The Big Theory Essay

The front covers of magazines are like adverts for the magazine, so in the same way as with advertising they tend to reflect the influence of consumerism. The Big Issue magazine is designed to help homeless people and so tends to have a more political, more altruistic and less consumerist focus. For example, one magazine front cover displayed a timeline of words stating "DON'T PANIC! HERE'S A DEAL THE COUNTRY CAN GET BEHIND" stamped over the Big Ben, which is surrounded by the EU stars.

The one image displayed on the magazine is a warped picture of Big Ben surrounded by the stars of Europe. Big Ben is attached the houses of parliament, and by warping the Big Ben to look unstable, it foreshadows that our politicians are warping the U.K to become unstable. Furthermore, Big Ben is surrounded by the stars of Europe This could represent that the U.K’s politicians are surrounded by the idea of Brexit and aren’t focusing on other important issues within our economy, such as crime, homelessness etc.The tag line under the masthead says ‘A HAND UP NOT A HAND OUT.’ As The Big Issue is a non-profit foundation for homeless people, they’re stating this isn’t a handout for them, but rather a helping hand up to a more successful life, which supports their mission statement on the website The layout of the magazine is all dependant on the flow chart covering the majority of the magazine. This flow chart is used to copy/mock flow charts created by news articles, such as BBC.

The size font used in the anchorage text varies throughout the timeline. At the start of the timeline the text is small, but includes the words ‘DON’T PANIC!’. in all caps. The small font could be used to represent the parliament trying to calm down people, however the capitals show that the issue is important and the government are trying to sugar coat it. The next time-line displays ‘A DEAL’ in a size that instantly pops to the reader. This is used to grab people’s attention when walking past. The colour of the magazine is a clash between the European flag (Blue & Yellow) and the U.K flag (Blue, Red & White). This intertextuality represents the divide between the country, one side being for Brexit, and one being against. The Plug is a description of The Big Issue, implemented in into the timeline of Brexit. This might have been implemented  to in to the timeline as the timeline for The Big Issue is a simple 3 step sequence. Whereas Brexit’s timeline is full of twists and turns. The Big Issue may have done this to show that Brexit has no structure to it, whereas The Big Issue does.