VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Rainbow's End there is a tension…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: "Rainbows End," a compelling indigenous play, written by Maruworn women; Jane Harrison, displays a tension three…
"Rainbows End," a compelling indigenous play, written by Maruworn women; Jane Harrison, displays a tension three women face between accepting the way things are and attempting to make things better. This tension can be shown by every one of three women from Dolly, accepting the institutional racism embedded in her environment and the limits that come with it then also sticking up for herself, Gladys, heartbrokenly knowing her dream of getting education stripped but still continued with her determination and lastly, Nan being very stoic in accepting the conditions but being a strong provider and care taker for her family. However she does sometimes shows discouraging and unattempling behaviour to make things better due to previous trauma and experiences.
Dolly accepts how she may face a lack of oppurtunities due to how society was shaped in the 1950's, along with knowing white people will treat her. However despite knowing, she sticks up for her self in attempt for better treatment. "I will not be spoken to like that," this shows how, although Dolly is aware how society will treat her, she does not allow that to be the end of
her. She is determined to make things better and sticks up for herself. Another example of how Dolly is torn between society's expectations and her own desires is illustrated through her and Errol. She does want to go to the ball with Errol and continue things but is restricted by knowing that aboriginal and white relationships were taboo at the time and how she will face judgement and embarrassment. "You're white and I'm black, or haven't you noticed," conveys the taboo of aboriginal and white relationships, along with the tension Dolly faces between societal expectations and her own desires.
Gladdys faces the harsh reality of her dreams being crushed and sorrowly accepts these circumstances. her ambition outweighs this submission. This can be seen through her continous effort for making Dolly get a job and education, she couldn't, she still had that hope for her child and continously attempted to make things better. Another example that demonstrates this tension is she accepted her unfortunate circumstance of not being able to read or write or get an education. However, with her deep ambition
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent do the characters find…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: In Shirley Jackson’s gothic novel We Have Always Lived In The Castle, the idea of power is portrayed through…
In Shirley Jackson’s gothic novel We Have Always Lived In The Castle, the idea of power is portrayed through selected characters and explores how these individuals can reclaim power in a world that seeks to marginalize and destroy them. Jackson portrays power not as social dominance, but phycological and domestic autonomy. This is discussed through the ideas of having phycological power through isolation, power through ritual and gothic fantasy, and even domestic power and feminine agency. However, these individual’s power remains fragile and limited, sustained through separation and illusion, revealing that true empowerment in a hostile world is limited and self-destructive.
Phycological power can be seen as an increment to the idea of power in Jacksons novel which is shown through the theme of Isolation. Jackson shows this as Merricat expresses, “I cant help it when people are frightened, I always want to frighten them more”. This quote resonates to the idea of emotional isolation which asserts power for Merricat and her sister towards the villagers whom are projected as scapegoats in this novel as they try to kick the sisters out of the village. This shows the extent to which the sisters display power on the world who fights to make them powerless. Jackson also shows this as Merricat says “Our house was like a castle, turreted and open to the sky”, this quote expresses the control over the environment they have as Merricat defines the house to be a “castle” showing a structure that defends and confines them as it is ‘turreted’ making it a symbol of resistance against societal intrusion. This isolation gives them control over their environment and routines, creating a world that operates own their own terms but limitating this power is that it depends on being detached to reality and the world as they prefer to live in their own utopia which Jackson expresses it as “The moon”.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘Who was it, Max? What is it?’ ‘Nothing…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: In Billy Wilder's 1950 film noir Sunset Boulevard, Wilder exposes the lies and manipulation that are so prominent…
In Billy Wilder's 1950 film noir Sunset Boulevard, Wilder exposes the lies and manipulation that are so prominent in a cut throat industry like Hollywood, but contends that sometimes the truth can be more dangerous than a lie. In the film, Wilder exposes the lies and manipulation that run deep within the industry, whilst revealing the consequences that arise from avoiding the truth. Despite this, Wilder asserts that sometimes it can be easier to lie than reveal the truth.
Initially, Wilder exposes the deep rooted manipulation ingrained within Hollywood. From the film's opening shot, the Sunset Boulevard sign is seen lying in a gutter, which is accompanied by a non diegetic flourish of horns, a common trope of film noirs. This establishes an early atmosphere of suspense and eerieness, which subverts initial audience expectations who would have pictured the Hollywood industry as a place of opportunity and wealth. Through this, Wilder aims to portray Hollywood as a more sinister industry than what many imagined it to be in the 1950’s during the Golden age of Hollywood. In doing this, many audience members will view Hollywood not as a place of fortune, but one where manipulation is prominent. Alongside this, Wilder utilizes dramatic irony to clearly portray the lying nature of people in Hollywood, who manipulate others to get ahead. When Joe first meets Norma, he asserts that he “makes 500 a week” and is “due on another [script],” despite the audience knowing full well that Joe is broke and owes “3 months rent” on his apartment. Joe’s two-faced nature exposes how others will avoid telling the truth in Hollywood in order to be able to get what they want from others. Through this, Wilder highlights how telling the truth is disadvantageous in Hollywood, as lies are more powerful for getting what you desire for others, underscoring how manipulation has become so ingrained in Hollywood.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “My desires, like fell and cruel hounds,…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Love is a powerful force that can cause people to be suppressed or flourish. Shakespeare’s 1602 comedy, Twelfth…
Love is a powerful force that can cause people to be suppressed or flourish. Shakespeare’s 1602 comedy, Twelfth Night, revolves around how love can come in different forms and how these forms impact individuals, which in turn challenges heteronormative standards. The play presents love as “desires, like fell and cruel hounds” that can serve as a source of liberation and a cause of suffering for those who experience it. From the outset of the play, Shakespeare presents the struggles of those who have an excessive amount of love. Moreover, self-love can make people temporarily liberated, but it makes them vulnerable to manipulation and can lead to their own demise. Ultimately, heteronormative love that stays within class boundaries is rewarded and allows happiness for those that have conformed to societal expectations.
Shakespeare establishes how excess love can lead to suffering and emotional confinement. In Orsino’s opening monologue, he metaphorically describes that “if music be the food of love” he wants it to “play on”. This semantic field of excess implies that he wants to overindulge in the experience of love, which in relation to it being compared to “food”, he is consumed by his desire for it wants so badly of it that he feels sick and for it to end. Moreover, he later conveys that his pursuit for Olivia’s heart feels as though this love is hunting him “like fell and cruel hounds”, which is a painful situation for him. His unrequited love for Olivia is causing him great hardship and makes him feel trapped within this bestial chase. Similarly, Olivia has an abundance of love for her late brother and father and says she will grieve for seven years, which is causing her to suffer. For this reason, she is characterised as a “cloistress”, a nun secluded from the rest of the world, because her love for her family is unable to be reciprocated by them and she therefore doesn’t have much freedom. In comparison, excess love doesn’t always have to be a confining experience, which is illustrated in Viola’s “make me a willow cabin at your gate” monologue where she depicts her love for Orsino. She displays it in a simple and less performative fashion, in which she isn’t overindulge and consequently, her connection is more authentic and isn’t based on lust, like Orsino’s love for Olivia. Although it is still painful for her to have this yearning love, it doesn’t cause her to shut down like Orsino or Olivia, but rather lights her up and makes her passion genuine. Shakespeare uses the experience of love to demonstrate how it is a sufferable feeling when it is unreciprocated, but it doesn’t necessarily have to trap people.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Prompt: Sunset Boulevard Essay: How does…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Intro In his sardonic 1950s gothic-noir melodrama Sunset Boulevard, Billy Wilder exposes Hollywood’s glamorous yet…
Intro
In his sardonic 1950s gothic-noir melodrama Sunset Boulevard, Billy Wilder exposes Hollywood’s glamorous yet corrosive façade, compelling audiences to confront the tension between illusion and reality lurking beneath its glittering exterior. Produced at the apex of the studio system, which marketed itself as a 'Boulevard of Dreams' promising immortality, youth, and wealth, Wilder unmasks the exploitation of ageing stars, the commodification of ambition, and the moral complicity of those who sustain these fantasies. Drawing on the fatalism of film noir and the emotional intensity of melodrama, the director constructs a cinematic world where glamour is inseparable from decay, ambition from delusion, and illusion from reality. Thus, the auteur presents Hollywood as a largely destructive system where pervasive illusion collapses the boundaries between performance, identity, and reality, inviting audiences to reflect on the ethical, psychological, and societal consequences of its seductive allure.
Paragraph 1
Wilder opens his film by presenting Hollywood as a deceptive milieu where dazzling façades conceal insidious decay. Situating his film within a post-war American context that celebrates the industry as a beacon of aspiration and prosperity, Wilder immediately critiques the “dream factory” as a system sustained by illusion. The opening shots of a cracked, weed-infested pavement, accompanied by Franz Waxman’s dissonant, uneasy score, immediately invite the viewer into a world of decline rather than triumph, foreshadowing the rotting reality beneath the glitter. This contrast between promised allure and visible desolation is developed further in his low angle, underwater shot of Joe Gillis’s corpse floating in Norma Desmond’s swimming pool. In 1950s American culture, pools symbolised wealth and success, yet Wilder subverts the symbol into a grotesque tableau of death, entwining glamour with mortality. Joe’s deadpan posthumous narration, “he always wanted a pool. Well, in the end, he got himself a pool”, heightens the irony of the scene, transforming what once symbolised aspiration into a site of fatality and underscoring how Hollywood’s seductive illusions ensnare and destroy their pursuers. Wilder extends his critique through his portrayal of Norma’s mansion, described by Joe as “a great big white elephant of a place.” Her house embodies both grandeur and decay, its opulence masking the rot beneath, symbolising Hollywood’s obsession with grandiose spectacle at the expense of humanity. Joe’s observation that it was “stricken with a kind of creeping paralysis…crumbling apart in slow motion” reinforces the mansion as a metaphor for Hollywood itself; a space frozen in a bygone era, clinging to a faded prestige while the consequences of illusion and ambition slowly consume it. This decay is intensified by the director’s chiaroscuro lighting, which fractures the interior with oppressive elongated shadows, visually encoding Hollywood’s moral rot. Even the “waxworks” of silent stars, such as Buster Keaton, are listless cameos who embody the brutal ephemerality of fame and serve as haunting reminders that Hollywood cruelly discards its pioneers, prompting audiences to reflect on the destructive consequences of idolising fleeting celebrity. For contemporary audiences, these figures symbolise the transient and manufactured nature of celebrity; for Wilder’s contemporaries, they would have carried an elegiac weight, acknowledging the collapse of silent-era stardom. Through this intricate interplay of cinematic techniques, Wilder accentuates how Hollywood’s glamorous façades conceal a destructive reality, inviting audiences to question the power of illusion.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “My desires, like fell and cruel hounds,…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Love is a powerful force that can cause people to be suppressed or flourish. Shakespeare’s 1602 comedy, Twelfth…
Love is a powerful force that can cause people to be suppressed or flourish. Shakespeare’s 1602 comedy, Twelfth Night, revolves around how love can come in different forms and how these forms impact individuals, which in turn challenges heteronormative standards. The play presents love as “desires, like fell and cruel hounds” that can serve as a source of liberation and a cause of suffering for those who experience it. From the outset of the play, Shakespeare presents the struggles of those who have an excessive amount of love. Moreover, self-love can make people temporarily liberated, but it makes them vulnerable to manipulation and can lead to their own demise. Ultimately, heteronormative love that stays within class boundaries is rewarded and allows happiness for those that have conformed to societal expectations.
Shakespeare establishes how excess love can lead to suffering and emotional confinement. In Orsino’s opening monologue, he metaphorically describes that “if music be the food of love” he wants it to “play on”. This semantic field of excess implies that he wants to overindulge in the experience of love, which in relation to it being compared to “food”, he is consumed by his desire for it wants so badly of it that he feels sick and for it to end. Moreover, he later conveys that his pursuit for Olivia’s heart feels as though this love is hunting him “like fell and cruel hounds”, which is a painful situation for him. His unrequited love for Olivia is causing him great hardship and makes him feel trapped within this bestial chase. Similarly, Olivia has an abundance of love for her late brother and father and says she will grieve for seven years, which is causing her to suffer. For this reason, she is characterised as a “cloistress”, a nun secluded from the rest of the world, because her love for her family is unable to be reciprocated by them and she therefore doesn’t have much freedom. In comparison, excess love doesn’t always have to be a confining experience, which is illustrated in Viola’s “make me a willow cabin at your gate” monologue where she depicts her love for Orsino. She displays it in a simple and less performative fashion, in which she isn’t overindulge and consequently, her connection is more authentic and isn’t based on lust, like Orsino’s love for Olivia. Although it is still painful for her to have this yearning love, it doesn’t cause her to shut down like Orsino or Olivia, but rather lights her up and makes her passion genuine. Shakespeare uses the experience of love to demonstrate how it is a sufferable feeling when it is unreciprocated, but it doesn’t necessarily have to trap people.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: 'In Sunset Boulevard,' the line between…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: In Sunset Boulevard, the line between reality and illusion is constantly blurred. Discuss. Exposing the…
In Sunset Boulevard, the line between reality and illusion is constantly blurred. Discuss.
Exposing the powerlessness of human morality against the foolish dream[s] which have seized [their] heart[s], Billy Wilders quintessentially American film, 'Sunset Boulevard' poignantly unveils how pursuing stardom under Hollywood's false promises of glamour is inevitable without delusion. Compounded by the skillful overlaying of a gothic lens, this noir mystery emerges as a powerful vivisection of the consequences of obtaining affluence and the ability to escape ones illusory fantasy. Thus, Wilders iconoclastic opus uses an intelligent blend of fiction and meta-cinema to expose how the industry's fabricated world traps individuals and disrupts their idea of a truthful glamorous lifestyle.
Initially contextualising Hollywoods illusory world as a dystopian nightmare, Wilder satirically demonstrates how newfound fantasys emerge from addiction to wealth and status produced by the industry's artificial allure. From the outset of this film, a failed scriptwriter, Joe Gillis becomes a "chimp dancing for pennies" as he navigates through the survival system. Indicated through a low angle shot, the audience is positioned below the consequences of his ambitions while his floating corpse covers the screen. Wilder consciously places Joes death in Normas' pool as an ironic symbol of how luxury and status is accompanied by tragic outcomes. However, individuals similar to Joe, resist escaping this destructive industry due to the persistent glamour it provides, therefore trapping its victims within the Hollywood fabricated facade. Furthermore, Joe is aware of this "creeping paralysis" but finds comfort in Norma's security she provides as she
makes him her gigaloo. Thus, Wilder shows how economic desperation leads to moral decay. The "poor dope" continues to convince himself he is "only taking what's offered" and falls into his own profound fantasy. Consequently, Joe's delusion mirrors Hollywood's own - the belief that success and luxury define self worth. Moreover, Joe's posthumous narration of "Miss Havisham in her rotting wedding dress" foreshadows Norma's psychological decay. Throughout the film as the allusion of Miss Havisham indicates that Norma's behaviour and attempts to relive her past are just as deluded as refusing to remove a rotting wedding dress. Therefore, Norma's fantasies completely erase her idea of reality and as the film progresses and she is "ready for [her] close up". A tracking shot of her descending down the staircase follows her expressionist figure as she moves closer to the same cameras that once deserted her. Moreover, the zooming in of her face symbolises the significance of facial expressions in the 1920's, thus connecting to her addiction of worshipping Hollywood as a religion which recognised her talents. Ultimately, Wilder deliberately focuses on the delusions when entering Hollywood's system to expose their deteriorating nature of providing affluence to mask their psychological impacts on their victims.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Brontë examine the hypocrisies of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Charlotte Brontë’s proto-feminist gothic bildungsroman Jane Eyre (1847) is set against the backdrop of a rapidly…
Charlotte Brontë’s proto-feminist gothic bildungsroman Jane Eyre (1847) is set against the backdrop of a rapidly industrialising Victorian England, in which the ruling classes anxiously surveyed the political upheavals of Europe and clung to the illusion of moral and social stability. From the outset, Brontë exposes the hypocrisies at the heart of English society - those that sanctify privilege, disguise moral corruption beneath religious piety, and suppress individuality in the name of virtue. Conjointly, through her nuanced portrayal of social hierarchy, spiritual authority and gender expectations, Brontë dismantles the veneer of civility and moral order that conceals deep inequities and contradictions, suggesting instead that personal integrity and self-awareness are the truest markers of worth.
From the outset, Victorian society’s obsession with class and appearance functions as a façade that conceals moral decay and vanity. The aristocracy’s apparent refinement is revealed as performative, its supposed purity ironically tainted by pride and materialism. Jane sees Blanche as being “dressed in pure white”, aligned with her name being french for white, Brontë layers the image with irony: the whiteness connotes not purity but a superficial display of superiority. Jane’s later description of her as possessing “the same low brow, the same high features, the same pride” as her mother dismantles the illusion of inherited nobility. The tricolon compresses Brontë’s critique of a hereditary elite fixated on breeding and display, implying that social ‘purity’ has devolved into inbreeding - moral and intellectual stagnation masked as grace. The fixation on “noble name” and the need to “obtain riches” exposes how women of the upper class are commodified, valued only as currency in an economic system disguised as propriety. Brontë thus presents the English class system as one that prizes appearance over substance, revealing the hypocrisy of a society that rewards birthright while scorning moral and emotional authenticity.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Oedipus the King, all who deserve it…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Punishment for one’s crimes is the intended goal for any natural world order. In the world of “Oedipus the King”,…
Punishment for one’s crimes is the intended goal for any natural world order. In the world of “Oedipus the King”, Sophocles contends that, while objectively guilty individuals do deservingly receive retribution for their sins, the gods’ lack of alignment to human ethics delegitimises such judgement. Indeed, Sophocles highlights how those who self-impose blindness pertinently face the consequences of their actions. Moreover, individuals who commit crimes under the guise of subjective innocence are brought to justice as their prior infractions are not erased from history. However, the gods are not portrayed as abiding by human ideals of right and wrong, or any sense of morality at all. Thus, Sophocles reveals how it is up to humans, and their often clouded rationale, to decide whether an act truly warrants penalties.
Revealing the treacherous characteristics associated with the worst aspects of the human condition, Sophocles justifies the punishments that befall individuals who are blinded by their hubris. Immediately portraying Oedipus as the “first of men”, and hence purporting him as the closest mortal to god, Sophocles establishes the very notion that fosters arrogance within the hero. It is this confidence accumulated through constant praise that drives him to defy against Tiresias himself. Given an Athenian audience would be acclimated to the prophet’s god-given talents, Oedipus’ comparison of Tiresias’ abilities to “stone” hence reads as a defiance against the gods themselves, reducing their abilities to nothing demonstrable. Here, the protagonist’s belief in his own achievements supplements his desire to submit any who resist his authority, however it is this hubristic expectation itself that solidifies his status as a tyrant. Accordingly, Sophocles indicts those who invert the natural order, casting divine punishment as an inevitable reckoning. When Oedipus realises that Tiresias’ claims had indeed been true, he bemoans how while “[Apollo] ordained my fate, the hand that struck my eyes was…mine alone.” Though Sophocles does not discount the influence of fate in the protagonist’s downfall, he establishes Oedipus’ ability to alter his tragedy in one medium, being his arrogance. Indeed, the narration, “I’ll bring it all to light myself” depicts light—a visually perceived agent—as a metaphor for the truth. As vision is likened to knowledge in this way, the sight that was synonymous with power for Oedipus who relied precisely on his intellect is “[stripped] away” by “[his own] command”; Oedipus recognises his culpability in inhibiting the very skill that made him king, and in turn condemns the pride that blinded him so. To an Athenian audience, Oedipus’ downfall warns against concentrated power in one man, suggesting that blindness can extend when communal counsel is ignored. Moreover, it is only in blindness, Sophocles postulates, that Oedipus can finally face the truth he was too proud to acknowledge—an eternal reminder of the danger of hubris. Therefore, the playwright suggests to a devout Athenian audience that the belief a mortal could overcome their own predestination, even from the pinnacle of human power, is comparable to blasphemy; in Oedipus’ case, such a belief was only able to be maintained through prideful delusion. Ultimately, the dramatist depicts the capacity of hubristic tendencies to cloud rational judgement and accentuate impetuosity, warning the tragedy that may arise as a result of disregarding one’s mortality.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent do the characters of Sunset…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Billy Wilder’s gothic noir film ‘Sunset Boulevard’ set in the early 1950s exposes the dreamlike facade that…
Billy Wilder’s gothic noir film ‘Sunset Boulevard’ set in the early 1950s exposes the dreamlike facade that Hollywood portrays itself to be. Wilder accentuates the lack of judgement within Hollywood and their failure to adapt in their everchanging environments. Wilder portrays many of the characters to fail to adapt, especially through the advancement of cinematography, deluded by their own capabilities, individuals' moral compass being clouded, causing them to choose to live the life of comfort, and the success one can reap from being able to accept their circumstances.
Wilder utilises the advancement in technology for cinematography to stress individual's failure to adapt and Hollywood leaving those who originated from olden cinematography. In an industry like Hollywood, where beauty and youth stand above all, it is quintessential for Hollywood to abandon those who cannot keep up their beauty and youth; especially women. Norma Desmond, former star now lost to time is intently casted by Gloria Swanson, an actress that used to be a star, to highlight the prevalence of lookism within Hollywood. The switch from silent films to “talkies” leaves behind many of the old stars, such as Norma and the ‘waxworks’. This inability to transition successfully is reinforced when Norma enters Paramount Studio [Norma’s failure to adapt to Hollywood stems from her delusions, showcased in the scene] where she pushes the microphone away from her signifying something. This is further accompanied with Waxman’s music score [music directed by Franz Waxman, with the music] sounding fairytale-like until she pushes the microphone away. {technology} Moreover, Wilder uses [camera utilises] a close up shot in this scene to showcase the offended facial expressions Norma makes when the microphone comes, hinting the offence she has taken from the insistence of Hollywood that transition from silent movies to incorporate sound is the new direction that Hollywood is now pursuing [request to adapt to the new form of movies]. This is further evident with Norma’s stating that “it’s the pictures that got too small for me” highlighting Norma’s refusal to accept her failure to adapt to the new change. Wilder creates a montage of Norma’s beauty procedures for her return that is never coming, with painful looking procedures, subtly signalling the pain required for an older actor to come back to relevance. Ultimately, Wilder utilises the change in technology to accentuate Hollywood’s abandonment of former stars.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: High Ground Skeleton Essay
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Skeleton Essay Intro: Stephen Johnson’s High Ground (2020) explores the enduring tension between [main opposing…
Skeleton Essay
Intro:
Stephen Johnson’s High Ground (2020) explores the enduring tension between [main opposing ideas – e.g. justice and vengeance / power and morality / harmony and destruction] within the context of colonial Australia.
Through his portrayal of [key theme from prompt], Johnson suggests that [insert contention – what you agree/disagree with or believe the film reveals].
Using [techniques – e.g. cinematography, symbolism, and characterisation], he reveals how [insert big idea – e.g. colonisation distorts justice / reconciliation requires balance / power corrupts morality].
Embodied through [brief roadmap: massacre scene / Gutjuk’s inner conflict / final act of reconciliation].
BP1: Colonial Violence / Power / Hypocrisy
Johnson exposes the [injustice / hypocrisy / moral corruption] of colonial authority through the [scene or event – e.g. massacre / pursuit / burning settlement], establishing the imbalance between British and Yolngu worlds.
The [shot type / technique – e.g. cross-shots, sound, lighting] between [characters] symbolises [idea – e.g. power imbalance / chaos / moral decay].
By [describe director’s choice briefly], Johnson [verb – highlights / critiques / condemns] the way colonial “law” masks [injustice / violence / hypocrisy].
This scene demonstrates that [restate link to question – e.g. reconciliation cannot occur where justice is corrupted / those in power lose moral vision].
BP2: Gutjuk’s Inner Conflict / Law vs. Lore
Through Gutjuk’s divided loyalties between [Yolngu culture] and [colonial law / church], Johnson reveals the [psychological impact / identity crisis] caused by colonisation.
The [technique – e.g. high-angle shot / symbolism of church bell / sermon scene] represents
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Skeleton Essay
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Intro: Stephen Johnson’s High Ground (2020) explores the enduring tension between [main opposing ideas – e.g.…
Intro:
Stephen Johnson’s High Ground (2020) explores the enduring tension between [main opposing ideas – e.g. justice and vengeance / power and morality / harmony and destruction] within the context of colonial Australia.
Through his portrayal of [key theme from prompt], Johnson suggests that [insert contention – what you agree/disagree with or believe the film reveals].
Using [techniques – e.g. cinematography, symbolism, and characterisation], he reveals how [insert big idea – e.g. colonisation distorts justice / reconciliation requires balance / power corrupts morality].
Embodied through [brief roadmap: massacre scene / Gutjuk’s inner conflict / final act of reconciliation].
BP1: Colonial Violence / Power / Hypocrisy
Johnson exposes the [injustice / hypocrisy / moral corruption] of colonial authority through the [scene or event – e.g. massacre / pursuit / burning settlement], establishing the imbalance between British and Yolngu worlds.
The [shot type / technique – e.g. cross-shots, sound, lighting] between [characters] symbolises [idea – e.g. power imbalance / chaos / moral decay].
By [describe director’s choice briefly], Johnson [verb – highlights / critiques / condemns] the way colonial “law” masks [injustice / violence / hypocrisy].
This scene demonstrates that [restate link to question – e.g. reconciliation cannot occur where justice is corrupted / those in power lose moral vision].
BP2: Gutjuk’s Inner Conflict / Law vs. Lore
Through Gutjuk’s divided loyalties between [Yolngu culture] and [colonial law / church], Johnson reveals the [psychological impact / identity crisis] caused by colonisation.
The [technique – e.g. high-angle shot / symbolism of church bell / sermon scene] represents [idea –
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Oedipus the King, there is nothing the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: In Oedipus the King, Sophocles underscores how characters are unable to change their fates. Amid Oedipus’ tragic…
In Oedipus the King, Sophocles underscores how characters are unable to change their fates. Amid
Oedipus’ tragic dilemmas, the playwright not only emphasises how personal flaws amplifies ones
downfall, but also the importance of humility and piety in shaping the plays tragic conclusion.
Through the inexorable trajectory of the play, Sophocles aligns hubris with ones hamartia,
presenting personal flaws as a catalyst for ones downfall. In addressing the plague stricken polis of
Thebes, Oedipus declares “you pray to the gods? Let me grant your prayers.” Through the first
person “me”, Sophocles underscores Oedipus’ hubris as he presumptuously assumes the role of the
gods, blindly claiming authority to grant divine favour to the citizens. In doing so, the playwright
criticises the ignorance of those in power. The Athenian audience, aware of the divine retribution
that befalls those who overstep mortal limits can anticipate the inevitable downfall of Oedipus.
Moreover, this hubris culminates in his confrontation with Tiresias, the living embodiment of the
truth he refuses to see. His mockery of Tiresias’ eyes as “blind as stone” foreshadows his own
peripeteia. The metaphor “stone” evokes Oedipus’ intellectual blindness; his inability to perceive the
truth despite its nearness renders him as inert and unseeing as the very object he mocks. Thus
rejecting the truth, Sophocles prefigures Oedipus anagnorisis and ultimate self inflicted blinding.
Having shown the consequences of personal hubris, Sophocles emphasises how this flaw corrupts
leadership itself, suggesting that the mortal order is prone to collapse when power is consolidated in
the hands of a tyrant. The chorus reinforces this warning “pride breeds the tyrant that is overripe
and rich with ruin”. Symbolically linking pride with overripe fruit, Sophocles employs visceral imagery
through “gorging, crammed to bursting” to illustrate how pride, much like overripe fruit, swells
beyond its natural limits before succumbing to its own decay. Consequently, Oedipus’ arrogance,
much the pestilence infecting Thebes, grows unseen until it “crashes down the abyss”. This
catastrophic plunge from the “glittering heights” of power into ruin accentuates how pride not only
brings about blindness, but cultivates a peripeteia governed by natural order. Ultimately as Periclean
Athens endures fraught leadership amidst the Peloponnesian war and relentless plague, Sophocles’
tragedy warns that when hubris infects populist rule, collapse is not only likely, but inevitable.
While personal flaws may contribute to ones blindness and downfall, Sophocles condemns the pride
that denies divine authority, suggesting that true blindness lies in resisting a fate governed by the
gods. Towards the beginning of the play, Jocasta is presented as pious and reverent. She enters the
palace carrying a “suppliants branch wound in wool”, a traditional symbol of prayer in ancient
Greece and pleads with the gods “I beg you.. set us free of defilement”. Here, Sophocles employs
dramatic irony to emphasise the blindness underpinning Jocasta’s piety; while she prays for
deliverance from defilement, she is unknowingly married to the very source. Her actions reflect
conventional religious devotion. However, her faith proves conditional and fleeting. Upon hearing of
Polybus’ death seemingly disproving of the prophecy that Oedipus would kill his father, Jocasta
abruptly abandons her faith, proclaiming “it’s all chance, chance rules our lives”. By
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Sunset boulevard shows that seeking fame…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 82.5%: The allure of celebrity often conceals the moral, psychological, and social costs lurking beneath its polished…
The allure of celebrity often conceals the moral, psychological, and social costs lurking beneath its polished façade. Billy Wilder’s 1950s film noir, Sunset Boulevard, interrogates the destructive pursuit of fame, exposing the ways socially constructed success can erode ethics and identity, while also acknowledging humanity’s innate longing for validation. Set against the post-war Hollywood studio system—a period dominated by strict contractual control, image management, and the commodification of actors—the film critiques how ambition is manipulated by systemic pressures, creating moral and psychological peril. Through layered characterisation, symbolic mise-en-scène, and meticulously crafted cinematography, Wilder examines the ethical compromises, vulnerabilities, and delusions engendered by stardom, while also demonstrating that principled ambition remains possible.
The corrosive psychological impact of fame is epitomised in Norma Desmond, a former silent film star abandoned by Hollywood with the rise of sound cinema. Her assertion, “I am big! It’s the pictures that got small,” conveys her delusional detachment, masking profound grief and obsessive attachment to past glory. Norma’s character reflects the struggles of silent-era stars displaced by cultural and technological change, highlighting the human susceptibility to vanity and external validation. Wilder’s use of Gothic mise-en-scène—oppressive corridors, decaying chandeliers, and claustrophobic interiors—mirrors her psychological imprisonment, while dramatic chiaroscuro lighting frames Norma’s figure in deep shadow, visually encoding her moral and emotional decay. The audience experiences a mixture of pity, fascination, and foreboding, as Norma’s tragic obsession warns of the psychological hazards of conflating self-worth with celebrity, inviting reflection on both historical Hollywood and contemporary society’s idolisation of fame.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "People of the village have always hated…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: In Shirley Jackson’s *We Have Always Lived in the Castle*, fear functions as both a symptom and a catalyst of…
In Shirley Jackson’s *We Have Always Lived in the Castle*, fear functions as both a symptom and a catalyst of social division. Through the hostility of the villagers and the defensive rituals of the Blackwood sisters, Jackson explores how fear transforms from a rational emotion into a governing force that dictates behaviour and identity. While initially a response to trauma and difference, fear evolves into a self-perpetuating cycle of hatred and isolation. Jackson ultimately portrays fear as the origin of both conflict and containment — a force that sustains power but also imprisons those who rely on it for protection.
From the outset, Jackson positions fear as a socially ingrained response that structures the villagers’ relationship with the Blackwoods. Merricat’s observation that “the people of the village have always hated us” captures the generational nature of this fear, one rooted more in inherited superstition than reason. The villagers’ fear is intertwined with resentment and envy — “they’re afraid of anything that’s different” — reflecting a broader critique of conformity and collective insecurity. The women in the grocery store who “move away quickly” when Merricat enters exemplify how fear manifests as social exclusion, reinforcing the sisters’ otherness. Yet, Jackson complicates this by revealing moments of fascination within fear: the villagers “looked at the house as though it might strike them,” their dread mingling with a voyeuristic curiosity. Through such imagery, Jackson presents fear as performative — an emotion that both alienates and unites the villagers under a shared moral code. This social fear becomes the foundation upon which violence and prejudice are legitimised, exposing Jackson’s warning that communal fear can easily devolve into cruelty masquerading as moral order.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Oedipus the king there is nothing the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: In Oedipus the King, Sophocles presents fate as an inescapable force dictated by the divine, reflecting Athenian…
In Oedipus the King, Sophocles presents fate as an inescapable force dictated by the divine, reflecting Athenian reverence for the Gods’ authority. While the characters cannot alter their destined outcomes, Sophocles reveals that they retain limited agency in how their fates unfold. Through his use of symbolism, dramatic irony, and suffering, the playwright explores humanity’s struggle within divine boundaries, suggesting that though fate is fixed, one’s response to it remains a matter of choice.
In Sophocles' lamentable expose of Greek mythology, the playwright champions fate as an unavoidable consequence of the divine. In his attempt to construct the Gods as an unparalleled force with ancient Greek society the playwright underpins the stage direction depiction of a “stone altar dominating the facade”, employing its sacred connotations to symbolize the omnipresence of the divine throughout the play. This notion is exacerbated by Sophocles through the Aristotelian unity of place, ensuring that the altar is present throughout the duration of the play. In conjunction with the playwright's placement of the altar at the “center” of the stage is physically and metaphorically representative of the omnipotence and influence of the divine authorities throughout the play, serving as an ever present reminder to the audience of this notion. In a similar manner, the playwright attributes “Apollos” miasma of the polis as isolating the “wailing miseries” of Theban suffering with “no sword of thought to save them”. Sophocles' interweaving of lyricism with metaphor elevates the plight of the polis beyond a localised “plague” and into a spectacle of devastation, imbuing their suffering with a divine resonance. Given the Athenian society's value of the intelligence of their leadership, the playwright underpins the chorus’ perceived inability of this value to save them as indicative of the unyielding authority of the divine. In this way the playwright criticizes an overzealous approach to one's intelligence in its fallibility before the Gods and their plague. Continuing in this way, the playwright's portrayal of Sophocles internalized struggle with the “unspeakable, irresistible headwind” of his “prophecy” as it “guides” him to his “fatal harbour” acts to illustrate the inexorable force of the divine. As in the playwright's utilization of nautical imagery as a metaphorical representation of the unyielding force of divine fate Sophocles champions the uncontrollable aspect of the outcomes of fate. Given the pride of Athens in their naval supremacy at the height of the Peloponnesian war, Sophocles attributes fate to being akin to the uncontrollable natural forces that dictate the seas. Thus resonating with Athenians in their understanding of the seas, confronting them with their fallibility in the face of prophecy.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ",Oedipus the King' suggests that…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Sophocles' Greek tragedy, 'Oedipus the King' serves as a cautionary tale of the moral conduct one should be guided…
Sophocles' Greek tragedy, 'Oedipus the King' serves as a cautionary tale of the moral conduct one should be guided by through life. Originally performed during the golden age of Greece around 430 BCE, this didactic play suggests that humility will be rewarded and hubris is sinful, however ultimately, the worst sin is to defy the gods. Sophocles explores how excessive pride is shameful and the impacts on people's status from displaying pride rather than being humble, but above all, Sophocles argues that faith should be placed in the gods and to reject this notion is the worst flaw.
Sophocles portrays hubris as being shameful and a punishable force. In alignment with Greek theatrical conventions, Sophocles uses the chorus as a device to communicate the view of the common person, and depicts the chorus as a reflection of the play's traditional Athenian audience. The chorus describe pride as being "breakneck" and "ruinous". This suggests that the common person was intended to look down on pride and consider it shameful. Likewise, the chorus believe that "pride breeds the tyrant," which indicates how hubris is the cause of a person becoming oppressive and cruel and further establishes pride as being negative. Moreover, Sophocles explores how pride should be punished, as the chorus declare that they will reject anyone who comes into Thebes "high and mighty". This suggests that carrying oneself with pride will cause them to be outcasted by the common people. This is evident through Oedipus, as once succumbing to his fate, the chorus "shrink away" from him, displaying the people's rejection of him which was brought on by his hubris. Likewise, Oedipus being "drive[n] out of Thebes" further demonstrates the punishment that repays pride, as Oedipus is met with exile after previously "out [ranging] all men". This serves as a message for the traditional Athenian audience that excessive pride is sinful and will cause a person to become outcasted, a moral which extends to today's contemporary audience and suggests that hubris is shameful.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: According to ‘High Ground’ reconciliation…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Stephen Johnson’s 2020 revisionist historical drama High Ground reflects on the challenge of reconciling a past…
Stephen Johnson’s 2020 revisionist historical drama High Ground reflects on the challenge of reconciling a past where the massacre of a mob of Yolngu tribespeople establishes the deep divisions between white interlopers and traditional land owners. Rupturing the continuity of Yolngu life, the 1919 massacre elicits a violent response from the survivor Baywarra whose retaliatory campaign against the perpetrators twelve years after the atrocity is motivated by vengeance. The paradoxical response counters Grandfather Darrpa’s adherence to the system of Makarrata and its enshrined practices of consistency and balance. Appropriating a form of justice more in keeping with the values of his adversaries, Baywarra’s quest for justice suggests that vindication is the means through which reconciliation can be achieved. The violence that follows exemplifies the transformative impact of colonisation on Yolngu culture. Symbolising the broader narrative of colonial conquest, the frontier setting of East Arnhem Land becomes the site where seemingly incompatible cultures clash. Observing the conflict play out as the quest to silence Baywarra intensifies, Gutjuk’s allegiances are torn. Subscribing in the end, to the philosophy of a grandfather whose wisdom is reflected in his deference to the natural world, Gutjuk’s decision to reject the violence associated with British justice and in turn his uncle, and to adopt the practice of Makarrata offers a way forward where healing perhaps, suggests Stephen Johnson, can lead to understanding and in turn, reconciliation.
The inconsistency of laws that purport to enforce order and protect both indigenous and non-indigenous peoples is evident in the brutal massacre scene that interrupts the daily rituals and practices of the Yolngu clan. Stephen Maxwell Johnson exposes the fraught nature of justice as the pursuit of two First Nations men wanted for killing a station owner’s cattle results in the brutal massacre of a tribe of seventeen men, women, and children. The indiscriminate murder of the clanspeople is initiated by Eddy’s first shot. Believing that Baywarra is about to attack, his undisciplined actions result in the impulsive shooting of Baywarra. The contrasting midshot of Baywarra, spear in hand, and the cross-shot of Eddy, rifle cocked, highlight the power imbalance that exists as the young hunter attempts to protect his nephew Gutjuk. The barrage of shots that follow generates mayhem and disorder, and the carefully planned mission to bring in the two assailants is exposed as a failure. Not only does Johnson expose the arbitrary application of justice at the hands of those who do not value the lives of the Yolngu people, but he also examines how those who initiate violence can exist with impunity, protected by the laws that they have violated. Confronting viewers with a revisionist interpretation of Australia’s colonial history Johnson challenges the myth of settlement, and in telling this truth, initiates the reconciliation process. Recasting the narrative, scenes of brutality invoke discomfort. Close-up shots of carnage reveal the damage done by indiscriminate and erratic gunfire. Johnson presents the white settlers as debased and uncivilized and in turn, represents the humanity of the Yolngu clan. The familial and cultural dynamic that is shown at the billabong depicts the kinship practices that unite the Yolngu as a community. Shattering the continuity of a way of life that is ritualistic and highly organised, the crime results in the manufacturing of an alibi. The pact between Moran, Eddy, and a reluctant Travis, exemplifies a resistance to speaking the truth, articulating, all the more urgently the importance of reconciliation for an audience of contemporary viewers unfamiliar with a narrative that counters the story of peaceful settlement.
Exposed to competing systems of justice first as a child and later as a teenager, Gutjuk is torn between the lore of his
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does wilder explore peoples desrie for…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Billy Wilder's film noir masterpiece 'Sunset Boulevard' explores the harsh realities and tragedies of the Hollywood…
Billy Wilder's film noir masterpiece 'Sunset Boulevard' explores the harsh realities and tragedies of the Hollywood industry. Through the lens of 1950s Hollywood culture, Wilder's film explores how seeking acceptance and approval of others is a necessity for some to survive, whilst for others approval is something that they must grant. Firstly, Wilder exposes how the urge for acceptance from others directs people into a spiral of unescapable illusions. Secondly, Wilder scorns Hollywood for its allure of fame and the severe extent it forces people to go in order to stay afloat. On the contrary, Sunset Boulevard reveals how power is distributed unequally, with those in privileged positions exerting immense control over the ambitions and livelihood of others.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Jackson uses her novel to criticise a…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: The overbearing social dogmas that underpinned the milieu of 1950s to 60s America permeated prejudice and fear of…
The overbearing social dogmas that underpinned the milieu of 1950s to 60s America permeated prejudice and fear of outsiders. In her proto-feminist gothic novelle 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle', Shirley Jackson chastises the inherent iniquitous nature of this normalcy, unveiling the effects of its villification and suspicion. Ultimately, Jackson's novel serves as a figurative feminist stand against the cyclical hatred and sadism underlying the strictures of society.
In a world of social hate and fear, Jackson explores the evil of those who assert hatred to the marginalised. By constructing the secondary setting of the village as a microcosm of society, the novelist depicts its evident hatred to female non-conformists. In the Blackwood sisters confession that "the people of the village have always hated us", generational hatred and prejudice is fostered. Additionally Jackson explores the simultaneously suspicious nature of the villagers, with Mrs Wright leaving "her little run cake... untouched" out of fear of being poisoned. Combining this sense of fear and suspicion constructs the evil paradigms within society. Allowing for a historical viewpoint could see the village as a social allegory of McCarthyism, punishing those who do not adhere to patriotism and inducing an atmosphere of suspicion within society. Through the portrayal of the village, Jackson lambasts them for their idiotic doctrines, utilising the eye dialect; "anyone would think that they wasn't Wanted." A sense of lower class and stupidity is gathered from this device, and, combined with the gothic convention of the villages "grey" colour, the criticism of a dark society is inferred. Jackson integrates this derision to normalcy to subvert prototypical ideals, believing them to be idiotic and dark antagonistic values. Hence Jackson's low intelligence construction of the village depicts the downfalls and sadism of a prejudiced, fearful paradigms.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The Memory Police highlights the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 67.5%: The Memory Police, a dystopian novel by Yoko Ogawa, explores a society set on a fictional ‘island’, where the…
The Memory Police, a dystopian novel by Yoko Ogawa, explores a society set on a fictional ‘island’, where the residents operate under an authoritarian regime. It is against this backdrop that Ogawa emphasises the importance of resisting injustice by demonstrating the consequences of compliancy. The novel demonstrates the impacts of allowing unjust rules to dictate a society through portraying gradual loss of individuality. Ogawa further emphasises this by establishing that resisting against an oppressive regime enforces a sense of personal freedom, however the author also presents resistance as a challenging path that few dare to take.
Ogawa suggests that compliance with oppressive control leads to the erasure of a sense of identity. The author portrays the residents as passive since ‘no one ever complains’ when something has been ‘disappeared’ by the Memory Police. As objects continue to disappear, so do the personal and emotional meanings attached to them, and with the passive acceptance from the citizens, they lose parts of themselves that tied them to their past. For instance, when birds had vanished, the Memory Police barged in to the Narrator’s home and attempted to ‘eliminate all trace of anything relating to birds’, she states that ‘the traces of [her] father’s presence’ had been ‘replaced by an emptiness that would not be filled’, and that she has ‘found no way to fill in the voids left by the Memory Police’. This highlights how the forceful disappearance of an object caused her to lose something that tied her to an important figure of her life, someone who influenced her identity, because the lack of resistance causes the Memory Police to exploit their power. Ogawa also uses this to emphasise the notion that the disappearances aren’t necessarily about the object itself, but instead the meaning that they hold. This explains why the disappearances are weaponised by the Memory Police to erase individuality within the inhabitants, so they can hold power over complaint individuals which refuse to resist due to their lost sense of self. Therefore, consequences such as loss of individuality are prevalent in a society where there is a lack of resistance.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "I'd started concocting a little plot of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: In the superficial world of Hollywood in post World War II America, Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard explores the…
In the superficial world of Hollywood in post World War II America, Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard explores the unquenchable thirst for external validation within a culture of exhibitionism. In this way, Wilder highlights that most individuals in his film make bad choices; however, he also questions the validity of if these bad decisions are truly choices. Specifically, Wilder showcases that many individuals make bad choices within their relationships leading to these people being exploited. Furthermore, Wilder emphasises that on the search for fame, individuals make bad career choices. However, Wilder emphasises that bad choices are made but not entirely by the individuals and rather as a result of them being manipulated into doing so by Hollywood. Therefore, due to the thirst for external validation, most but not all individuals make bad choices in hope to further their career and receive validation from society.
Wilder showcases that in relationships, many individuals make bad choices that lead to them being exploited by their counterpart. As Joe comforts Norma after cutting herself, Norma is visualised grasping on to Joe as the screen fades to black. Wilder utilises this transition to signify that Joe’s choice to stay with Norma has resulted in him succumbing to Norma’s controlling nature through the sense of resignation and subservience as he allows himself to be pulled into Norma’s embrace. Conversely, this also occurs for Norma as after their first interaction, Joe’s voiceover highlights his exploitation of Norma he “starts concocting a little plot”. Norma's choice to trust Joe after only a brief acquaintance is a clear example of her poor judgement. Her justification, that she 'likes sagittarians,' reveals a naivety that leaves her vulnerable to exploitation. Furthermore, Norma’s absence of judgement in relationships leading to her exploitation is further emphasised through Max’s exploitation of her because he “found everything unendurable after she left”. During this, Wilder's use of chiaroscuro, as he only illuminates half of Max’s face, hints at the duality of Max’s character as his exploitation of Norma in their relationship contributes to Norma’s destruction. This comes as a result of Norma’s bad choice to keep Max around to quench her own thirst for external validation and reinforcement of the belief that she is “the greatest star of them all” which is repeatedly mentioned by Max. Thus, through exploitative relationships, Wilder highlights the extent of individuals that make bad choices leading to their own exploitation.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “Oedipus the king suggests that characters…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: In Sophocle’s didactic tragedy, “Oedipus the King”, the idea of the lack of free will and power of the divine…
In Sophocle’s didactic tragedy, “Oedipus the King”, the idea of the lack of free will and power of the divine gods dictates the extent to which characters have control over their own lives. Whilst Sophocles illustrates the egotistical nature present in the world of Oedipus and the extent to which individuals had free will, inherently the irrefutable element of divine power of the gods overpowered all aspects of life. Ultimately, the inability to remain reverent to the gods presents feelings of despair and hopelessness to his contemporary Athenian audience.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Wilder critique the world of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Intro Para: Centering on Billy Wilder’s 1950 film noir ‘Sunset Boulevard’, Wilder criticizes the exploitative and…
Intro Para:
Centering on Billy Wilder’s 1950 film noir ‘Sunset Boulevard’, Wilder criticizes the exploitative and dark world of the Hollywood scene and its treatment of silent film stars come the emerging era of sound in film in the 1930s, leading to the displacement of silent actresses and actors, discarded and rendered obsolete, their only option to succumb to their demise of obscurity.
Norma Desmond serves as the embodiment of Hollywood’s rejection of silent film stars and its relative effect on identity–Norma, a ‘bygone starlet of yesteryear’, becomes victim to her delusions of fame and recognition. Her entire identity is built on her celebrity image as a star, to which her goals are motivated by the idea of her ‘return to fame’ in producing her screenplay, ‘Salome’. Notably, Salome is an intertextual reference to the New Testament, Salome being the daughter of King Herod the second, a seductive and alluring figure who performs ‘the dance of the seven veils’ in exchange for the head of John the Baptist.
Para 1: The Nature of Hollywood
Norma, in her desperation, hires cynic protagonist and down on his luck screenwriter Joe Gillis to help her with the script, where he becomes trapped within the allure of Norma’s wealth and the comfortable lifestyle that it provides him with. When the audience first witnesses the mansion, the scene is taken in a wide shot, exaggerating just how large and grandeur the place is. Joe describes it as “stricken with a creeping paralysis” and “a great, white elephant of a place.” Wilder’s use of dialogue in Joe’s narration alludes to the mansion being a metaphorical representation of the Hollywood industry–a grand, flashy place that conceals a hidden darkness, unable to be perceived unless one has been immersed into it.
Joe sweet talks Norma into letting him work on the script in his desperate need of financial assets. In doing so, he is under the impression that he is the one who holds power over Norma, an unassuming fallen star, quoting: “I’d concocted a little plot of my own.” He comes to realise that he does not hold the power over Norma that he’d initially thought, rendered unable to free himself from his comfortable, yet limiting lifestyle in the mansion.
This subjective ‘entrapment’ draws on key themes that Wilder suggests in criticizing the Hollywood scene. Joe’s compromise of his morals in his pursuit of ‘the easy life’ and financial gain demonstrates the allure of Hollywood, as well as the self serving goals of the film industry in the desire for money and fame, corrupting the virtues of genuine artistic passion and fulfillment in film and screenwriting, which leads to the self-destruction and moral decay of the characters themselves.
Para 2: The nature of celebrity and the ‘golden ages’
Wilder seeks to demonstrate the damaging effect of fame and stardom in illustrating Norma’s delusions and obsessions with her return to the film industry, in her disarrayed pursuit of recognition and praise.
Gloria Swanson’s portrayal of Norma encapsulates the effect of celebrity and star power as a star falls from relevancy – in fact, Norma serves as her parallel, speaking on Swanson’s real experiences in the Hollywood scene in her loss of fame following the transition from silent films to sound and dialogue.