This document provides a textual analysis of The Guardian Weekly magazine and Time magazine. For The Guardian Weekly, it analyzes layout, photography, typography, and intertextual references on the covers. It finds the magazine uses intertextuality and progressive language to convey left-leaning viewpoints. For Time magazine, it examines Greta Thunberg's Person of the Year cover and finds symbolic representations of her message and activism through her expression, clothing, and gaze. It also analyzes ads and articles in Time that reveal liberal social values and a focus on underrepresented groups.

1. Textual Analysis #2
Looking at ‘why’ and intertextuality

2. The Guardian Weekly
• An international English-language news magazine
• Edited by Will Dean
• ‘Quality, independent journalism including opinion, insight, culture and more -
all curated to bring you a progressive and trustworthy look at a week”
• The two things they particularly pride themselves on is their progressive,
independent outlook
• Different sections of the magazine include the global report- reflecting on the
world’s week. Spotlight offers an in-depth look at key issues that often go
overlooked. Features are long reads, interviews, essays and profiles. Culture-
latest news, reviews and in-depth interviews from music, art, literature and
more. Opinions are expert views on some of the most challenging issues
today
• One editor of the magazine left in 2012 and became leader of the Green party

3. Cases of Intertextuality
The cover line ‘rue britannia!’ is an
intertextual reference to the British
patriotic song from the 1700s. Written
at a time of slavery and colonisation,
these two features are both
celebrated within the song, hence its
controversy. Through subverting the
title from ‘Rule’ to ‘Rue’, perhaps The
Guardian are predicting a downfall for
Britain or communicating their liberal
values through their anti-colonisation
stance
A pun on the historical phrase ‘The
roaring 20s’ which was a time of
booming and prosperity. This phrase
is cynically subverted, however, with
a point-of-view shot of the Australian
bush fires. They quite realistically
pose the question ‘what does success
look like?’ and ‘are we really
booming?’- the prioritisation of the
environment over the economy shows
their left stance
Intertextuality to the British spy
thriller ‘The Killing of Eve’- this
British show is used to cover
international affairs, demonstrating
globalisation. The iconography of
the lines at the centre is a further
intertextual ref. to guns in spy films.
Links to Trump’s intentional
assassination, perhaps villainising
him

4. Intertextuality pt2
• Their intertextual references are less quite high brow, and references are rarely
done to films like they did for ‘The Killing of Eve’
• Other references are usually quite academic/intellectual e.g. the ‘rule britannia’
song and a reference to The Roaring 20s’- both references happen to be quite
political but also historical, which could be a source of inspiration for me
• Why is intertextuality used? From the front covers in the previous slide, it seems as
though intertextuality is used to create a sense of irreverent humour. Saying this,
their uses are quite nuanced because although they us intertextuality to create
humour, there’s also an underlying subtext of leftist cynicism about the direction of
our world - even the ‘The Killing of Eve’ compares presidential behaviour to the
repeated killings of assassinations - an interesting comparison
• A sense of shared experience and viewpoints/ideologies are also created through
references

5. Case Study for The
Guardian Weekly

6. Layout
The magazine is bordered by a thin
white line which gives the magazine a
neat appearance
There is a high image to text ratio which
seems to be a convention of current
affair magazines and the text is
concentrated at the top of the magazine
so that nothing obstructs the reader’s
view of the woman, highlights her
importance
The woman is centred in the middle of
the page- connotes a woman’s
importance and place in protest- quite a
feminist representation
Photography
Shallow background places sharp focus
on the woman protesting at the front-
the background seems to be dominated
by men suggesting a patriarchy, thus
highlighting her power in joining a
revolution
Indirect mode of address- her eyes
seem to be engaged with something in
the distance- suggesting that although
she is bold, there’s a sense of struggle
she’s experiencing- this is anchored with
her red eyes, perhaps from crying? The
combination of these elements
provokes empathy from a leftist, western
audience who often aren't in positions
where their lives depend on their protest
Her hand gesture seems to signify a
movement although this is ambiguous,
thus providing an enigma code-
encouraging readers to read on
Focus on international protests-
Typography
A serif font is used to connote
sophistication, authority and an
established brand
‘The decade of PROTEST’- ‘protest’ is
written in a larger, eye-catching font
thus allowing the magazine to have an
alarming, urgent effect which the yellow
colour contributes to
The definite article ‘The’, instead of ‘A’
suggesting that this decade has
particular significance and power
By producers having ‘PROTEST’ in
such a bold font, there seems to be a
sense of celebration of democracy, if not
anarchy- this reveals their viewpoints
and ideology while subtly positioning the
audience to accept the revolution
Mise-en-scene
The scarf is a Palestinian Keffiyeh which
has become a symbol of Palestinian
nationalism, therefore this is worn as a
sign of resistance under Israeli
oppression
The bright neon lights have become a
blur due to the shallow background
although it suggests a city location
The woman’s facial expression is one of
despair but it’s largely concealed-
through hiding her emotions is there a
representation of hidden struggles, she
has to continue to fight- very empowering
representation of women
Intertextuality
The code of clothing, specifically the Palestinian
Keffiyeh provides an intertextual reference to a
history of Palestinian oppression but also solidarity

7. Contents page
Their leftist viewpoint is further revealed
by the topic focus in the contents page-
for example Maya Goodfellow’s opinion
piece refers to decolonising the curriculum
and facing Britain’s racist ‘past’- a very
controversial topic amongst the right and
centrists alike
‘Trump and the end of the anti-democracy
decade’- acknowledging Levi Strauss
theory, a binary opposition of Trump:
democracy (this connoting his
authoritarian attitude perhaps) is invoked,
revealing their anti-republican ideology as
they pride themselves on their liberal
opinions
There is a very high text to image ratio,
with solely a graphic and no images. This
reflects the high standard of education for
the audience- an audience which wants to
be informed rather than entertained- I will
have a higher proportion of images,
however, as I’m serving a young
demographic
Their coverage of femicide and a sexual
assault pandemic in India reveals their
feminist tone, but also an intersectional
approach as they acknowledge the
international struggles of women- relates
to their global perspective
The contents layout is done so that on the
LHS they go into detail on their main
stories, and then provide a tail but on the
left hand side the contents of the
magazine is properly organised and less
detailed
“Guturral reaction to…years of political
and social oppression”
“The return blows of the establishment
passed the revolution”- the language used
is very emotive, with populist words such
as the ‘establishment’- this phrase
distances The Guardian from a place of
privilege and power, though it’s ironically
written for the liberal w/ relative power

8. Aesthetic/coverage
These two pages contain extremely emotive imagery and language which positions the audience in a anti-
authoritarian or anti-patriarchal seat- see image Hong Kong protest or the words ‘blood splattering her tiny
legs’- there are also code of objects further relating to protest e.g. the V for vendetta mask, a historical
code to Guy Fawkes which has been adopted by people protesting against politicians and banks. In
regards to the blindfolds, there has been a wave of women protesting against sexual harassment with
blindfolds e.g. in Chile

9. Textual Analysis for
Time Magazine

10. No intertextuality?
• Unusually, there is little to no use
of intertextuality on the front covers
of TIME - or at least, it’s
unrecognisable
• However, some covers do
intertextually reference other
covers e.g. when TIME tries to
depict heroic figures, they
commonly have the cover star tilt
their head and look upwards e.g.
Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren,
Greta Thunberg and Stormzy
• They also have their iconic red
border which can be seen as
referencing other covers to create
a ‘body of works’

11. TIME magazine - Analysis
It’s interesting to take into account
Greta’s very basic, monotonous
clothing- perhaps it reflects her
resentment for the fashion industry
which has contributed greatly to global
warming
Through her clothing, an anti-materialist
and anti-consumerist ideology is invoked-
instead, it’s as if she is more focused on
nature and the world around her
Greta’s code of expression has polysemic readings.
Perhaps as an environmentalist she’s looking to ‘mother
nature’ for a solution. This indirect mode of address also
suggests that although her activism is powerful- the
problem is bigger than her and so is the solution
The position of the word ‘TIME’ has
slight connotations of a crown
‘Person of the year’ - the banner title
reflects their yearly issue where they
champion individuals- this can be
interpreted as an intertextual reference
to other ‘person of the year’ editions- the
grandness of the next + capitalisation
suggests that this is a prestige award
Her code of gesture, the head tilt in
particular is very common in TIME
magazine in the way they represent
individuals making change- Greta is
represented as a simple hero
Mise-en-scene- the representation of
water is interesting because water is
known for it’s fluidity- it can create
destruction but also be blissful- may
this is symbolic of the power of youth
In the magazine cover the waves are
represented as powerful, even
splashing into the foreground of the
cover yet Greta is seen to be
unshaken- youth are not shaken by
problems
She is fully-clothed, there is no
objectification. Though this could be
because she is so young, when we take
into consideration how young women
dress more provocatively, this is
unique- there’s the subversion of Laura
Mulvey’s male gaze theory
Perhaps Thunberg is gazing upwards due
to her adoration with the beauty of
nature- nature, for example through the
sunset in the background is represented
as serene but TIME don’t forget to remind
the audience of the danger nature brings-
warning against climate change
The older demographic are
positioned to admire young people

12. Adverts
The adverts in TIME magazine consistently use a pro-environment
ideology, perhaps due to the focus on climate change within the edition, as
the person of the year is Greta Thunberg- BOTH adverts happen to focus
on charities. There was another advert for HSBC bank which does reveal a
pro-consumer viewpoint- there seems to be a contradiction in the values
and needs of their older demographic vs the values of a younger anti-
capitalist generation

13. Articles in TIME magazine
Focusing on the gender pay gap
between men’s and women’s football -
reveals quite a liberal viewpoint. Their
focus on Megan Rapinoe, a gay football
star challenges heteronormativity and
reveals their liberal ideology
For sportsperson of the year, they
could've chosen out of many men
Entertainer of the year, they have
chosen Lizzo, a plus-size black woman-
challenges a lot of modern day
stereotypes on what is beauty and
through championing a bold woman like
Lizzo, they are positioning the audience
to view all women as powerful
Images of various protests around the
world for climate change- audience is
positioned to view young people as
vocal change makers
TIME are representing women who are
underrepresented in music