HW - 15 Marker

Analyse why The Big Issue has used an intertexual approach on its front cover

 

The Big Issue is a street newspaper, made to distribute knowledge on public issues. The magazine is highly unusual as its content is often user generated, seen in the front cover which appears to have been hand drawn by a child. The ‘Education Special’ front cover relies heavily upon the use of intertexuality embedded in the images and text, to generate meanings about the British Education System. The three significant intertexual references on the cover are the use of text, which mirrors that of Grange Hill, a British drama series. The images of three leading characters from JK Rowling’s novel series Harry Potter, also a film series. Lastly, the iconic hammers from The Wall by a British band Pink Floyd, later developed into a film. 

 

The first image that audiences may be drawn to are the widely popular fictional characters Harry Potter, Ron Weasly and Hermione Granger, centre of JK Rowling’s novels. The Big Issue has used Harry Potter’s signature round glasses, the long robes of Hogwarts and the magic wand Ron’s holding, featured in the film, to help audiences connect through recognition. The plot focuses on the lives of these three friends who are students at Hogwarts magic school, where they are given the freedom to use their superpowers. Rowling creates an optimistic education system that caters to its student’s needs, offering a sharp contrast to the British education system in which students are passive. Perhaps the purpose of this intertextual reference is to compel audiences to compare, and question the true purpose of education. The Big Issue gives hints as to how education should be the way Rowling portrays it in her novels; encouraging independence. The creative freedom offered by Hogwarts perhaps results in the characters satisfied facial expressions, and Harry’s arm around his friends connoting how they’ve developed to work in unity, rather than compete, encouraged by British education.

 

The second intertextual reference created by The Big Issue is the presence of the iconic marching hammers along the bottom of the cover from Pink Floyd’s The Wall, originally a music album that later developed into a BBC drama , depicting the lives of students in an oppressive educational institution. Hammers are tools used to build and destroy materials, reflecting the nature of The Walls education system that developed its students into unquestioning obedience, resulting in their creative thinking and independence slowly destructing. It is interesting that the colours of the hammers are black, white and red, the same as the Nazi flag, creating a powerful imagery of education as a dictatorship that silences voices and freewill. The fact that the hammers are the logo of The Wall, connotes how its education system is a symbol of tyranny. The hammers act as a barrier to the characters behind, who are a representation of education but in reality are trapped in it. The use of intertextuality hints at the dominating nature The British Education system which seems to erase creative freedom of children.

 

The final piece of intertextual reference is in the masthead which embodies the font style of drama series ‘Grange Hill’. The show is popular for its unusual plots, where students are victims of issues like racism , drugs , teenage pregnancies. Similar crises are affecting young adults in the UK, hinting at how our education system is failing to cater to students emotional needs, as it is too focused on academic success. The following cover line ‘What’s school for’ summarises the purpose of this issue, to question and reconstruct the real aim of education and whether Britain is fulfilling that. The cover line at the bottom of the page ‘Does Finland have the answer?’ seems to be a clear message that the British Education system needs changes, because it tells us to take inspiration from Finland, where children don’t begin school until age seven and are not constantly made to take assessments e.g. SAT’s, GCSE’s , A levels, as is the norm in Britain.

It can be argued that the intertextual references used by The Big Issues serve as the possible purposes of education, for example, should the aim of it be like Rowling portrays it, offering complete independence. The intertextual references almost act as different scenarios which motivate audiences to think about the purpose of education. The image of all the characters together give the powerful message of any change being possible through group action, especially by the youth, who need to perhaps question the system they exist in, while receiving support from society.