How does the big issue use intertextuality in this cover

  

The Big Issue magazine makes itself seen as niche and providing a critical view outside mainstream journalism. Intertextuality refers to the process of creating references to any kind of media text through another text. There is some intertextuality used within this cover, for example: Putin on the eagle, there is a famous image of Putin on a bear shirtless and the big issue has used this and put him on a eagle.

A reason why the big issue has used a intertextual approach is because, it is reporting outside mainstream journalism and is referencing what is happening in the world right now. As you can see it is referencing to Trump being elected as president, you can tell by this due to the person running from the White House showing that they do not want Trump to be president. Another reference is that Trumps head is quite big, which shows the amount of power that he has over the entire world, since cultured people should know that America is ranked number 1 in terms of military strength over the entire world. The lightning could also refer to the chaos that Trump might cause since lightning is typically related to chaos and destruction hence giving a strong reference to Trump becoming violent and destructive, especially with the entire world on his hands. The big issue also uses Vladimir Putin on the front cover on a eagle, the eagle represents America and its freedom but Putin could also represent the alliance between America and Russia since Trump and Putin always had a alliance between each other. It could also refer to Putin looking over America. The Big issue has used this so that they can have people recognise the intertextuality used with Trump being president and such. They also make it so that people can easily interpret what is usually happening. 

A further reason why intertextuality has been used by The Big Issue magazine is to address and appeal to their target audience. The magazine’s audience is ABC1. This show that their target audience are likely to be educated and have a sophisticated audience who will understand the intertextual reference to Trump big head referencing his power, Putin on the eagle (and him being shirtless), the man running away from the White House. They are using these as people are quite cultured and show get the intertextual references, and satirical representations of current affairs and international politics. They also use it so that people can enjoy recognising them.

One final reason why they use this intertextuality is because that they want to seem more humorous since they are a magazine. They also want their their designated target audience to get these references and find it humorous since typically you would not add Trump with a big head or Putin on a eagle. They want to use this pop culture so that we can find out what news there are but also in a humorous way and not in a serious way since The Big Issue is continuing the history of satirical cartoons that combine political images with popular culture which helps us to see what is happening in the world and help us question some of the motives of these politicians

Therefore there are a number of reasons why The Big Issue magazine has used an intertextual approach, since they are using it to help appeal to the audience and make the identity of the magazine seem as intelligent, witty and both politically and culturally relevant is expressed through this approach and helps the magazine appeal to its educated and intelligent audience, whilst taking a satirical approach to the politicians seen in this front cover.