The Big Issue- end of year question

[Blurb]There has been huge focus on Westminster’s success in effectively ending mass rough sleeping since the coronavirus crisis began. The government has promised that no one will be thrown back on to the street as restrictions are eased – but there could be another emergency looming. Some 500,000 people in precarious financial circumstances could be about to go over the homelessness cliff edge. 

1. Explain how meanings are established through intertextuality. Refer to source A in your answer. 

In your answer you must:

• analyse how media representations are constructed in Source A through intertextuality. (10 marks)

Magazines generally convey their values and attitudes through their house style, front cover and signifying features. Intertextuality may be used amongst the magazines to help represent these values and attitudes in an engaging and interesting way. Mainstream magazines may use obvious intertextuality to appeal to their mass audience whilst niche magazines (such as The Big Issue) may use more obscure intertextuality to appeal to their niche and typically intelligent audience, who will be able to decode the intertextuality. 

Representations have been constructed in Source A through intertextuality which has established meaning throughout the source. The source is an intertextual reference to the slogan and logo in which the British government has used during the corona virus pandemic. The magazine has replaced the bottom two statements from 'control the virus' 'save lives' to '500,000 at homeless risk' and 'what needs to be done'. These statements show that The Big Issue values the risk of homelessness as an important issue. The magazine will be representing homelessness as an important issue due to it being a street paper sold by vendors who are homeless themselves. The magazine was established in 1991 by John Bird and Gordon Roddick as a response to the increasing numbers of homeless people in London. The men wanted to create a not-for-profit magazine that would help people who have no formal abode therefore it is relevant that the magazine has used intertextuality to represent the issue of homelessness. 

The use of having the front cover as an intertextual reference to the government's slogan will allow for the attention of a mass audience to be grabbed as the slogan is very prominent in the current situation. This mass audience is a contrast to the usual niche readership of The Big Issue, but by using a national slogan, this allows The Big Issue to construct the representation of homelessness as being a national problem and requires the attention of the mass to help solve it- just like the corona virus does.The usual readership of the big issue consists of 72% of people belonging to ABC1 occupation group. This audience group will not only be able to decode this intertextuality but may be able to sympathise with the issue being represented. Most people from ABC1 occupation groups have been labelled 'key workers' during the pandemic meaning that they have been working very hard to help the country through this crisis. These people therefore may have witnessed the negative impact the corona virus has had on different households which means that they can sympathise for the vulnerable group being represented in the source. 

The intertextuality of the front cover copying the structure of the government's slogan also generates a meaning of 'mocking' towards the government. By having the statements referring to homelessness, this suggests that the magazine believes the government isn't doing enough to help battle this issue. The blurb used on the magazine also helps generate this indication as the magazine mentions how the government has been praised for their work ending mass rough sleeping since the corona virus began but The Big Issue identifies that people are still vulnerable. The magazine will have taken this approach as it has values such as liberalism and social responsibility therefore it constantly tries to improve society. This means that it often criticises tactics used by the government and often represents people who have been forgotten about which in this copy are people on the risk of homelessness during the pandemic. 

The use of having a figure '500,000' as part of a statement also generates intertextuality due to figures being very important during the pandemic. It is significant that the statement 'stay alert' is still present as it suggests that the magazine is implying that 'staying alert' is still relevant for the issue of homelessness in which they are representing. Readers will associate 'stay alert' with the corona virus but The Big Issue is using this statement to generate meaning by suggesting that readers and the government need to stay alert to the risk of homelessness being at a high from the pandemic. 

Overall, representations of people who are at risk of homelessness have been constructed in Source A through the intertextuality of the government's slogan. This has established meaning throughout the source that people who are at risk of becoming homeless due to the pandemic need help both from society and the government as The Big Issue warns enough hasn't been done by the government to help.