The Windrush

How does this edition of The Big Issue demonstrate the magazine’s ideologies and viewpoints through Media Language?

The Big Issue focuses on the problem of homelessness, specifically in London, and what can be done to transform the lives of those who are affected by it. The Big Issue aims to eliminate poverty by offering opportunity through business solutions. The focal point of this edition of The Big Issue is the Windrush and the different forms of diversity this created.

 The use of the image on the cover of the edition shows the positive side of the Windrush arrival. The use of the bright, vibrant colours of the immigrant’s outfits, suggests a positive as the brightness brings around connotations of joy and happiness. The different colours used shows the diversity of the people from the Caribbean and how they are widely accepted in Britain. Despite this, we see that from the top left of the image down to the bottom right, the expression of the people takes a dramatic turn. In the top right, we see the people with bright smiles and joyous expressions. As the reader's eyes follow the cover from the top left to the bottom right, we see the expressions change from joyous to worrisome. The change in expression shows how the immigrants’ initial thoughts of Britain were joyous and positive and once they arrived at Britain the realisation of the actuality of Britain was a negative and concerning one. The use of the image demonstrates the magazine’s idea of trying to better peoples lives by having to show recognition toward the problem and having people release what the problem was and what could’ve been done to change attitudes.

The use of The Big Issue masthead is not uncommon but, in this edition, it holds a lot of significance. On most editions of The Big Issue, the masthead usually links with the anchorage text, colour wise, to tie the whole cover together. Often the masthead on the cover doesn’t include its mantra of ‘A hand up not a hand out’. This cover is significant because not only does the masthead not match the anchorage text but the mantra is also included. Whereas the anchorage text on the cover is yellow blue and red, tying together with the sense of the Caribbean and joy like on the image, the masthead is in complete black and white. This draws attention to the seriousness of this particular issue because the black colour takes away the positivity of all the other vibrant, exotic colours of the anchorage text and replaces it with a more serious tone. The use of the manta on the cover, despite being slightly covered by the people, highlights the main viewpoint of The Big Issue which is to eliminate poverty by helping people improve their lives. With the mantra being included on this ‘special edition’, it highlights the true importance of it. The covering of it by the people is also significant however as it shows that although the mantra is highly significant, the main focus of the cover being The Windrush, is more significant for this issue.

To conclude, I feel as though the combination of media language is used effectively to get the magazines ideologies and viewpoints across. By using such a large topic for the edition, it allows the magazine to subtly, yet skilfully, intertwine their viewpoints yet keep the main focus of The Windrush. The subtlety manages to get these views permanently stuck in readers heads as there are constant reminders due to the different uses of media language.