magazine Conventions - magazines have a number of technical conventions that identify them as magazines and help them appeal to their target audience.
Crisis UK states that;
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People become homeless for lots of different reasons. There are social causes of homelessness, such as a lack of affordable housing, poverty and unemployment; and life events which cause individuals to become homeless.
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People can become homeless when they leave prison, care or the army with no home to go to. Many homeless women have escaped a violent relationship.
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Many people become homeless because they can no longer afford the rent.
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And for many, life events like a relationship breaking down, losing a job, mental or physical health problems, or substance misuse can be the trigger. Being homeless can, in turn, make many of these problems even harder to resolve.
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Time for action – We challenge political leaders over their homelessness plans.
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Community champions – The Big Issue needs people to speak up for their local area
Recent media interest in the labelling of the poor such as “chavs” which according to;
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Shildrick and MacDonald (2007) suggest that the poor are undeserving of sympathy,
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Hayward and Yar (2006) – the term chav is used as an amusing term of abuse for young poor people
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Butsch (1992) – working class portrayed as flawed individuals (benefit cheats, etc.)
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Newman (2006) argues that when in the media working class are often depicted in a very non positive light
The Big Issue magazine tends to have a more positive view on the homelessness in London, they see them as people who are struggling to get through each day and have suffered due to the governments lack of support, the Big Issue magazine wants to show their sympathy and lend a helping hand to those who need it, they make it a serious issue that must be deal with as soon as possible.
While in newspapers such as the Daily Mail the homeless / people on benefits are portrayed in a negative way, for example this man is seen to be evil due to the sad reality that he had murdered his child accidental while attempting to achieve a bigger house off welfare. He is described as a "vile product of welfare" revealing the newspapers general dislike towards the benefits system reflecting the work of Shildrick and MacDonald (2007) suggesting that the poor are undeserving of sympathy,
Representation refers to the representation of an issue, event, social group or person from the particular point of view of the person who constructs the representation.
Common representations in the magazine industry tend to support the dominant social group, as they are usually the media owners and producers. This means that the media representations often serve to reinforce the social status quo, so that those considered to be in minority or subordinate groups remain stuck in those social roles
This links to Gramsci’s theory of hegemony and consequently the poor are often marginalized since they have little agency (power) over the middle class and elites who are the dominant voice in society
Class Notes
Eyes-fake tan
Cartoon
fake hair
Melting
Humour
“flake news” = fake news
Challenging him as the portrayed of fake news
Colour = childish
Child like representation of politics
Adding insults connecting image with writing.
Outline of text is having a stroke
The paper was sent out during the presidents visit in July 2018.
Definition
A magazine is a periodical publication containing a collection of articles targeted at entertaining or informing a particular audience.
They share some of their characteristics with newspapers, however magazines are
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Usually printed on high quality paper
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Usually stapled or bound
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Published weekly/monthly/quarterly
IRONY
a situation in which something which was intended to have a particular result has the opposite.
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SATIRE
the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticise people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
The musical details Hamilton's life in two acts, along with how various historical characters influenced his life.
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Alexander Hamilton
How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore
And a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot
In the Caribbean by providence impoverished
In squalor, grow up to be a hero and a scholar?
The ten-dollar founding father without a father
Got a lot farther by working a lot harder
By being a lot smarter By being a self-starter
By fourteen, they placed him in charge of a trading charter
And every day while slaves were being slaughtered and carted away
Across the waves, he struggled and kept his guard up
Inside, he was longing for something to be a part of
The brother was ready to beg, steal, borrow, or barter
Then a hurricane came, and devastation reigned
Our man saw his future drip, dripping down the drain
Put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain
And he wrote his first refrain, a testament to his pain
Well, the word got around, they said, this kid is insane, man
Took up a collection just to send him to the mainland
Get your education, don't forget from whence you came
And the world is gonna know your name
What's your name, man?
Alexander Hamilton
My name is Alexander Hamilton
And there's a million things I haven't done
But just you wait, just you wait
When he was ten his father split, full of it, debt-ridden
Two years later, see Alex and his mother bed-ridden
Half-dead sittin' in their own sick, the scent thick
And Alex got better but his mother went quick
Moved in with a cousin, the cousin committed suicide
Left him with nothin' but ruined pride, something new inside voice saying
Alex, you gotta fend for yourself
He started retreatin' and readin' every treatise on the shelf
There would have been nothin' left to do for someone less astute
He woulda been dead or destitute without a cent of restitution
Started workin', clerkin' for his late mother's landlord
Tradin' sugar cane and rum and all the things he can't afford
Scammin' for every book he can get his hands on
Plannin' for the future see him now as he stands on the bow of a ship headed for a new land
In New York you can be a new man
In New York you can be a new man
In New York you can be a new man
In New York you can be a new man
In New York you can be a new man
Just you wait
Alexander Hamilton
We are waiting in the wings for you
You could never back down
You never learned to take your time
Oh, Alexander Hamilton
When America sings for you
Will they know what you overcame?
Will they know you rewrote your game?
The world will never be the same, oh
The ship is in the harbor now
See if you can spot him
Another immigrant comin' up from the bottom
His enemies destroyed his rep America forgot him
We fought with him
Me, I died for him
Me, I trusted him
Me, I loved him
And me, I'm the damn fool that shot him
There's a million things I haven't done
But just you wait
What's your name, man?
Alexander Hamilton
Hamilton the musical depicts the story of a young man those found themselves fighting to stay alive and improve his living situation after a troubling childhood. The story continues until the the young scholar became a founding father himself and they story quickly turns into how american was built (by immigrants).
This can be reflected back onto the way Trump presents his views on immigrates, he continues to blame and show hate towards them in many speeches even though it is a fact a america was built by these very same immigrates who are disrespected by this man who gives them no credit.
Intertextual references
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The denoted image is of an ice cream in an ice cream cone. two intertextual references to Trump, politics and his imminent visit to the UK.
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The flake and sprinkles make reference to a 99 flake, which is a British cultural tradition associated with the summer.
EVENTS:
The British heatwave connecting with the magazine cover goes over the 2018 event of the British heatwave they have used this event as a visual link to Donald's visit to the UK due to the use of the traditional 99 flake cones in the UK linking his arrival and the hot weather together as a funny way of associating Trump with a melt down of the country's combined and the potential break down of the government along with the publics hate for this specific person.
The magazine editors has chosen to represent Donald Trump in a childish way, this has been done through the use of a childish cartoon design of the president where he has been portrayed as a moody ice-cream he has been represented this way to show their dislike towards him and how their values go against his such as their views on women rights, opportunities for lower classes and immigration. (Trump presents a capitalist view while the magazine reveals their values and socialist views)
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The positive and negative use of stereotypes referring to any form of constructed media about different events, issues and individuals. Trump is a member of the dominant group (white-male middle-age and a conservative) that would normally be presented positively in the media. In order to reinforce their values, the producers of this image have constructed a negative stereotype of Trump as a leading political figure, which invites the reader to laugh at him.
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C - higher class
A - middle age
G - white male
E - from american but the 99p flake represents the UK
D - mental health
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Focusing on the front cover only the dominant group is represented. However the use of the 99p flake ice cream as a visual of British and the use of the puff to reference Hamilton represents American history and politics. In this way the British and American people are shown as being affected by Trump and the dominant group.
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By using a cartoon instead of a photo they save money but it also allows them to show their view on the issue and gives out a deeper meaning behind the front cover, allowing British people to find humour in the irony of the image.
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The magazine offers a different version of reality that isn't usually seen in the media and possibly reflects a more 'real' experience and the diversity of the British public, rather than just one dominant group. Presenting Trump as melting from the pressure and not looking forwards to his visit to England, the cover allows people to question his motives and political values as well as the impact of his visit to the UK.
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Claims regarding realism are made in the way the media language influences the reader to accept that what they are reading is real rather than a point of view.
Clear social agenda:
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Social welfare
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Current affairs
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Politics
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Culture
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The environment
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Finance
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Health
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Food
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Sport
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The Big Issue agenda can be seen to be counter to right-wing politics, which do not value progressive social welfare policies but instead value individual and financial profit from business above access to social provision and equality for all social groups.
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Ideology definition : a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.
Viewpoints definition : a person's opinion or point of view.
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The owners are members of the dominant group.
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The magazine supports the left wing.
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Capitalism : an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.
Individualism : the habit or principle of being independent and self-reliant - a social theory favouring freedom of action for individuals over collective or state control.
Post modernism : a late 20th-century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism, which represents a departure from modernism and is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, and a general distrust of theories.
Socialism : a political and economic theory of social organisation which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.
Consumerism : encouraging the purchases of goods.
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Socialism and post-modernism are the main points used in The Big Issue as they are a organisation that focus on helping others and investing their money to create employment and ease poverty for people.
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Hegemony : the predominance of one social group over another.
Dominant groups A : a sociological term used to refer to a social group that controls the value systems in any given society. They may not be the largest social group in terms of size but the group is made up of the social identities that hold social, political and economic power privileges and social groups within our society.
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Although the owners of the Big Issue are members of the dominant social group in that they are predominantly white, male, middle class and middle aged , ideologically their alternative viewpoint is bound in creating opportunities to support social welfare and values. This is achieved in the following ways.
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Through use of satire, the representation of events, issues and social groups and individuals can be critiqued without there being an overtly political message
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The interesting and creative use of media language helps to communicate the magazines ideological values that we should care about all social groups and the society we live in, not just those with political, social and cultural power.
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This helps to position the audience from the point of view of the producer, inviting the reader to question the meanings constructed on the front cover and in turn question mainstream ideological values (such as capitalism/ racism/nationalism/consumerism)
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The Big Issue agenda can be seen to be counter to right-wing politics, which do not value progressive social welfare policies but instead value individual and financial profit from business above access to social provision and equality for all social groups.
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Audience interpretation and meaning - the viewers of this magazine will see the front cover and believe it is about the effects of being a star and will show interest towards their favourite actor. They will see the meaning of the way the cover layout is, as a way to clearly show the main focus of the magazine and to interpret the actor as just a normal person giving the audience a way to connect to him and making the individuals personally a propitiatory.
Intertextuality - the relationship between texts, especially literary ones.
Giving viewers a sense of comfort that they wont be losing their favourite actor.
The may be a hint in this text to suggest another season of the show or a new doctor will appear.
“The Doctor Doesn’t leave you”
The tagline gives the actor a sense of individuality and portrays a connection between the viewer and the actor.
The tagline makes the viewer want to read more about what that phase means and how it affects them.
The phase is mysterious and leaves the reader wanting more. It is also a good way for the magazine to more into the topic of the show as well as revealing more about the actor as a person rather than someone only from doctor who.
The noun "YOU" draws the audiences in and makes them feel as if they are apart of this change in actors and apart of Davids official leave from the show.
Doctor Who Summery - The Doctor is a renegade Time Lord: an eccentric, highly-intelligent scientist from a distant planet. He travels through time and space in the TARDIS, a curious device, larger on the inside than on the outside, which was designed to change its appearance to suit its surroundings. Unfortunately, the Doctor's TARDIS seems to be broken, and always appears as a blue British police box. The Doctor has a soft spot for the planet Earth, and often visits there, either to save it from various alien threats or to whisk a choice of a few inhabitants away to the distant parts of the galaxy to help him fight evil there. The Doctor has many foes, including Daleks (led by Davros), and The Master, another renegade Time Lord. Time Lord biology enables them to regenerate their bodies, and so both the Doctor and the Master appear to evolve over the years never really be able to die.
Discuss how the ideology of Individualism is an important aspect in the construction of the magazine
Individualism is when a person is seen as a person who is themselves and only themselves
Individualism : the habit or principle of being independent and self-reliant - a social theory favouring freedom of action for individuals over collective or state control.