VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Ghost wall, violence depends upon…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Set against a modern‑day reenactment of Iron‑Age Britain, Sarah Moss’s 2018 novella Ghost Wall explores how…
Set against a modern‑day reenactment of Iron‑Age Britain, Sarah Moss’s 2018 novella Ghost Wall explores how patriarchal nostalgia and imagined authenticity warp ordinary people, revealing the dangerous ways fear and curiosity shape identity, power, and violence in contemporary society. Violence in Ghost Wall is heavily dependent on silence as a stimulant; there is a certain inevitability that arises as the consequence of generations upon generations of violence. While response or a lack thereof clearly serves as a catalyst to repeated domestic abuse, large‑scale demonstrative behaviour exists outside this framework.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Sunset Boulevard Template essay
VCE Text Response essay scoring 95%: Exposing [1a · the topic's key term as the thing the film reveals] beneath the naïve 'wicked dream' of stardom that…
Exposing [1a · the topic's key term as the thing the film reveals] beneath the naïve 'wicked dream' of stardom that has 'seized' the hearts of everyone who arrives on it, Billy Wilder's quintessentially American Sunset Boulevard (1950) [1b · Contention: verb + Wilder's claim, in the topic's exact words.] Compounded by the overlay of a gothic lens upon noir's fatalism, this posthumously narrated mystery performs as both a meditation on the brutality of the studio system and a sardonic, yet subtly sympathetic, depiction of the people it manufactured and discarded — [2 · Complication: the part of the topic you will not concede, as a clause.] Through his blend of fiction and meta-cinema — real Hollywood figures cast as versions of themselves, Gloria Swanson screening her own abandoned Queen Kelly projected by the director she fired from it — Wilder's opus emerges as a vivisection of [key term] not as anyone's private failing but as the ordinary arithmetic of a business doing what it was built to do.
Why this shape scores (from the annotation). Embedded quotation in the first clause shows textual familiarity before the film is named, and no character is named until the body — the opening is about the film's claim, not its plot. Quintessentially American sets context without a context-paragraph. The topic's words appear in sentence one and again in sentence three. Gothic lens and noir mystery are generic descriptors that do the work of a paragraph. Sardonic, yet subtly sympathetic is the equivocation — the contention has two sides before the body starts. Metalanguage (posthumously narrated, meta-cinema) is embedded, not listed.
Body one — Cause
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent is Oedipus the architect of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: In Oedipus the King, the interplay between human agency and divine will creates an environment where destruction…
In Oedipus the King, the interplay between human agency and divine will creates an environment where destruction becomes inevitable. The play is not merely a tragedy of fate, but a profound examination of the limitations of human knowledge and the dangerous arrogance of those who believe they can transcend them. While the outcome is ostensibly sealed by divine decree, it is the relentless, hubristic pursuit of the truth that cements the architect’s role in their own unravelling. Through an examination of how futile resistance against prophecy generates disaster, how the erosion of rational governance under the weight of paranoia destabilises society, and how the obsession with insight necessitates a visceral cost, the play illustrates that ruin is not a divine accident, but an inevitable consequence of character. Ultimately, the work serves as a didactic warning to the Athenian audience, suggesting that the health of the polis depends not on the individual brilliance of a leader, but on their capacity to embrace the humility of the human condition.
The attempt to exert human agency over divine decree often serves to validate, rather than subvert, the inevitability of the cosmic order. By centring the narrative on the oracle’s instruction that "the murderer of Laius... must be found," Sophocles illustrates the inescapable gravity of fate. In the protagonist's attempt to evade predestined patricide at the crossroads, their physical actions become the very mechanism that validates the prophecy, framing defiance as a violation of cosmic order rather than an act of liberation. The tension escalates during the confrontation with Tiresias; in a desperate bid to protect their own agency, the King rejects the seer’s divine insight. Tiresias responds with a crushing indictment of hubris: "You’ve lost your power, stone-blind, stone-deaf sense, eyes blind as stone." By dismissing this truth, the monarch does not merely display stubbornness; they actively sever the bridge between the mortal world and divine reality. In doing so, Sophocles cautions the Athenian audience that human arrogance, when confronted with the will of the gods, leads only to self-imposed isolation and destruction.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Born a Crime, Noah presents complexity…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Comedian Trevor Noah's extended memoir "Born a Crime" offers a deep exploration into families and how they operate.…
Comedian Trevor Noah's extended memoir "Born a Crime" offers a deep exploration into families and how they operate. Through his prose, Noah views that complexity is present in family life, he argues that complexity can but optional arise as a result of having exterior motives, and that it doesn't always need to affect families. Beginning by arguing that complexity is present in all families then moving onto how that same complexity could be erased if there were no external motives before ending by arguing that complexity doesn't always have to affect families.
Noah begins by arguing that complexity is ubiquitous in all families. South Africa Under apartheid almost all black families had restrictions put upon them. the values represented by restrictions and mentality of having restrictions was then inherited by South Africans despite not living under apartheid anymore, leading to complexities in family life. This can be seen through Patricia and Abels relationship. Abel inheriting Tsonga required patriarchal respect and Patricias attitude towards injustice mean that they were constantly getting into arguments, leading to beatings and a complex life. Noah uses their relationship to argue how everyone has different fundamental values, leading to differences and complexities in family life. Noah contrasts this through Patricia and Roberts relationships, who, despite being symbolised as "Fire and Ice" had a harmonious marriage. Furthermore Noah uses his own birth, mentioning "[He] was born a crime" and how that decision was a result of his mother. Noah uses his birth to demonstrate how, despite differences in personality, individuals can co-exist and still face complexity through his birth. Noah proceeds to
highlight that complexities can occur as a result of families. This can be seen through Noah and Patricia's relationship and the motifs of her "raising [Noah] like a white kid". Under apartheid, the very act of raising an educated child was seen as defiance and allowed Noah to think outside the box and recognise fallacies, leading to him ending up in situations like prision. Noah frames his education this way to highlight how even having good intentions for your child can contribute to complexity meaning demonstrating how an inability to conform can lead to complexity.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In the society of the town, honour is a…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: The actions taken by an individual are heavily influenced by honour, the moral code which a community of people…
The actions taken by an individual are heavily influenced by honour, the moral code which a community of people live by. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novella, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, set within a 1960s Columbian village, explores honour not as a noble moral code, but as a social illness that determines sacrifice. Through the repressive upbringing of Angela Vicario and her kept virginity, the theatrical performance of the Vicario brothers, and the paralysing inertia of the townspeople, Marquez suggests honour is a corrosive ideology that sustains itself through control and public performance, destroying both individual lives and the moral integrity of the society that upholds it.
By framing female honour as an inescapable mechanism of entrapment, Márquez illustrates how the sanctity of virginity functions as a commodity, reducing women to mere instruments of family reputation. The control of female honour is sustained through systematic cruelty, exemplified through Pura Vicario, the mother of Angela Vicario, where Pura “watches over” her daughters with a vigilance that resembles custody rather than care. Marquez reinforces this subjugation through the observation of the Vicario sisters, who had been “reared to get married,” suggesting their life is a process of commodification. Through the zoomorphic metaphor, Marquez implies that the importance of women within this town is similar to the use of livestock. By objectifying women within the novella, Marquez portrays the town as a site of domestication designed to strip women of agency, preparing them for a life of "suffering" in service to men. The destructive reality of this code is exposed through the moral logic following Angela’s return to her Vicario estate; Pura’s statement of that she “beat [Angela] for two hours” straight, reveals that this violence is not an emotional outburst, but a performance devoted to the to the town’s rigid rules. In this culture, a woman’s virginity determines her family’s social worth, meaning Pura’s instinct is to physically "correct" the shame rather than offer compassion. Ultimately, by presenting domestic cruelty as a socially accepted necessity, Márquez indicts a patriarchal system that prioritises the hollow performance of honour over human life, leaving individuals trapped in a cycle of irreparable psychological and physical harm.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: BORN A CRIME is a story of finding the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Trevor Noah's recollection of trials and tribulations in apartheid and post apartheid South Africa is…
Trevor Noah's recollection of trials and tribulations in apartheid and post apartheid South Africa is encapsulated in his memoir Born A Crime. Noah explores the effectiveness of different tools in surmounting adversities faced in the arbitrary and discriminatory rule of South Africa. While acknowledging the difficulties of overcoming adversity, poverty and violence, Noah champions the use of language, humour and education while condemning the restrictions actively implemented by the South African government. Ultimately, Noah conveys the idea that while resourcefulness and discovery of survival mechanisms assist in mitigating the impacts of adversity, you can only get so far with the systems working against you.
Noah celebrates the resourceful nature of South Africans in the face of adversity. Despite facing a wide range of misfortune and hardship, Patricia and Trevor employ humour and language. Noah celebrates humour as a coping mechanism to overcome misfortunes in the face of adversity. Despite getting thrown out of a speeding minibus', Noah depicts how '[they] stood there, a little boy and his mom, [their] arms and legs covered in blood and dirt, laughing together through the pain'. Noah reveals humour as a tool that Patricia and Noah especially employ to overcome traumatic and seemingly destructive events. This concept is bookended, with the response to Patricia being in hospital following the shooting, by Noah and Patricia is 'crack[ing] each other up'. Mirroring the sentiments at the beginning of the memoir, they 'laugh[ed] together through the pain'. Through the bookending of using humour to overcome distress, Noah celebrates humour's continuous contribution as a tool to access admist many adversities. Furthermore, Noah lauds Patricia's strategic and empowering decision to both learn, and teach Trevor multiple languages. He champions both of their manipulation of their own linguistic capabilities to adapt to and often conquer challenges. Noah self description of a 'chameleon', where he 'couldn't change [his] colour but [he] could change [the] perception of [his] colour', saw language become his weapon. It saw him use his polyglot status to avoid theft, communicate in jails, and to simply create his own safe haven in a world that denied him belonging. Overall, in times of tribulation's both Noah and Patricia's application and manipulation of humour and language saw them tackle hardship.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “If it’s all you can do / to keep on…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: In her collections “American Primitive” and “Dream Work”, Mary Oliver explores the intriguing relationship between…
In her collections “American Primitive” and “Dream Work”, Mary Oliver explores the intriguing relationship between understanding and hardship through both the natural and human realms. Though she depicts struggles and setbacks as a key ingredient in comprehension, she presents nature as a constant source of relief from human struggles precisely by providing understanding. As such, Oliver contends that, while setbacks can play a role in enabling revelations, it is through self-acceptance and humble participation in nature that one is able to begin understanding the world around them.
Throughout her poetry, Oliver often presents challenges and hardships as a central element to producing understanding. In “The Turtle”, the poem follows the arduous journey of a female turtle “across the shallows and through the rushes and over the mudflats” to lay her eggs, the polysyndeton highlighting the repetitive and challenging nature of the turtle’s journey. The speaker notes curiously that the turtle’s struggles are all to fulfil “an old blind wish…[that] isn’t even hers”, the choice of “old” and “blind” accentuating the mystery of this primal desire as beyond comprehension, and which outdates any individual turtle’s existence. However, Oliver notes that it is precisely this “patience…fortitude…[and] determination” which arrives as a result of the constant struggle that defines every creature’s place in nature, the “unbreakable string” by which all are connected. “Acid,” on the other hand, reveals a different kind of understanding through what society consciously overlooks. Set in a bustling marketplace, the speaker is immediately drawn to “a boy with a hideous mouth, begging,” instantly realising that “the wound was made for a way to stay alive”. Taking pity upon the boy, the speaker’s donation which “wouldn’t keep a dog alive” is reciprocated with “a look of cunning from the brown coin of [the boy’s] face”. The parallel of the boy’s face to a “brown coin” not only mirrors the dehumanising comparison to a dog, but highlights how human suffering has been commercialised. Yet, despite this interaction taking place among “vendors selling flowers and juice”, the apathy displayed by passerby illustrates the disturbing normalisation of exploitation. Thus, Oliver posits that hardships can often provide instinctive and moral forms of understanding, revealing both societal and existential truths.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: BORN A CRIME is a story of finding the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: BORN A CRIME is a story of finding the right tools for survival amidst adversity, poverty and violence. Discuss.…
BORN A CRIME is a story of finding the right tools for survival amidst adversity, poverty and violence.
Discuss.
Trevor Noah's recollection of trials and tribulations in apartheid and post apartheid South Africa is encapsulated in his memoir Born A Crime. Noah explores the effectiveness of different tools in surmounting adversities faced in the arbitrary and discriminatory rule of South Africa. While acknowledging the difficulties of overcoming adversity, poverty and violence, Noah champions the use of language, humour and education while condemning the restrictions actively implemented by the South African government. Ultimately, Noah conveys the idea that while resourcefulness and discovery of survival mechanisms assist in mitigating the impacts of adversity, you can only get so far with the systems working against you.
Noah celebrates the resourceful nature of South Africans in the face of adversity. Despite facing a wide range of misfortune and hardship, Patricia and Trevor employ humour and language. Noah celebrates humour as a coping mechanism to overcome misfortunes in the face of adversity. Despite 'getting thrown out of a speeding minibus', Noah depicts how '[they] stood there, a little boy and his mom, [their] arms and legs covered in blood and dirt, laughing together through the pain'. Noah reveals humour as a tool that Patricia and Noah especially employ to overcome traumatic and seemingly destructive events. This concept is bookended, with the response
to Patricia being in hospital following the shooting by Noah and Patricia is 'crack[ing] each other up'. Mirroring the sentiments at the beginning of the memoir, they 'laugh[ed] together through the pain'. Through the bookending of using humour to overcome distress, Noah celebrates humour's continuous contribution as a tool to access amidst many adversities. Furthermore, Noah lauds Patricia's strategic and empowering decision to both learn, and teach Trevor multiple languages. He champions both of their manipulation of their own linguistic capabilities to adapt and often conquer challenges. Noah self description of a 'chameleon', where he 'couldn't change [his] colour but [he] could change [the] perception of [his] colour', saw language become his weapon. This weapon saw him use his polyglot status to avoid theft, communicate in jails, and to simply create his own safe haven in a world that denied him belonging. Overall, in times of tribulation both Noah and Patricia's application and manipulation of humour and language saw them tackle hardship.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘And nobody knew for sure When freedom…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Within a society shaped by racial segregation, Langston Hughes ‘Selected Poems’ explores the way in which dreams…
Within a society shaped by racial segregation, Langston Hughes ‘Selected Poems’ explores the way in which dreams for freedom and liberty are ultimately unattainable in an oppressive society built upon white hegemony. Yet, the poet also demonstrates the strength and hope that comes from a collective endurance to overarching powers, suggesting that freedom can be actualised through the liberty that comes from communal resistance. Hughes laments how the oppressive mechanisms of America result in the founding ideals of freedom and peace being unachievable, and critiques how the erosion of individual and collective identity restricts African-American citizens’ abilities to endeavour to achieve the promises outlined in the nation’s Declaration. However, whilst the poet illustrates a despairing view of freedom and its inaccessibility within American society, he also concedes that elements of liberty can be found through communal resistance in an attempt to actualise these dreams for future generations.
Criticising the way in which oppressive societal mechanisms restrict the ability for marginalised citizens to obtain autonomy and peace, Hughes laments how discrimination systematically contaminates the environmental foundation of America, extending past individual acts to shape an entire society. In ‘Georgia Dusk’, the poet illustrates the “crimson trickle in the Georgia dusk” to convey the slow, continuous reality of the impacts of racially motivated violence on society. Through depicting the “trickle”, Hughes demonstrates the slow, gradual nature of the impact of oppressive systems on marginalised populations and the wider community, acting as a continuous “trickle” down ancestral ties to engulf and trap an entire society. Written amidst the despair of the Jim Crow South, Hughes subverts traditional pastoral narratives in depicting how a “blue bayou” becomes a “pool of fire” when African Americans are “put…on a rope” and “pull[ed] higher”. Through juxtaposing a “bayou”, typically symbolising peace and solace in its serenity, as a “pool of fire”, the poet laments how the racially motivated discrimination present in the lynchings acts as a catalyst for the corruption of the natural environment, ultimately deeming any sense of freedom and peace unattainable. However, whilst Hughes critiques the degradation of the natural environment as a result of systemic racism, he also shifts to a more social lens, still using nature as a vehicle for condemnation. In ‘Porter’, the poet depicts the “mountain / of yes, sirs”, utilising fragmentation and enjambment to illustrate the fragility and instability of African Americans’ obedience to authority. Through conveying the “mountain” of verbal compliance, Hughes emphasises how marginalised populations become increasingly trapped as a result of generational servitude and forced compliance. Foregrounding the realities of ‘Porter’ jobs for African Americans during the Great Depression, the poet conveys the inescapable nature of American systems. Ultimately, Hughes laments how both compliance and resistance exacerbate the entrapment of marginalised groups, positioning the idea of freedom merely as an unfulfilled hope held to maintain any sense of humanity and purpose.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Harvey suggests that time and borders are…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Samantha Harvey's 2023 literary fiction novel Orbital explores the themes of humanity, time and meaning whilst…
Samantha Harvey's 2023 literary fiction novel Orbital explores the themes of humanity, time and meaning whilst following the operations of a space station in low earth orbit. Harvey suggests that whilst time and borders are constructs created by humanity, they are ultimately given meaning by the inability of humans to accept meaningless.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Oedipus the King evoke the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: Additionally, Sophocles presents man as both unable to choose their path while liable to harsh punishment, drawing…
Additionally, Sophocles presents man as both unable to choose their path while liable to harsh punishment, drawing Thebes’ observers to pity and terrorising them with the implications. In the fulfilment of the oracles’ ‘future great with pain, terror [and] disaster’ in their divinely-ordained prophecies, Sophocles dismisses the notion of free will, emphasising the control the gods hold over man’s life. Sophocles uses dramatic irony - the audience’s understanding of the futility of Laius and Oedipus ‘running’ from their fate - to reinforce the powerlessness of the characters and encourage the audience to pity the characters’ terrible outcomes while also proposing they too lack meaningful control. In a deterministic world, Sophocles explores the notion of ambiguous responsibility, suggesting that man must face consequences for their actions even without choice. He posits the gods as enforcers of justice, with Apollo
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Sophocles use ‘Oedipus the King’…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Within his 429 B.C.E. play, ‘Oedipus the King’, Sophocles explores the tension between human capability and divine…
Within his 429 B.C.E. play, ‘Oedipus the King’, Sophocles explores the tension between human capability and divine omniscience, suggesting that while humanly virtues are important in the search for life’s meanings, there is an ultimate limit to such mortal understanding. Sophocles suggests that only the gods can truly understand the mysteries of human existence.
Within ‘Oedipus the King’, Sophocles explores the capabilities of human virtue, extolling mortal intellect, perseverance and compassion as the key drivers in an unrelenting search for meaning. From the play’s outset, Sophocles constructs the titular character of the play, Oedipus, as the admirable embodiment of mortal intellect, leadership and civic responsibility. The play’s Prologue opens with the suffering Theban people, represented by the play’s chorus, “huddling at [Oedipus’] altar”, begging for their king’s help with relieving them from the suffering of the plague’s “red waves of death” – the suffering of “that fiery god of fever.” The area outside “the royal house of Thebes” where they congregate, acts as the bridge between the Theban polis and oikos, a space where the people rely on Oedipus’ civic duty and depend on his mortal capability. Sophocles’ image of their crowding around his altar further portrays Oedipus with the power and worship of a proxy god, highlighting his people’s immense love and dedication towards him. Here, Oedipus reminds his people that he has in fact been “labouring over many paths of thought”, and has already “acted at once” – their cries “haven’t wakened him”, demonstrating his proactive nature as a leader. Further, his immediate pledge of devotion to solving the mystery of Laius’ murder to relieve his people from the plague suggests Sophocles’ championing of Oedipus’ compassion and care for his people. Oedipus’ intellect is illustrated through his having solved the riddle of “that harsh, brutal singer” purely from his own intelligence as he states: “with no help from the birds, the flight of my own intelligence hit the mark.” This only grants him further love and devotion from his people. Within ‘Oedipus the King’, the chorus acts as the vocalised embodiment of the intended thoughts and emotions of the Athenian audience. As such, here, Sophocles’ portrayal of the chorus’ admiration for Oedipus celebrates the capability of man in catalysing the search for the truth of the world.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Rather than viewing Oedipus as a victim,…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: In his play, ‘Oedipus the King’, Sophocles explores both the dangers of relentless truth seeking and its…
In his play, ‘Oedipus the King’, Sophocles explores both the dangers of relentless truth seeking and its importance in allowing one to attain true self-realisation. Sophocles suggests that although one can be celebrated for exemplifying moral values and attempting to shed light on the truth, such intentions are fallible in the face of their pre-ordained fate and often lead only to suffering. Although illustrating that persistent truth seeking leads to pain, Sophocles champions the attainment of knowledge as the only true way to truly understand oneself.
Within ‘Oedipus the King’, Sophocles explores the capabilities of human virtue, extolling Oedipus for his relentless perseverance and proactivity in seeking the truth. From the outset of the play, Sophocles constructs Oedipus as the admirable embodiment of compassion, leadership and proactivity, acting as both the now king and the once saviour of Thebes from “that harsh, brutal singer.” Within the prologue, the stage directions outlining Oedipus’ suppliants “bending at [his] altar” and begging him for his help with the plague’s “red waves of death”, imply his people’s faith and trust in Oedipus, portraying him as a proxy-god. Oedipus reminds his people that he has been “labouring over many paths of thought” and already “acted at once”, highlighting his proactive and caring nature – the people’s cries “haven’t wakened [him].” Further, Oedipus’ unrelenting need to “bring it all to light [himself]” illustrates his overriding empathy for “[his children]”, indicating that he acts as not just a leader, but also a paternal figure for the Theban people. In the eyes of both the Theban chorus and the Athenian audience, Oedipus acts as the paragon of distinguished human capability, named the “first of men” and praised for his immense intellect as “with no help from the birds, [his] own intelligence hit the mark.” Throughout the play, Sophocles constructs the Theban chorus as the voice representing the supposed thoughts of audiences. As such, their dedicated love and loyalty to Oedipus at this point in the play, implies Sophocles’ championing of his mortal capability. Through this, Sophocles celebrates the power of undying commitment to the betterment of the community, in the form of truth seeking.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘In High Ground, it is impossible for…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 82.5%: Stephen Johnson’s 2020 ‘meat pie western’, High Ground, sets forth to reveal unacknowledged and shameful elements…
Stephen Johnson’s 2020 ‘meat pie western’, High Ground, sets forth to reveal unacknowledged and shameful elements of Australia’s colonial past. Set in the Northern Territory, it depicts the cultural, racial and political conflict between its First Nations inhabitants and the colonisers bent on their subjugation. In casting this light on the past, High Ground seeks to establish a shared understanding upon which reconciliation can be built. Johnson’s film is crowded with characters influenced and even governed by their pasts. On the one hand, Johnson examines the destructive impacts of the traumas we suffer, and laments the human inability to discard or modify our flawed ideologies. But on the other, he makes assertion that one’s connection to country and culture, has the power to save us. Johnson is clear that we cannot escape our past. But while its ruinous impact can lock individuals in a cycle of disaster and woe, the traditions of the past offer hope for healing.
Johnson seems fascinated by the destructive impulses which stem from the worst experiences of our past. In this, he serves a warning that people have limits and that those pushed beyond them will become a danger to themselves and others. Gulwirri, High Ground’s female protagonist, has had her heart hardened by sickening violence and exploitation. Raped and her family murdered by whites at a local station, she is an avenging angel on Gutjuk’s shoulder, urging him towards action. “That’s why you have to keep fighting,” she tells him, “Your anger is all you have.” When Grandfather Daarpa seeks negotiation, Gulwirri is furious, accusing the men of cowardice. Shot from below as she stands on the brow of a hill, she shouts her contempt: “You don’t speak for me”. Johnson’s character has claimed the moral high ground, rejecting the presumption of any to dictate what is good for her, let alone her entire people. But while the director’s treatment of her position is sympathetic, it is equally clear that she stands as a barrier to peace.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: I'm trying to do you a favour. I'm trying…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Billy Wilder's 1950's theatrical masterpiece 'Sunset Boulevard', is a film noir set in the post World War 2 film…
Billy Wilder's 1950's theatrical masterpiece 'Sunset Boulevard', is a film noir set in the post World War 2 film industry. Sunset Boulevard critiques the film industry for its marginalisation of women in Hollywood, illustrating them as mere "commodities" that can be discarded more frequently and easily in contrast to men who aren't held up to such high standards and ideals. Through the film’s Norma Desmond, the true extent of Hollywood's exploitation is revealed, and she struggles to cope with rejection. The film further backs this up through Betty and her initial struggles to enter the studio system. However, Wilder also contends that this not the case for all men, using Joe as a symbol to represent how men can also "suffer" as much, if not more than women.
Wilder posits that Hollywood's unforgiving and fraught nature, takes advantage of women and subjects them to unrealistic norms and standards, stripping them of their identity. The film presents Norma as the pinnacle of all suffering. She is portrayed to have frozen herself in time through her mausoleum of a mansion, decorated with "more, and more Norma Desmonds", symbolising her reluctance to admit she is no longer a star like she once was. Mirrors are reoccurring motif, representing Norma's loss of identity and how years of exploitation have forced her to have the belief that stars like her are 'eternal'. Wilder frames the mirrors to implicate the audience in Norma's loss of sanity, to emphasise her undying belief that she is still young and presentable as a coping mechanism. When Joe packs up to leave, Norma looks at herself in the mirror, finally succumbing to the fact that she cannot pretend to be "25", but as the scene progresses, her inability to accept that she is no longer 'big' takes over and her identity begins to fragment. Norma, whose suffering is mostly caused by her inability to accept that she is no longer relevant, can be directly juxtaposed to Cecile B. DeMille, who has due to been able to move on and has adapted to the transition of the talkies, representing how the ability to adapt can help minimise the impacts of the 'heartless monster' that Hollywood is presented as.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: I'm trying to do you a favour. I'm trying…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Billy Wilder's 1950's theatrical masterpiece 'Sunset Boulevard', is a film noir set in the post World War 2 film…
Billy Wilder's 1950's theatrical masterpiece 'Sunset Boulevard', is a film noir set in the post World War 2 film industry. Sunset Boulevard critiques the film industry for its marginalisation of women in Hollywood, illustrating them as mere "commodities" that can be discarded more frequently and easily in contrast to men who aren't held up to such high standards and ideals. Through the film’s Norma Desmond, the true extent of Hollywood's exploitation is revealed, and she struggles to cope with rejection. The film further backs this up through Betty and her initial struggles to enter the studio system. However, Wilder also contends that this not the case for all men, using Joe as a symbol to represent how men can also "suffer" as much, if not more than women.
Wilder posits that Hollywood's unforgiving and fraught nature, takes advantage of women and subjects them to unrealistic norms and standards, stripping them of their identity. The film presents Norma as the pinnacle of all suffering. She is portrayed to have frozen herself in time through her mausoleum of a mansion, decorated with "more, and more Norma Desmonds", symbolising her reluctance to admit she is no longer a star like she once was. Mirrors are reoccurring motif, representing Norma's loss of identity and how years of exploitation have forced her to have the belief that stars like her are 'eternal'. Wilder frames the mirrors to implicate the audience in Norma's loss of sanity, to emphasise her undying belief that she is still young and presentable as a coping mechanism. When Joe packs up to leave, Norma looks at herself in the mirror, finally succumbing to the fact that she cannot pretend to be "25", but as the scene progresses, her inability to accept that she is no longer 'big' takes over and her identity begins to fragment. Norma, whose suffering is mostly caused by her inability to accept that she is no longer relevant, can be directly juxtaposed to Cecile B. DeMille, who has due to been able to move on and has adapted to the transition of the talkies, representing how the ability to adapt can help minimise the impacts of the 'heartless monster' that Hollywood is presented as.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: I'm trying to do you a favour. I'm trying…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Billy Wilder's 1950's theatrical masterpiece 'Sunset Boulevard', is a film noir set in the post World War 2 film…
Billy Wilder's 1950's theatrical masterpiece 'Sunset Boulevard', is a film noir set in the post World War 2 film industry. Sunset Boulevard critiques the film industry for its marginalisation of women in Hollywood, illustrating them as mere "commodities" that can be discarded more frequently and easily in contrast to men who aren't held up to such high standards and ideals. Through the film’s Norma Desmond, the true extent of Hollywood's exploitation is revealed, and she struggles to cope with rejection. The film further backs this up through Betty and her initial struggles to enter the studio system. However, Wilder also contends that this not the case for all men, using Joe as a symbol to represent how men can also "suffer" as much, if not more than women.
Wilder posits that Hollywood's unforgiving and fraught nature, takes advantage of women and subjects them to unrealistic norms and standards, stripping them of their identity. The film presents Norma as the pinnacle of all suffering. She is portrayed to have frozen herself in time through her masoleum of a mansion, decorated with "more, and more Norma Desmonds", symbolising her reluctance to admit she is no longer a star like she once was. Mirrors are reoccurring motif, representing Norma's loss of identity and how years of exploitation have forced her to have the belief that stars like her are 'eternal'. Wilder frames the mirrors to implicate the audience in Norma's loss of sanity, to emphasise her undying belief that she is still young and presentable as a coping mechanism. When Joe packs up to leave, Norma looks at herself in the mirror, finally succumbing to the fact that she cannot pretend to be "25", but as the scene progresses, her inability to accept that she is no longer 'big' takes over and her identify begins to fragment. Norma, whose suffering is mostly caused by her inability to accept that she is no longer relevant, can be directly juxtaposed to Cecile B. DeMille, who has due to been able to move on and has adapted to the transition of the talkies, representing how the ability to adapt can help minimise the impacts of the 'heartless monster' that Hollywood is presented as.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: I'm trying to do you a favour. I'm trying…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: 2 Topic Number Billy Wilder's 1950's theatrical masterpiece 'Sunset Boulevard', is a film noir set in the post…
2 Topic Number
Billy Wilder's 1950's theatrical masterpiece 'Sunset Boulevard', is a film noir set in the post World War 2 film industry, continued on last page Wilder critiques the film industry for its marginalisation of women in Hollywood, illustrating them as mere "commodities" that can be discarded more frequently and easily in contrast to men who aren't held up to such high standards and ideals. Through the film's Norma Desmond, the true extent of Hollywood's exploitation is revealed, and she struggles to cope with rejection. The film further backs this up through Betty and her initial struggles to enter the studio system. However, Wilder also contends that this not the case for all men, using Joe as a symbol to represent how men can also "suffer" as much, if not more than women.
Wilder posits that Hollywood's unforgiving and exploitative nature, takes advantage of women and subjects them to unrealistic norms and standards, stripping them of their identity. The film presents Norma as the pinnacle of all suffering. She is portrayed to have frozen herself in time through her masoleum of a mansion, decorated with "more, and more Norma Desmonds", symbolising her reluctance to admit she is no longer a star like she once was. Mirrors are reoccuring motif, representing Norma's loss of identity and how years of exploitation have forced her to have the belief that stars like her are 'eternal'. Wilder frames the mirrors to implicate
the audience in Norma's loss of sanity, to emphasise she uses her undying belief that she is still young and presentable as a coping mechanism. When Joe packs up to leave, Norma looks at herself in the mirror, finally sucombing to the fact that she cannot pretend to be "25", but as the scene progresses, her inability to accept that she is no longer 'big' takes over and her identify begins to fragment. Wilder juxtaposes this to Cecile B. DeMille, who Norma, whose suffering is mostly caused by her inability to accept that she is no longer relevant, can be directly contrasted to Cecile B. DeMille, who has due to been able to move on and has adapted to the transition of the talkies, represents how the ability to adapt can help minimize the impacts of the 'heartless monster' that Hollywood is presented as.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘Blind, lost in the night, endless night…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Aristotelian tragic literature explores the ways in which ignorance and knowledge grant power to individuals. In…
Aristotelian tragic literature explores the ways in which ignorance and knowledge grant power to individuals.
In Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King,” metaphorical blindness only serve to reinforce false reasoning and security, while knowledge exposes the lack of control one truly has. Literal blindness thus functions as a symbol of acceptance, and a return of power to those who accept truth.
Sophocles condemns the ways ignorance masks truths, waning against false reasoning that serve to perpetuate the illusion of power.
The name Oedipus recalls the greek word ‘oida’, meaning “to know”; ironically, Oedipus’ name promises his wisdom, as reinforced through his relentless search for knowledge and truths, yet his inability to accept these uncomfortable ideas that oppose his own sense of identity is what ultimately lead to his downfall. This is further exemplified through his stichomythic exchange with Tiresias, in which Sophocles employs a mocking, arrogant tone as Oedipus insults Tiresias. His rejection and inability to accept the truths that Tiresias plainly lays out for him thus expose his true motives. Oedipus is positioned as a contradictory, disingenuous figure, aiming only to portray himself as truth searching, while simultaneously selectively accepting ideas that reinforce his own false narrative. For an Athenian audience, Oedipus stands as a cautionary figure, warning against false reasoning with the intent of upholding illusions of power.
Similarly, Jocasta’s blasphemous exclamation to “free yourself [Oedipus] of very charge!” illustrate her impiety in favour of her own authority. Her willful ignorance of the prophecy, believing that she has outsmarted fate inflates her confidence to the point of arrogance. Jocasta’s inability to not only see but confront and accept truths in order to maintain her illusion of control is what ultimately leads to her suicide; she cannot bear to grapple with the magnitude of her actions, and even as she sees the impending truth looming ahead, Jocasta, rather than telling Oedipus the truth herself, begs him to “Stop… call off this search!”. Through this, Sophocles illustrates the ways in which metaphorical blindness to truths, particularly ones that perpetuate delusions of power, only result in one's downfall.
Sophocles suggest that true knowledge exposes the lack of control one holds.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: We Have Always Lived in the Castle…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Shirley Jackson's 1962 female gothic novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, captures the societal regime of…
Shirley Jackson's 1962 female gothic novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, captures the societal regime of 1950s and 60s America, whereby deviation from the norm faced immense persecution and outcasting. Jackson's text examines exclusion and prejudice as correlated entities, criticising that they each hold damaging implications for both the persecuted and the persecutor. Ultimately, while Jackson uncovers exclusion and prejudice as the characteristics of inhumanity that inflict damage on those targeted, she also posits that the relationship between bias and ostracism is inherent in humankind.
Jackson interrogates fear and psychological damage as consequences of othering for those targeted. Merricat claims she was "afraid of [the villagers]" which is accompanied by the disturbing simile that the women would come at her "like a flock of taloned hawks". Here, Jackson's predatory imagery punctuates Merricat's fearful perception of the environment outside her home. Her meticulous and routine safety measures, such as attending to the fence "every Wednesday" to ensure its security that allows them to be "safe for another week" amplifies the internalised fear; deeply ingrained within her identity. Indeed, unease is normalised within the Blackwood mansion - the house itself a representative of the damaged state of its inhabitants. The family have "[a]lways [l]ived in the [c]astle"; a title that suggests entrapment within the past and the traditions of this time. This is solidified by the imagery personifying the house, where Merricat takes comfort in knowing there was always "a solid foundation of stable possessions weighting it, and keeping it steady against the world". Hence, Jackson crystallises that ostracism has forced the sisters into the shackles of their former family's existence; haunted by the murder and the gender roles that persist in its wake. Uncle Julian has "never been well since" the familicide and remains fixated on his "notes" documenting the fatal day. His unsettling repetition in inquiring to Constance about the events, such as whether John Blackwood "took his cigar in the garden that morning" is a gothic element wielded by Jackson to engulf the reader in the psychological breakdown of the remaining family. His subversion of objective truth, claiming he will commence with "an exaggeration and henceforth continue into an outright lie" magnifies that trauma breeds reality distortion; compounding the disturbing consequences of prejudice. Further, Constance carries the burden of her sister's murder; becoming the physical target of the villager's hatred, a violence so severe that it becomes embedded within her sense of self. Indeed, Merricat notices that Constance believing "it's all [her] fault" has become "her new way of thinking", epitomising the notion that shame has been adopted through incessant prejudicial violence. So, Jackson exposes the repercussions of bigotry on those who are the victims of it.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ii. ‘Who was it, Max? What is it?’…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: Set against the backdrop of Hollywood's transition to talkies, a period that relegated silent-era icons to…
Set against the backdrop of Hollywood's transition to talkies, a period that relegated silent-era icons to obscurity, Billy Wilder’s film noir 'Sunset Boulevard' explores the stark contrast between Hollywood glamour and cynical reality. Ultimately, Wilder suggests people in Hollywood are enticed to obscure reality in an attempt to escape the grasp of a callous industry. Henceforth examining the factors that cause characters to fabricate reality, the effect it has on their humanity, and the triumph of delusion fed by lies, resulting in tragedy.
B1:
Initially, Wilder demonstrates how Hollywood's pressures compel individuals to conceal and warp reality. Wilder highlights the economic hardship for aspiring successors in the industry, through the claustrophobic depiction of Joe Gillis’ apartment, captured by a cramming of mis-en-scene. Wilder portrays Joe’s financial difficulty in order to suggest his eventual participation in Norma’s fantasy does not come from a state of genuine immorality, rather is driven by desperation to evade economic disparity. Therefore his dishonesty is presented as a product of Hollywood's pressures rather than simple immorality.
This desperation is furthered by illustrating the industry's preference of systematic formulas for success over genuine creativity. When Joe’s ‘Bases Loaded’ is tossed aside in a whip-pan cut, the scene highlights how Hollywood disregards writing that risks failure, with the director proclaiming he would’ve rejected ‘Gone with the Wind’, another creative piece of writing. Instead, suggesting a hysterical ‘Story of the Woman’ piece to capture eyes, Wilder introduces the appeal of shortcuts to attain success. Therefore providing reason for Joe’s decision to affirm Norma’s script as good when it wasn’t in order to attain employment.
Broadening this idea, Wilder adopts a different angle to contend Hollywood stars warp the truth about themselves in order to preserve their sanctity through the meta-casting of former silent-films stars like Buster Keaton. Choosing to have the silent stars sit around the poker table like ‘waxworks’, almost lifeless in their stature, Wilder expresses the consequence of a callous industry that disregards previous stars in the pursuit of innovation and youth. Thereby Wilder suggests silent stars like Norma Desmond have reason to warp the truth about their own identity, in a desperation to remain lively, confident, and relevant, fearing that an acceptance of their bleak reality will lead to the dull fate of her surrounding peers. By exposing the pressures that leave individuals vulnerable within Hollywood, Wilder reveals why they resort to distorting reality to protect themselves.
B2:
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: otk suggests that reason plays a limited…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, reason is presented as a valuable but limited force in human life. Oedipus’…
In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, reason is presented as a valuable but limited force in human life. Oedipus’ intelligence allows him to solve problems and pursue truth, yet his reasoning cannot overcome fate or the limits of human knowledge. Sophocles ultimately suggests that reason is necessary for understanding the world, but becomes dangerous when humans assume it gives them complete control over their lives.
Sophocles initially presents reason as an important source of human power. Oedipus’ ability to solve the Sphinx’s riddle establishes him as an intelligent and capable leader, allowing him to become king of Thebes. His reputation as a rational problem-solver continues when he investigates the murder of Laius after learning that the city’s plague will only end when the murderer is found. His determination to “bring all to light” demonstrates his belief that careful investigation can restore order. Oedipus’ reasoning is therefore shown to have genuine value, allowing him to protect his people and pursue justice. However, Sophocles gradually reveals that intelligence cannot guarantee control over human circumstances.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Rainbow's End, discrimination has…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Rainbow’s End (2005), a historical drama by Jane Harrison, compels the audience to confront the lives of three…
Rainbow’s End (2005), a historical drama by Jane Harrison, compels the audience to confront the lives of three Indigenous ‘women who fought the good fight’ as they face struggles of racial hardships in the 1950’s. While Harrison explores discrimination of the Indigenous community, she expands on how generational and constant discrimination affects individual and cultural identity, while showcasing racism as a motive to hope more. Through exploring government control over the Indigenous community, how discrimination shapes a growing identity, and presenting a hopeful perspective from discrimination, Harrison exposes the profound effects of discrimination in realistic experiences.
The constant surveillance and control held by the government diminishes cultural identity and freedom. When the Dear family was visited by the inspector, the act of the inspector ‘writing notes’ visually represents the objectification of the family’s culture and lives. The act of noting points while in the humpy shows the surveilling nature of authorial figures in the 1950’s. This elicits a sense that assumes the Indigenous culture, home, and lifestyle are objects that are deemed as incorrect, and required to be handled by authority. The act of writing down notes was proceeded with the inspector claiming that ‘things must change’ allows Harrison to emphasise the discriminative power the authority possesses, as the directive encapsulates condescending attitudes towards the culture lived and maintained by the Dear family. A tension is created, as the characters are tied between living a life in struggle and constantly pestered to fix their culture, or assimilate to the standardised way of living and lose their identity. Harrison was able to emphasise the method of erasure intended, and the agency lost by the Dear family. Further on, this elimination of culture and identity was showcased to be permanently lost, as the ‘sound of bulldozers’ were heard in an emotionally tragic scene. The auditory element of bulldozers initially confronts the audience towards a destructive and disturbing atmosphere of the humpy’s demolishing. Beyond a physical setting, Harrison uses the bulldozers as a powerful image of displacement, as history and memories of culture and identity are lost. The loss of the humpy signifies a loss of culture and freedom that was found in the humpy, relating back to the modernisation in the 1950’s that was caused by government discrimination actions. Hence, the government power and intent causes profound effects on Indigenous culture and heritage loss when motivated by discrimination.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In his play, Sophocles portrays both the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Addressing and written for an Athenian audience undergoing an intellectual revolution, Sophocles’ perennial 5th…
Addressing and written for an Athenian audience undergoing an intellectual revolution, Sophocles’ perennial 5th century Greek tragedy Oedipus the King extends an erudite yet theistical exploration of the inherent tragedy of the human condition. Sophocles examines how the grief which amounts as a result of divine retribution causes individuals to enact senseless punishment on themselves. Furthermore, the playwright exposes how compassion towards others heightens sympathetic grief, driving leaders to undertake honourable, yet tragically fated, efforts to alleviate suffering. However, he nevertheless celebrates grief as offering opportunities for growth, by revealing the primacy of divine rule and the necessity for piety. Ultimately, Sophocles deems that sorrow and anguish champion excellence and fruitless agony alike.
Sophocles delineates how, when confronted by the grief of their fate, individuals inevitably and pointlessly direct this pain inwards. Despite her efforts to remain ignorant to it, the eventual exposition of the truth is punctuated by Jocasta’s paroxysmic outburst ‘Aieeeeee’ followed by the tricolonic repetition of ‘ever’. This emotional purging reflects the deep grief evoked by her revelation. The violence which follows is epitomised by the description of the queen ‘dangling in a woven noose’. Here the specific terminology of the material reflects the convergence of external and internal factors propelling her demise, catalysed by the instigation of grief through knowledge. Sophocles thereby evinces the extreme harm which grief enacts, driving fruitless self-punishment. Furthermore Oedipus’ grief similarly translates into punishment of himself. The chorus asserts the many ‘griefs… doom, death, disgrace’ which accompany the realisation of the king’s prophecy. The use of the plosive ‘d’ carries an abruptness which creates a hard, heavy sound, mirroring his interminable sorrow. Indeed, Sophocles extends this impact by detailing the ‘black hail of blood’ which ‘puls[es], gushing down’ following Oedipus’ auto-enucleation. The playwright’s use of visceral morbid imagery evokes terror and pity alike from his Athenian audience, exemplifying the capacity for grief to propel individuals toward absolute and self-destructive measures. The futility of these efforts is emphasised in Oedipus’ assertion that he ‘simply did not know’, illuminating how the fatalistic structure of the play inevitably leaves individuals incapable of determining the outcome of their lives. The monarch’s actions in response to his anguish thus become an assumption of responsibility for events beyond his control. The playwright thereby asserts the senselessness of punishing oneself for a destiny determined by divine orchestration. Sophocles examines how the emotional torment evoked by the truth and one’s destiny manifests in aimless self-harm.