Representation of homlessness in the big issue.

The Big Issue is a charity based independent magazine sold every week on the streets of 12 different countries in 4 different continents, originating from London, England. This magazine leans towards the left wing media as it shows fair representation of homeless, underclass and immigrants and they are working to help those groups of people. The people who sell The Big Issue are homeless or on the verge of homelessness. The Big Issue started to help the homeless an opportunity to reintegrate them into society, work, and earn money for themselves. The stereotype of underclass people in the mainstream media is that they are taking advantage of the system, uneducated, and they are not worthy of anything, they are often referred to as scroungers, the homeless are seen as lazy, dirty, alcoholics who just want money for more drugs/drinks, and the unemployed are seen as taking advantage of the welfare system (through the benefits keyhole (The Sun) figure a) right wing newspapers such as The Sun and The Daily Mail are very unfair towards the underclass and immigrants which could change the perception of people reading those newspapers (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4816016/Furious-residents-hit-homeless-shanty-town-pops-up.html) (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4967690/Million-illegal-immigrants-not-removed-UK.html). The Big Issue fights these stereotypes by having a counter stereotype, showing that they are willing to better themselves. The Big Issues tagline is “a hand up, not a hand out”, this shows that The Big Issue is not going to be working with those that do not put their effort in to make their lives better.

The cover of issue 1273 of The Big Issue is labelled Bob - Big in japan (figure b) The tagline for the magazine is "a hand up not a hand out" this means The Big Issue wants to help the homeless but wants them to do it for themselves. Bob, the cat has a formal, direct mode of address towards the audience. Bob has been photoshopped into the middle of a street in japan, he is bigger or as big as the buildings around him which links to the movie "Godzilla" which was set in Japan.. The mise en scene, is filled with very saturated colours like magenta and blue. It is also filled with references to Japanese pop culture (anime and Godzilla). The headline font is sans-serif showing that it is modern except from the word “exclusive” which is a white serif font in a baby blue box. The headline font is stylized in two different colours, pink and white, with the word “BOB” in white and the biggest. This brings your eyes to the centre of the cover, this also makes the reader know that bob is the name of the cat.

The cat on this cover is the pet of recovered addict, once big issue vendor James Bowen, who is now an author of three bestselling books, A Street Cat Named Bob (turned movie), The World According to Bob and A Gift from Bob. Bowen lived on the streets for years, eventually falling into drug use (heroin), eventually in 2007 going into methadone treatment where he lived in a supported housing programme. The turning point for Bowen was Bob. When Bob came into Bowens life he had to care for something/someone other than himself “I believe it came down to this little man. He came and asked me for help, and he needed me more than I needed to abuse my own body. He is what I wake up for every day now... he’s definitely given me the right direction to live my life." He cared for Bob taking him to the blue cross clinic to get antibiotics to treat an infection, eventually Bob was healthy and Bowen released him back to the streets, but Bob was persistent following Bowen until he took him in. Bob is a big part of why Bowen has the life he has now as he drew attention towards the vendor, getting more customers and creating empathy which encouraged people to share his story and encourage others to go to him.

The Big Issue shines a hopeful light on the homeless and struggling, helping them to get back on their feet and offering support to those who need it. Other charities such as Shelter use empathy to make people feel bad that they haven’t donated and to coerce them into donating (figure c), charities that use empathy usually use children/families. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34346908  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-children-homeless-christmas-120000-shelter-poverty-temporary-accommodation-a7395171.html) Though in my opinion they should show all sides of homelessness, men, women, families, and young people, I think this because I don’t think charities should only focus on one specific group of homelessness while ignoring the others, because some groups don’t get the media representation that others do, so they’re having to work extra hard themselves just to get that recognition that is given to other groups.