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Representations of party gate




The Daily Mirror are a typical red top tabloid, representing strong left leading ideologies and making it clear that they are a newspaper ‘for the people.’ The main image, which dominates the page, shows Boris Johnson raising a glass with the anchorage ‘‘raising a glass Mr Johnson at party, left, intensive care.’’  Johnson is holding his glass above a smaller image, in a circle to the slight left of the page, of the intensive care unit of a hospital where there are multiple nurses working to save a presumably dying patient. This juxtaposition of Johnson raising a glass in celebration compared to the struggling workers in the hospital and patient fighting for their life. The image of the intensive care unit is positioned right in front of Johnson, slightly below Boris Johnson’s raised arm holding the glass; this is almost ironic as he isn’t raising a glass to commemorate the workers, even though it looks like he is (or implying he should be) due to the layout of the images in combination, but in fact is to celebrate at a party which was going on during covid. This represents Boris Johnson as insensitive and mocks him in a way that suggests he is completely out of touch with reality. The headline reads: Just drinks after a difficult day? Plenty people were having difficult days, Boris. The rhetorical question reinforces the disbelief at Johnsons actions; the adverb ‘just’ mimics Johnson’s attitude towards his behaviour, as if it is just a small issue that can be justified. The adjective difficult is highlighted in yellow to stand out on the page and to emphasise the difference in Johnson’s ‘difficult’ compared to the rest of the worlds difficult during lockdown. Boris is referred to by his first name in the headline, this feels personal and attacks him for being unapologetically him. This also reinforces the idea that he has lost any right to respect from the people and represents him as foolish and a joke, someone who is not meant to be taken seriously, and most definitely run the country. Johnson is represented as a liar, evident by the text on the bottom of the page which states ‘‘With yet more nonsense, rattled ex-PM insults those who sacrificed so much’’ The noun ‘nonsense’ sounds slightly informal, it also creates a tone of anger. Boris is represented as a reoccurring offender as it is described as ‘more nonsense’ suggesting it is a continuous and ongoing issue in which the people are becoming fed up with his excuses, further representing him as untrustworthy and unsuitable for his role as PM. A binary opposition is created of them vs us meaning the government and elite people, who can go out and party, against the working class, fighting for their lives in hospital. This is reinforced b the main image and the text that talks about ‘those who sacrificed so much’ as we know Johnson has made no sacrifices for the people. Overall, this Daily Mirror front cover, not unlike other Mirror covers, represents Boris Johnson as inhumane and out of touch with reality, someone who can't be trusted or respected.

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