VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent do the characters in the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 82.5%: Sophocles’ 5th-century BC tragedy Oedipus the King serves as a poignant reminder of the inexorable cruelty of…
Sophocles’ 5th-century BC tragedy Oedipus the King serves as a poignant reminder of the inexorable cruelty of fate. Written for the Festival of Dionysus to honour the Greek pantheon, the play reflects key Athenian values necessary within Ancient Greece, endorsing the notion that only through suffering do individuals learn life’s lessons. Through Oedipus’ hubris, Sophocles exposes mankind’s ignorance towards acting modestly. Likewise, Jocasta’s profane dismissal of prophecy embodies humanity’s dangerous inclination to dismiss spiritual truths in favour of rational understanding. Ultimately, Sophocles potrays a society wavering between devotion and despair, revealing that only after enduring tragedy can one grasping life’s lessons.
Oedipus’ excessive pride exemplifies his failure to learn life’s lesson of acting in moderation. Whilst Athenian society championed the value of sophrosyne - the need for balance and moderation - his sheer disregard of the ideal demonstrates his inability to internalise the central societal expectation. Indeed, believing he can “equal the gods” by attempting to “grant [the Thebans] prayers” exemplifies the height of his ego, so mounting that he holds the fallacious belief that a mere human can equal the likes of the omnipresent beings. However, by elevating the audience to the ubiquitous viewpoint of the gods themselves, they are aware of the irony in Oedipus’ own hubristic actions, given that he is doomed to destruction, as his fate has been fulfilled prior to the play's opening. Juxtaposing his arrogance against the moderation of “noble Creon”, Sophocles accentuates Oedipus’ failure to learn life’s lessons as he scorns “the truth” from Tireseas that “[he is] the murderer [he] hunts” rather than accept culpability like Creon. Indeed, his brother-in-law, upon facing accusations of “scheming against [Oedipus]”, is immediately is left with “no desire to linger out [his] life”, accepting that his “reputation is in ruins” instead of pointing to conspiracy as Oedipus does, the action stemmed from his deeply-rooted insecurity of his authority. Nevertheless, Oedipus continuously demonstrates his failure to act in moderation as his hubris consumes his pursuits to “find the murderer”, compelling him to reject warnings and accept counsel from those around him, ignoring Jocasta’s dissuasion to “call off [the] search” out of his own arrogance. Indeed, his proclivity to “move quickly” instead of “calmly, rationally” as opposed to Creon further reinforces Oedipus’ failure to learn life’s lessons to act in moderation. Subsequently, Sopohcles warns against individuals' excessive tendencies through Oedipus’ eventual destruction, with his tragic peripeteia cautioning ancient and modern audiences alike of the danger in not learning to uphold sophrosyne. Yet in his very blinding, Sophocles symbolises Oedipus’ attainment of knowledge, as similarly to Tireasias, he is left physically blinded but granted with metaphorical sight, coherent of the truth, as well as the necessity to respect prophecy. Conceding that “Apollo, he ordained [his] agencies” highlights Oedipus’ acceptance of the supremacy of the gods, realising that their divine will will inevitably unfold regardless of any human attempts to evade prophecy. Thus, through his mutilation, Sophocles suggests that Oedipus finally learns life’s lessons, submitting to the gods.
Additionally, Jocasta’s dismissal of divine prophecy
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: how does Sunset Boulevard explore the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Wilder critiques how ambition is corrupted by Hollywood's ruthless system exposing how men and women are forced…
Wilder critiques how ambition is corrupted by Hollywood's ruthless system exposing how men and women are forced to pursue success through very different gendered roles. The film's opening shot depicts the iconic Paramount logos, only to pan down to the title 'SUNSET BLVD' painted on a grimy gutter strip. This subverts audience expectations and equates Hollywood 'trash' foreshadowing Hollywood's darker underbelly. Such corruption festers underneath Hollywood's idolised facade, exemplified by Joe's floating dead body splayed in a star like shape. Ironically, only in death does Joe achieve his ambition of stardom, bleakly revealing the dangers of trying to 'make it' in Hollywood. Yet Wilder highlights that Joe's ambition is tied to his masculinity. Unable to succeed as a screenwriter, he exploits Norma's wealth and affection becoming femenised as a 'kept man', his survival dependant on women. Conversely, Norma's individuality is relegated to merely an 'old time Star' demonstrating how women are discarded once their beauty fades and thus denied ambition altogether. The barrage of camera flashes capturing Joe's
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “Master! How is he my master? Am I a…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Amongst the gothic landscapes and domestic spaces of the 18th century England, Charlotte Bronte's seminal…
Amongst the gothic landscapes and domestic spaces of the 18th century England, Charlotte Bronte's seminal bildungsroman 'Jane Eyre' published in 1847, interrogates oppressive forces of authority and exposes the struggle for female identity and independence within rigid social structures that positions women as a "servant" to their "master". Bronte contends that institutions of authority attempt to destruct personal identity, which can only exist through defiance or the breakdown of typical power structures. Initially, independent identity is seen to be gained from an enduring resistance to oppressive authority displayed through the symbolism of Jane's neglected early years. Additionally, powerful societal patriarchal structures attempt to destruct female identity through control seen in the relationship between Jane and Rochester. Moreover, identity can only be fostered once authority is deconstructed and a relationship is equal morally and financially as depicted in the novel's romantic denouement.
Initially, Bronte fortifies that oppressive forces of authority can trigger the development of an independent identity through resistance of societal expectations. Throughout Jane's childhood she was continuously "termed naughty and tiresome" by her Aunt guardian and cousins, who falsely accuse her of being immoral and burdensome due to her poor orphan status in the 18th century. This encourages Jane's alienation and internalised shame as a child which leads to her formative denial of independence, envisioning herself as a "rock standing up alone in a sea of billow and spray." Bronte illustrates Jane's refusal to accept her dependence despite her youth and powerlessness though utilising symbolism, illustrating how she is hard and unmoving, like the rock, against the relentless physical and emotional abuse from her family. In this way, this early development of resilience forms the bedrock of Jane's later defiance against controlling institutions. Through doing this, Bronte exposes the unjust authority adults believed they had over minors in the Victorian era, and how the mistreatment of guardian-child power dynamics could lead to a child developing resistance to authoritarian figures. This mistreatment manifests into punitive punishment when Jane is crying "out, while suffocating with distress" in the Red Room. Bronte employs the gothic trope of the fainting woman to lend a sense of horror to Jane's situation and thus confront Victorian readers. This allows Bronte to express subversive ideas about childhood resistance through the acceptable frame of popular literary conventions. In this case, the Red Room also acts as a symbolic representation of the confinement of females and individuals of lower social status in society, displaying Jane's entrapment not only physically but in the care of the Reeds as a dependent child. Jane is resisting of this punishment, allowing Bronte to explore how when an authoritarian figure exerts unjust mistreatment upon a child, It doesn't condition them to be obedient, it instead acts as a catalyst for the development of a defiant identity for it is a natural instinct to uphold authority over oneself. Through the use of symbolism and metaphoric imagery, Bronte implores that an independent identity is formed through the resistance to immoral forces of authority.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Rainbow’s End reveal that…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Set in 1950s Victoria, a time period characterised by white hegemony and oppressive society, Jane Harrison…
Set in 1950s Victoria, a time period characterised by white hegemony and oppressive society, Jane Harrison reinvents how empowerment is earned through her play, “Rainbow’s End”, which follows the lives of three generations of Koori women as they navigate their own challenges in their lives, overcoming past disappointments, finding themselves in a racist society, and ties between family and country. The playwright suggests that empowerment does not come without the self-respect needed to conquer agency over one’s life. This begins with pushing societal barriers, challenging those who may feel they have control over your own self-worth, and understanding that you build this empowerment without the validation of others.
Harrison emphasises the importance of breaking down societal barriers to earn your own empowerment. Gladys is characterised as a fierce and hopeful woman when it comes to fighting for a progressive future for herself and her community. She is determined to challenge what is expected of Aboriginal women, doing so through her speech, “We demand to be heard”, as she challenges not only white values by refusing to condemn racist values and falling to an oppressive society, as she fights for her community’s rights. Gladys goes beyond the expectations of Aboriginal women by taking her stance on the podium in place of Papa Dear through the playwright's purposeful theatrical directions ----- “She marches up to the podium”, and asserts herself in taking what is considered to be a “man’s job”. This stage direction symbolises her destroying gender barriers as a Koori woman and asserting authority for her own beliefs and rights, as Harrison specifies she “marches”, indicating that her choice is an active and defiant one. Further empowering herself as she passes the societal expectations as an Aboriginal woman. The playwright culminates in the need to go beyond societal barriers to empower oneself.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Charlotte Brontë's iconoclastic bildungsroman Jane Eyre (1847) divulges the complex experience of the female…
Charlotte Brontë's iconoclastic bildungsroman Jane Eyre (1847) divulges the complex experience of the female psyche within 19th century Victorian England. Indelibly, Brontë elucidates that women are conscious, intellectual, human beings capable of forging independent paths not only as a possibility but the singular avenue to attaining happiness despite an oppressive Victorian Society. Brontë champions rebellion by portraying it as the catalyst for the intrinsic learnings necessary in transcendence against patriarchal convention. Forby, Brontë endorses the female pursuit of moral autonomy as just right rather than an extreme desperation. Collectively through the self-determination of female fate Brontë espouses the choice to return to love despite prejudiced Victorian society.
Both physically and emotionally, Brontë champions defiance by portraying it as the catalyst for intrinsic learnings and transcendence against patriarchal convention. Brontë imminently conceptualises this notion in the novels orientation within volume I, to establish patriarchal oppression as a systemic part of the bildungsroman; as an accurate reflection of the values within contemporaneous Victorian society. This notion is typified within Gateshead Hall etymologically symbolising the setting as a liminal threshold - a gate - promising entry but foreboding entrapment. Within this entrapment Jane Eyre, a nine-year-old orphan dependent is domestically "accustomed, to John reads abuse " - her tyrannical male cousin 14 years old. However, subverting proprietary Bronte orchestrates John's inflicting - "he struck suddenly and strongly "- alliteratively emphasising unjust, spontaneity and brutality, to induce Janes's indignant verbal retaliation "wicked and cruel boy-you are like a murderer ". Here, Bronte employs poignant vernacular to engender Jane's unrestrained feelings; emotions that should be suppressed due to her resistance as both a female and plebian dependent ", especially in relation to her "master reed". This emotional outburst is reinforced by the protagonists obscured recollection "I don't… know what I did with my hands, but…" Indicating the climax of Janes passion causing her to physically reprimand her 'superior' Master. Thus, testifying Jane's physical and emotional rebellion against patriarchal dictates. Through this rebellion, Bronte catalyses Jane's indelible learnings from her trauma in the red room; to evolve her resilience and morality. Moreover, Jane's retaliation at Gateshead Hall concurs her journey to Lowood. Here, Bronte utilises pathetic fallacy, making the "rain, wind and darkness" consistently explicit, to fortify Lowood in a mist of ubiquitous oppression. Despite this setting, Bronte employ's Miss Temple's characterisation, who's "friendship and society had been [Jane's] continual solace"; presenting her as a strong mother figure and guide assisting Jane's transcendence - "to Miss temple I owed the best of my acquirements" - thusly assisting Jane's elevation to "the first girl of the first class "and then to her position as a "governance". Therefore Brontë employs the intellectual rebellion of education as a vessel for Jane's transcendence above the conventional prejudice imminently bestowed on her from birth due to her social and gendered inferiority. Cumulativley, Bronte leverages Jane's characterisation as an emblem of the wider oppressed population within Victorian society; thus elucidating that transcendence against systemically entrenched patriarchal domination is only enabled through consistent rebellion.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “I wish to be a better man than I have…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Against the backdrop of Victorian England's strict class divisions and religious fervour, Charlotte Bronte's Jane…
Against the backdrop of Victorian England's strict class divisions and religious fervour, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre interrogates ideas of social inequality, personal integrity, and spiritual growth. The novel presents Jane Eyre as a journey of redemption through exposing oneself to experiences that ultimately guide ones character into reclamation. For it is Bronte's endorsement of authentic, compassionate, and personal spirituality that help to tailor and inform religious awakening. Furthermore, Bronte reveals that moral temptation proves as a time of religious doctrine, allowing for revival. Finally, Bronte discloses that one must endure downfall to gain reclamation, in which only then is the belief in spirituality earned. Ultimately, it is Bronte's shaping of spiritual values that paints true faith as part of moral strength and emotional honesty, and thus is reflective of the trajectory to salvation and renewal of self.
Bronte's endorses the authentic, compassionate, and personal religious doctrine by shaping them as elements that help to tailor religious awakening. Indeed, Bronte structures her bildungsroman to mirror the spiritual pilgrimage of her protofeminist protagonist; Jane Eyre; from moral neglect to spiritual and emotional reconciliation. The ignition of this journey is situated in Volume 1, the rising action, whereby Jane finds herself at Lowood Institution. The gothic representation of the "blighted shrubs", symbiotic to the sibilant phrase, "scanty supply of food" pervades Lowood as both an austere, oppressive milieu and a time of religious oppression and testament. During this neglective period is Jane's embryonic development of her own spiritual awakening, which is informed by female figures, of such the characterization of Helen Burns. Candidly, Helen offers her religious advice through her direct manner and imperial sentencing, "observe what He says, how He acts, make his word your rule, and His conduct your example." Here, the repetitious phrase of "He" prevail Helen's passive submission to God, by which she is representative of the ideals and notions of Christian stoicism, embodying a great degree of forgiveness. It is here where Bronte seeks to illuminate that compassion and a submission to evangelicalism can provide religious guidance for oneself, in which furthers Jane's spiritual pilgrimage and religious awakening. While Helen submits passively to injustice, Jane begins to form her own moral framework, supporting her trajectory for self-autonomy. This notion is pervaded through the critiquing nature of the Church through the characterization of Mr. Brocklehurst, the owner of the oppressive Lowood institution. Upon first meeting, Brocklehurst attempts to instil religious ideals into Jane through weaponizing his religion; "you have a wicked heart. And you must pray to God to change it." It is here where the defamatory language of "wicked" seeks to illuminate the Church's unjust use of religion against another. This religious hypocrisy is prevalent through the observational commentary of Jane using the Brothers Grim 'Little Red Riding Hood', executing exclamatory sentences of "great nose! And what a mouth! And large prominent teeth!" This seeks to portray the Church as predatorial, in which Jane is able to deflect, and rather formulates her own spiritual awakening through those whom are of utmost importance – Helen. To overrule, Jane is tailored by the experiences surrounding her, in which allows herself to shape an early understanding of religion and undergo spiritual awakening, guiding her to redemption. Ultimately, Bronte prioritizes Christian authenticity over religious hypocrisy, in which both are crucial for shaping the journey of spiritual inclination and later redemption.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Johnson portrays the injustices/violence/rev…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Asked to summarise the motive behind his 2020 revisionist western film, ‘High Ground’, Stephen Maxwell Johnson…
Asked to summarise the motive behind his 2020 revisionist western film, ‘High Ground’, Stephen Maxwell Johnson states, “It’s a story about redemption hope and love”, exploring the harsh realities of the dispossession of Yolngu people’s Arnhem Land, through the systemic oppression brought about by the ethnocentric colonisers. Contention (specific) While the film exposes the violence caused by the injustices towards the Yolngu people, it persists to hint at hope. Points (flow)The colonisers are portrayed as the instigators of the lack of justice, their perverted view of truth resulting in bloodshed, causing the Yolngu people to respond out of their pursuit of justice. big point=Ultimately, Johnson aims to provide an unfiltered, darker truth of Australian history, prompting the viewership to rethink the Australian story.
Johnson depicts colonial forces as the cause of the cyclical violence during the Frontier Wars. Their immorality is due to their ethnocentric views of white superiority, fuelling their actions to rule over the land.
Chunk 1
Johnson opens his film with an empty dark screen, nothing but the diegetic sounds of birds peacefully chirping can be heard in the soundscore, immediately encouraging viewers to envision the natural landscape and connect with the country. Through an aerial drone shot, circling around the Nimbauwah Rock, the sun emerging over the horizon marking a new day, coupled with traditional music, a low hum accompanied with a didgeridoo, Johnson cinematically illustrates the glamorous beauty of the natural landscape of Arnhem land, evoking a palpable reverence for land and its caretakers.
However, this breathtaking scenery is starkly juxtaposed with violence, bloodshed and gore when Johnson cuts to the scene of the initial massacre. A point of view shot depicts Travis’ watchful gaze as he pans the scenery below him, illustrated through the cross hairs of his gun as he observes the peaceful actions of the Yolngu women and children playing. Here, the motif of the gun is first introduced, a tool used by colonial figures to assert power and gain physical highground, “gaining control” over the predator and prey relationship. Moreover, Travis’ panning of his crosshair onto his comrades, elucidates his viewing of them as potential threats, prey, foreshadowing his unbiased motives and actions, regardless of race.
Braddock “you let em know we don’t want any trouble”--Robbed with fear, braddock sits by a tree, frothing in the mouth, framed as a powerless individual. Indeed, Johnson paints colonial religion as impotent, devoid of power, only emblemised by colonial forces to exert their control.
-trigger happy, blood thirsty
-Johnon condemns the avaricious desire to expand colonial control which reflects the greed that underpinned much of the systemic violence as they prioritised land over Indigenous lives.
Diegetic sounds of birds chirping morph into high pitched squawks as handheld camera and fast paced editing accentuates the havoc caused. A low angle, close up encapsulates a Yolngu lady’s terrified face, her fearful facial expressions conveying her helplessness and vulnerability.After the massacre, Johnson employs a longshot fo the red sky, smoke rising into the air, symbolising the destruction caused by the violence of the colonisers and the polluting effect it has on nature, FORESHADOWING THE DESTRUCTION THAT COLONIALISM WILL BRING TO NATURE AND THE CARETAKERS OF THE LAND shown later in the film.
Chunk 2-church
With the use of mise en scene, Johnson illuminates colonial assimilation of the Yolngu people, particularly exemplified in the scene of the church. Through a fullshot, Johnson encapsulates a hollow makeshift church, dilapidated, nothing but a wooden frame. Gutjuk, dressed in European clothes, rings the church bell — a gesture emblematic of his forced assimilation. Braddock’s sermon, quoting Isaiah 5:8 — “What sorrow for you who buy up house after house...” — drips with irony as the colonisers embody the very greed they condemn. A close-up of a gum leaf bookmarking Braddock’s Bible symbolises the fragility of Indigenous identity under colonial influence. The leaf, out of place and destined to wither, reflects how Indigenous culture is suffocated under foreign religious and political systems. Thus, Johnson exposes assimilation not as a gesture of benevolence, but as a quiet violence.
Chunk 3
Moreso, through his meta referential use of Moran’s camera, Johnson sheds light on colonial power’s attempts to contort history when he captures a photo of Travis and two Yolngu men beside a crocodile. Johnson recruits a point of view shot of Moran peering into the camera, an upside down image with sides darkened, denoting the twisting of reality as he commands the Yolngu men to “get down” while Travis remains standing underscoring the power imbalance and racial divide between coloniser and colonised. Moran’s racist remarks, commanding the Yolngu men to kneel down, almost at the same height level of the deceased crocodile, mirror the decadence, moral decay and dehumanizing effect brought about by colonialism, alluding to the historical Australian census where Indigenous Australians were identified as fauna. As he takes the photo, Moran mutters that “it is the responsibility of those who make history to record it” before he exits out of his dark cloak covering him up from the sunlight, drawing parallels with how colonial powers attempted to conceal their brutality with visual propaganda to rewrite historical narratives, creating a facade of the truth.
Johnson depicts the response from the Yolngu tribe. Some react in violence while the morally upright seek justice through peace.
Chunk 1
Through the framed narrative of the “burning station”, Baywara is characterised as engrossed with violence, keen on forcing justice through retribution. In real time, Moran is seated around a campfire at night, telling Eddy and Travis of the “[killing] of a white woman” by the “wild mob”, cutting to a close up of the campfire, Johnson cleverly transitions to a flashback of the wild mob “burning stations, killing livestock and wreaking havoc”. Baywara is framed, atop an elevated rock, flames dancing around him in the dark night sky as a station man escapes shouting that “the black bastards will pay for this”. With the clever use of mise en
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Sunset Boulevard challenge…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Through the fabulous and glamorous set of 1950’s Hollywood, Billy Wilder vividly depicts the horrific beauty…
Through the fabulous and glamorous set of 1950’s Hollywood, Billy Wilder vividly depicts the horrific beauty standards and idolisation of youth through Sunset Boulevard. This is demonstrated through the brutal Hollywood’s star factory’s grotesque standards in order for individuals to achieve success and fame in the industry. Additionally, the horrendous appeal to gender expectations regarding women and their duty to uphold their beauty and youth, Furthermore, how the relentless standards of success lead to characters in Sunset Boulevard’s ultimate downfall and inevitable destruction. Thus, Wilder’s devastating film ‘Sunset Boulevard’ highlights the relentless standards of 1950’s American society, and the inevitable harm and destruction of characters due to their attempts of upholding them.
From the outset, Wilder demonstrates the horrendous standards and expectations set by the Hollywood star factory for individuals desperate for success in the film industry. Joe's visual composition of Norma's house evokesit being illustrated as “neglected” and “decaying.” The gothic undertone and the high shot of the haunted house highlights the relentless standards of Hollywood being portrayed through Joe, preferring beauty and youth and discarding people once they lose these preferred qualities. Additionally, the ill health of Shelldrake, having a “set of ulcers” due to the toll and stress brought upon him maintaining Hollywood’s unrealistic standards of success. Depicted in chiaroscuro lighting, with shadows casted over half of his face, Shelldrake's silloutte is swallowed by a shadow, represented as a grotesque product of the Hollywood industry, half corrupted by the horrific standards but still grasping onto the last string of humanity. Furthermore, the high angle shot of Norma at Paramount studios demonstrates the power imblanace of success and fast moving nature of Hollywood. With Demille’s unrevoking comment to Hogseye through “Turn that camera to where it really belongs,” after being shone on Norma represents the disposal nature of the Hollywood star factory, metaphorically contrasts wanting beautiful and youthful individuals striving for success over aging products of the film industry, desperate to return to fame like Norma. Thus, the harmful standards of Hollywood can be juxtaposed through the treatment of individuals yearning for success and fame to uphold the brutal standards of the Hollywood film industry.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In High Ground, it is impossible for…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: An individual's past experiences shape the subsequent trajectory of their life. Stephen Maxwell Johnson's 2020…
An individual's past experiences shape the subsequent trajectory of their life.
Stephen Maxwell Johnson's 2020 revisionist western film, High Ground, operates as a confronting historical drama that interrogates the ideological ramifications of Australia's frontier wars. Set in 1930s Arnhem land, the film reframes the frontier saga through a post-colonial lens, revealing how settler colonialism fractures identity and erases First Nation sovereignty. Through the coming of age of the protagonist, Gutjuk - a young Yolngu man caught between competing worldviews, Johnson explores the extent to which individuals remain inextricably bound to the past. This notion is exemplified through Johnson's critique of how colonial brutality persists as an enduring force that perpetuates histories of injustices and binds individuals to cycles of violence. Similarly, Johnson espouses that the inescapability of the past manifests through inherited frameworks, whereby Yolngu continuity is anchored in cyclical ties to country while European settlers remain bound to the Crown and imperial law. Nevertheless, Johnson postulates that the weight of the past can be resisted through self-realisation and reclamation of cultural identity which transcends imposed identities.
Johnson underscores how colonial brutality endures beyond generations, sustained through hegemonic institutions that distort truth and perpetuate cycles of domination. Johnson exemplifies this notion through exposing the hypocrisy of colonial religion, highlighting how the weaponisation of Christianity legitimises violence while masking its brutality in a veneer of moral authority. During the massacre, Braddock deliberately places his Bible away, as if shielding the sacred text from the atrocities to come - a gesture that crystallises the ethical rupture between Christian teachings and the colonial expansion they are used to justify. This foreshadows the hollowness of his later sermon delivered with the cross visually aligned behind his head, conflating his personal with divine authority. He begins with the verse, "what sorrow for those who buy house after house and field after field", which in its biblical context, condemns greed and land accumulation. In doing so, Johnson foregrounds the irony of such hollow words spoken by a man complicit in the very dispossession the verse condemns. This selective, self-serving application of scripture that is stripped of ethical substance and repurposed to reinforce authority, amplifies the hypocrisy Johnson seeks to expose, suggesting the rhetoric that such rhetoric not only fails to protect the oppressed, but actively sanctifies their oppression. The unattended, closed Bible in the foreground of the bench further symbolises how holy scripture has become a performative prop rather than a lived philosophy. Johnson extends this critique to the myth through colonial photographs, exposing how violence endures in archives that sanctify erasure under the
guise of "civilisation" and a "duty to uphold" the law. The predator-prey motif is visually elucidated through point of view rifle shots, which unsettlingly position the First Nations people in the same visual field as flora and fauna. This alignment dehumanises them, rendering them as prey to be hunted, while simultaneously positioning the European settlers as predators who monopolise the "high ground". This motif is amplified through the inversion of photography, which embodies the moral inversion of colonial logic as what is sacred becomes criminalised and what is violent is rationalised as law. Moreover, commander Myan's imperious assertion that "it's the responsibility of those who create history to record it", encapsulates the Eurocentric convention that history begins only once inscribed by the colonizer, ensuring that colonial domination endures beyond the immediacy of violence. Such logic renders the past as unescapable through the systematic erasure of over 60,000 years of First Nations law, culture and traditions, perpetuating the myth of terra nullius which falsely declared the land empty and devoid of sovereignty prior to European arrival. In this way, Johnson reveals that colonial brutality endures through entrenched institutions, ensuring that the past remains an indelible burden.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “There’s nothing tragic about being fifty.…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 82.5%: Hollywood sells dreams of glamour and eternal youth, but Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard exposes the destructive…
Hollywood sells dreams of glamour and eternal youth, but Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard exposes the destructive illusions beneath its glittering surface. Through voiceover narration, film noir conventions, and Gothic imagery, the film critiques the culture of obsession with fame, youth, and reinvention. Wilder reveals Hollywood’s hidden side by exposing its indifference to human dignity, its entrapment of individuals in cycles of deception, and its commodification of love and identity.
Hollywood’s hidden indifference to truth is revealed from the opening moments of the film. Joe’s voiceover insists, “But before you hear it all distorted and blown out of proportion, before those Hollywood columnists get their hands on it, maybe you’d like to hear the facts. The whole truth.” This sets the stage for a world where stories are distorted for publicity and scandal. Norma’s apparent popularity is similarly fabricated, as Max forges her fan letters to maintain the illusion that she is still adored. This deception is reinforced when Norma visits DeMille at Paramount Studios, convinced her screenplay is being seriously considered. Rather than telling her outright that she is obsolete, DeMille allows her to linger in her fantasy, softly addressing her as “little fella” and instructing his staff not to disturb her illusions. His refusal to confront Norma’s obsolescence illustrates how Hollywood shields its stars from the brutal truth, preferring to indulge in their delusions rather than acknowledge the industry’s ruthless disposability. Betty’s discovery of Joe’s compromised life and her obvious heartbreak illustrates that even those who strive for authenticity cannot escape Hollywood’s culture of deception in exposing this culture of silence. Wilder highlights the industry’s complicity in sustaining lies for the sake of appearances, a world where truth has no value if it undermines the Hollywood dream.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Sunset Boulevard challenge…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: Through the fabulous and glamorous set of 1950’s Hollywood, Billy Wilder vividly depicts the horrific beauty…
Through the fabulous and glamorous set of 1950’s Hollywood, Billy Wilder vividly depicts the horrific beauty standards and idolisation of youth through Sunset Boulevard. This is demonstrated through the brutal Hollywood’s star factory’s grotesque standards in order for individuals to achieve success and fame in the industry. Additionally, the horrendous appeal to gender expectations regarding women and their duty to uphold their beauty and youth, Furthermore, how the relentless standards of success lead to characters in Sunset Boulevard’s ultimate downfall and inevitable destruction. Thus, Wilder’s devastating film ‘Sunset Boulevard’ highlights the relentless standards of 1950’s American society, and the inevitable harm and destruction of characters due to their attempts of upholding them.
From the outset, Wilder demonstrates the horrendous standards and expectations set by the Hollywood star factory for individuals desperate for success in the film industry. This can be demonstrated through Joe’s vivid depiction of Norma’s house, being illustrated as “neglected” and “decaying.” The gothic undertone and the high shot of the haunted house highlights the relentless standards of Hollywood being portrayed through Joe, preferring beauty and youth and discarding people once they lose these preferred qualities. Additionally, the ill health of Shelldrake, having a “set of ulcers” due to the toll and stress brought upon him maintaining Hollywood’s unrealistic standards of success. Depicted in chiaroscuro lighting, with shadows casted over half of his face, Shelldrake is represented as a grotesque product of the Hollywood industry, half corrupted by the horrific standards but still grasping onto the last string of humanity. Furthermore, the high angle shot of Norma at Paramount studios demonstrates the power imblanace of success and fast moving nature of Hollywood. With Demille’s unrevoking comment to Hogseye through “Turn that camera to where it really belongs,” after being shone on Norma represents the disposal nature of the Hollywood star factory, metaphorically contrasts wanting beautiful and youthful individuals striving for success over aging products of the film industry, desperate to return to fame like Norma. Thus, the harmful standards of Hollywood can be juxtaposed through the treatment of individuals yearning for success and fame to uphold the brutal standards of the Hollywood film industry.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Where does Sophocles’ play lay the blame…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: In Sophocles' classic tragedy, Oedipus the king, the playwright establishes a problematic microcosm in which human…
In Sophocles' classic tragedy, Oedipus the king, the playwright establishes a problematic microcosm in which human beings must negotiate contrary forces, in order to survive. In Oedipus the king, Sophocles highlights that the tragedy resulted from the inescapable forces and destructive nature of humans. Sophocles warns that pride, defiance of divine will and the uncontrolled search for truth can lead to one’s downfall. Within the play, the unchangeable will of the gods creates a fate that no human being can escape, which ensures tragic outcomes. Furthermore, excessive human pride accelerates destruction which results in tragedy. Lastly, the uncontrolled constant pursuit for truth is presented as both heroic and dangerous but also results in one’s personal destruction, which ultimately leads to tragic outcomes.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Sunset Boulevard shows the damage caused…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Wilder sheds light on the role of the audience and media in perpetuating harm on famous personalities. 1950’s…
Wilder sheds light on the role of the audience and media in perpetuating harm on famous personalities. 1950’s Hollywood was built on the ‘Star System’ in which the publicity of young “stars” were offered to audiences as an escape from their monotonous or dreary lives. The exploitation of this system is evident in the industry’s perception of “silent film queen” Norma as a commodity to be used and disposed of according to her profitability. The audience enables such disposability by conforming to Hollywood’s obsession with unattainable eternal youth and beauty, leaving Norma “twenty years ago" after her youth expired. The extent of escapism certain audiences’ participated in during her prime, sending her “seventeen thousand fan letters” in a week or going as far as “strangling” oneself with her “stockings,” created the illusion that such adoration was too “great” to be ephemeral. Wilder’s portrayal of Norma’s overarching pursuit of her former glory is a product of her desire to
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: 'l was the anomaly wherever we lived." How…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: The flaws in the apartheid in South Africa are explored through events in Trevor Noah's memoir 'Born A Crime'…
The flaws in the apartheid in South Africa are explored through events in Trevor Noah's memoir 'Born A Crime' (2016). In his memoir, Noah recalled events linked to belonging and racism, explored the sexism present before and post-apartheid, and even documented his time in prison. These three events in the text prove that 'Born A Crime' revealed the flaws of South Africa post-apartheid.
Despite knowing multiple languages, race superiority stopped Noah from fitting into his environment. Noah recalls the times he had to deal with being mixed, his real father avoiding the law to be with him, the kids at his “H.M.” Jack” isolating him and the kids at the mulberry tree rejecting him. The previously labelled “perfect racism” apartheid provided in South Africa, is avoided by Noah's parents, his dad was able to "visit [him] indoors" and was allowed to "walk across the road" from him. Noah paints the rules of the Apartheid as not fully severe, Including humorous stories with his parents to highlight the easy ways to avoid the apartheid laws. Then, Noah highlights the isolation he faced in "H. M. Jack", describing that he was "too black" for the white kids, "too white for the black kids, and hated by the mixed kids for speaking English. Noah paints himself as a "cultural chameleon" or a "drug dealer in parties" to describe his life in social circles, where he was allowed to party, but for not too long. Noah recalls to the time white kids rejected him due to his appearance, he spoke perfect English, but the kids were only mad because "they thought that [he] was superior"; Noah uses this moment to expose the clear flaw in the apartheid system, even language barriers being overcome do not prevent racism. These three events in the memoir prove that the text reveals many flaws in the apartheid in South Africa through Noah's experiences.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Discovering the truth is as dangerous as…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Oedipus The King is a Greek tragedy which is set in Thebes was performed to an Athenian audience to serve as a…
Oedipus The King is a Greek tragedy which is set in Thebes was performed to an Athenian audience to serve as a moral lesson about human behaviour. Sophocles conveys that the truth will often cause harm, however the truth is necessary for justice and development. Oedipus The King emphasizes that whether you ignore truth or search for it, it can still harm you. However, the playwright indicates that the truth is necessary for justice, order and development. Ultimately, Sophocles endeavours to highlight the impact of the truth for all members of society.
The playwright accentuates that discovering the truth about the past is dangerous, regardless of the moral drive to find the truth. Throughout the play, Oedipus is set on a quest for identity leading by his hubris, leading to his tragic fall. Oedipus' ultimately leads to his peripeteia where no "grief can crown [his] grief". Sophocles intends to convey that by subsiding his quest for justice, Oedipus is selfish, posing this as an unadmirable trait that young Athenian males should adopt. Additionally, Sophocles conveys that as his journey was lead by his desire for the truth, this is what ultimately leads to her ruin, framing him as a tragic hero. During Oedipus' quest for identity, Oedipus denounces Tiresias as "scum of the earth", therefore
Sophocles portraying Oedipus as irrational and foolish, conveying that his obsessive need for the truth is misguiding him. In doing so, Sophocles hopes to inspire young Athenian males to avoid these traits as they attempt to achieve sophrosyne, ultimately regarding the journey for truth as a poor decision. This idea is built on as Oedipus accuses Creon of "[betraying]" a kinsman", further developing the idea desire for truth as hamartia, urging young males to avoid this path. Further extending the harm that occurs by uncovering the truth,
by "cropping the roots of his existence", his daughters, Antigone and Ismene, are forced to have to deal with "the life that rough mankind will place upon them. By placing consequences on his daughters, Sophocles illuminates that the truth not only impacts the offender but also those around them. Hence the playwright invites teenage Athenian males to steer them away from crippling catastrophe. Ultimately, the play demonstrates that discovering the truth about the past is fraught with danger. He is educating Athenian society, esp. young males.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The events of 'Macbeth' are influenced by…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: William Shakespeare’s 1606 tragedy ‘Macbeth’ is a stringent commentary on the overpowering influence of fate,…
William Shakespeare’s 1606 tragedy ‘Macbeth’ is a stringent commentary on the overpowering influence of fate, following a noble general Macbeth and his plot to usurp the Scottish throne. Throughout the play, although individuals have the power to make decisions, the events of ‘Macbeth’ are ultimately argued by Shakespeare to be predestined. The use of foreshadowing primarily highlights this, Shakespeare in turn suggesting predetermination of future events. Furthermore, the supernatural elements within the play exacerbate the tension between fate and free will, arguing the dictation of events through supernatural means to be an external factor in which an individual’s destiny is changed. Moreover, although characters attempt to fight this predestination, Shakespeare, in the end, displays the futility of these, and in turn argues that the power to make decisions is overwhelmed by the influence of fate. Through these, Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ is a stringent epitomisation of the idea that destiny is absolute and internal, as opposed to external, factors make no mark on the canvas of the universe.
While events unfold linearly, Shakespeare foreshadows tragedy before it happens, displaying that the future has already been determined in the past. Macbeth’s eventual corruption is even hinted in the first act. The previous Thane of Cawdor, whose ‘present title greet[s] Macbeth’, was a man on ‘whom [King Duncan] had built an absolute trust’. Duncan’s fatal blunder mirrors the cruel betrayal that is to come, in which Macbeth’s ambition drives him to murder the king, echoing the previous Thane’s treason. He should be ‘strong against the deed’, as Duncan arrives at his castle in ‘double trust’. Shakespeare, in this second use of ‘trust’ highlights a brutal “history repeats itself” realisation. Like his predecessor, Macbeth is destined to betray the King, both breaking his ‘absolute trust’ and ‘double trust’ respectively, and Shakespeare explores this depressing truth that only the audience is aware of. Shakespeare, in this use of foreshadowing, displays the predetermined nature of his fate. This is seen when King Duncan laments that there is ‘no art to finding’ the ‘mind’s construction in the face’. Shakespeare likens this to Macbeth’s realisation that ‘false face must hide’ what the ‘false heart doth know’. This brilliant foreshadowing highlights that his incoming deception has already been considered. Macbeth is wholly oblivious to the parallels he draws between the previous Cawdor and himself, and Shakespeare uses this to argue the externality of this foreshadowing, showing that while Macbeth exercises actions of his own volition, he is ultimately following a script fate has already written.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: All of the characters have the power to…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Sophocles' Oedipus the King, first performed between 430 and 426 BCE at the height of classical Greek drama,…
Sophocles' Oedipus the King, first performed between 430 and 426 BCE at the height of classical Greek drama, exemplifies the era's mastery of tight construction, mounting tension, and dramatic devices of recognition and discovery. Charting the swift downfall of Thebes' king and the ruin of his household, this tragedy reflects the Athenians' preoccupation with fate, divine will, and the fragile limits of human agency, revealing a society deeply invested in understanding the moral and existential boundaries of human life. While fate establishes the inevitability of certain outcomes, Sophocles demonstrates that human choice meaningfully shapes the moral and ethical consequences of preordained events, revealing free will and destiny co-exist. Fate sets the boundaries of human experience, pride and moderation influence the ethical impact of human choices, and the pursuit of truth illuminates the complex interplay between free will and inevitability. Ultimately, by weaving human error into a preordained destiny, Sophocles suggests that while humans bear moral responsibility, they remain largely powerless before the overwhelming forces of fate.
Sophocles emphasises the inevitability of destiny through prophecy and the circumstances of Oedipus’s birth. In the Prologue, Tiresias warns Oedipus, “You with your precious eyes, you’re blind to the corruption of your life,” symbolising Oedipus’s literal and metaphorical inability to perceive the truth. The audience, aware of Oedipus’s identity from the outset, experience profound dramatic irony; his attempts to avoid the prophecy—leaving Corinth and confronting Laius’s killer—ironically lead him directly into it. The measured pacing of the Prologue, contrasted with the immediacy of Oedipus’ questioning, heightens tension and underscores the inevitability of fate. This conveys a fundamental Greek ethical concept: humans are subject to divine law (the gods’ will) and are limited in their capacity to subvert it. The play’s structure reinforces this, as Oedipus’s recognition in the Exodus magnifies the tragic inevitability of fate and invokes nemesis, the unavoidable retribution for human error. Conversely, Sophocles acknowledges the meaningful role of human choice. Oedipus exercises free will in deciding to pursue the murderer relentlessly, despite warnings from both Tiresias and Jocasta. His deliberate inquiry into his own identity illustrates that human action—though constrained—contributes to the unfolding of events. Sophocles’ precise diction and repetition of questioning not only reflect Oedipus’ agency but also engage the audience in a shared tension between curiosity and dread. This antithetical perspective complicates a purely deterministic reading, suggesting that while fate sets the stage, human agency shapes how tragedy is enacted, reinforcing ethical responsibility. Sophocles thus presents a nuanced interplay: destiny may predetermine outcomes, but choices determine the form and moral weight of the consequences.
Hubris intensifies the tragic power of fate by exposing the ethical consequences of free will misused. In Episode 1, Oedipus proclaims, “I, Oedipus, whom all men call
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Jane Eyre demonstrates that freedom is not…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Published in the mid-19th century, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë challenges the limitations placed on women in…
Published in the mid-19th century, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë challenges the limitations placed on women in Victorian society through its exploration of morality, independence, and emotional resilience. While Jane eyre posits how rigid social structures affect the ability for one to have self-determination, giving up their own control, ultimately Bronte discusses how the ability to have autonomy can cause fulfilment, even if it goes against societal constraints. This is illustrated through how being of low social class can cause limitations on an individual's independence, however Through its changing environments and values, the novel traces an evolution from constraint toward self-realization and moral agency, Ultimately, Brontë suggests that equilibrium between self-autonomy and societal expectation enables a deeper sense of wholeness and moral harmony.
In her early life at Gateshead and Lowood, individuals are subjected to the constraints of social hierarchy and moral repression, which stifle sense of identity and autonomy. Jane, as a lower class in comparison to Mrs. Reed and John Reed are treated inferiorly, meaning Jane loses autonomy. This ideology is symbolized through the setting of Gateshead, where jane is “locked away.” The name itself “Gates-head "literally evokes a gate, a threshold or barrier. It symbolizes restriction and confinement, representing the emotional and social imprisonment Jane experiences as a child. It is “the head of the gate” — the first threshold she must cross to reach independence. Within Gateshead the punishment Jane receives, being sent the red room demonstrates the social oppression and control of women in a Patricial society. Jane describes this room as a “sacred chamber... a bed with scarlet curtains” and that the “wind seemed to pass through the walls” utilizing gothic imagery, Bronte is highlighting the restrictions of the primogeniture, as jane is in a suffocating atmosphere where she lacks agency and influence. When Jane gets sent to low hood, while she escapes Gateshead, she faces alternative restraints to her own command. Mr. Brocklehurst enforces strict control over the girls at Lowood, removing their autonomy by dictating their behavior and punishing them for minor faults: “Put her on the stool to-morrow morning before the school, and let the girls see how the wicked are punished.” This demonstrates Brontë’s broader idea that societal and institutional authority can suppress individual freedom, leaving people with little control over their own lives.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Rainbow’s End offers audiences insight…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: The play uses setting as a symbolic tool to reflect the physical and social marginalisation Aboriginal people…
The play uses setting as a symbolic tool to reflect the physical and social marginalisation Aboriginal people experienced in 1950s Victoria. The Dear family resides in their “Humpy” on the river of flats, an area prone to flooding and lacking basic amenities. The absence of essential infrastructure such as electricity and running water highlights the neglect of Aboriginal welfare by governments. Gladys reflects, “if they’d given us better houses... But hessian! Like a band-aid over a sore.” This simile critiques the quality of housing while but also underscoringes the superficiality of governmental efforts. Furthermore, Dolly is conscious of these conditions expressing internal shame when she states “This isn’t a real house, Nan. It’s just a shack,” highlighting how systematic neglect becomes internalised. Dolly's embarrassment reflects not only poverty but also deep stigma attached to Aboriginal housing. Furthermore the families prior displacement from their traditional land is captured in Nan’s sorrow as she laments that, “They forced us to leave… our home,” reinforcing the historical trauma of forced removals. Harrison includes this decided to include this in her play to highlight the enduring intergenerational scars caused by colonisations and government policies. Through By using Nan's voice , Harrison expresses the emotional and cultural consequences of being displaced holds significance . This moment in the play underscores that physical displacement was not about geography but instead identity, belonging, and loss, shaping the characters’ sense of self and community in the present. In addition the visit from the inspector further symbolises the treatment Aboriginal people endured. The inspector declares, “First, the housing problem must be fixed… After all, how can the children study in the evening if there is no electric light?”a statement that reinforces the systemic failures that create such conditions in the first place. Through these settings and exchanges, Harrison foregrounds the physical marginalization of social exclusion.
Good analysis of quotes. Overall, could link more the specific idea of marginalisation - of that which pushes a group of people to the fringes of society. I woiuldn’t limit yourself to setting here. The ‘hessian bags’ that line the road for the Queens visit, for instance, is a great example of this. Otherwise, aim to bring in a play specific feature at least once: stage directions, structure in terms of Acts - Scenes, Scene titles, the lighting in the dream sequences (think of Gladys’ dream sequence with blue gems for water).
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "The house was not secure". How does…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Shirley Jackson's novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle presents characters who act primarily out of…
Shirley Jackson's novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle presents characters who act primarily out of self-protection in response to trauma, fear, and alienation. Within a society defined by hostility and judgement, Jackson illustrates how the need for security drives the characters to withdraw from the outside world and construct psychological barriers to create a sense of safety. Merricat relies on isolation and fantasy as a defence against the hostile environment, finding comfort in rituals and imagination. Similarly, Constance is portrayed as nurturing and motherly, seeking peace in seclusion and striving to maintain the fragile world she shares with her sister. Through Gothic themes, symbolic elements, and an unreliable narrator, the novel suggests that acts of isolation, ritual, and fantasy are intimately connected to the characters’ desire for both emotional and physical security.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘Sunset Boulevard reveals the destructive…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Sunset Boulevard, directed by Billy Wilder, is a 1950s noir melodrama that investigates how the popularity of the…
Sunset Boulevard, directed by Billy Wilder, is a 1950s noir melodrama that
investigates how the popularity of the Hollywood film industry encouraged a
social fixation on the glory of celebrity. Throughout the film, Wilder explores
the nuances of success and fame, sometimes pitting the two qualities against
each other. Sunset Boulevard demonstrates that striving for career success
can have both positive and negative outcomes; however, it suggests that
those who are swept up in Hollywood’s preoccupation with fame will almost
always experience negative consequences. Furthermore, the film interrogates
the role of the audience in this destruction, insinuating that audiences
perpetuate Hollywood’s obsession with fame through an intense fascination
with gossip and scandal, in a way that conceals its true costs.
Wilder uses the character of Joe Gillis to warn the audience about the
harmful effects of self-interest and an obsession with success. At the
beginning of the film, Joe, a struggling screenwriter, devises ‘a little plot’,
lying that Norma’s ‘silly hodgepodge’ script is ‘fascinating’ so she will
hire him as an editor. This suggests that Joe’s self-interest has destructive
implications, as he is willing to indulge Norma’s self-delusion in order to
gain money and eventual success, even though the relationship he establishes
with Norma is founded on dishonesty. Wilder also uses the ‘dead monkey
upstairs’ as a symbol of Joe’s impending doom. When Joe refers to the
monkey as Norma’s ‘only child’ and ponders the emptiness of Norma’s life, he
acknowledges that the monkey was a wild animal that had been kept locked
in the house as a pet – a plaything for Norma. As Joe watches over ‘the last
rites for that hairy old chimp’, the close-up shot of Joe’s face, framed by the
blinds and the bars of the window frame, implies a sense of confinement,
signalling to the audience that it is now Joe who is trapped in the house.
Wilder’s implicit comparison between Joe and the monkey can be seen as
a warning to the audience that Joe’s desire to get ahead could lead to him
sharing the monkey’s fate. The characterisation of Joe, and his character arc,
demonstrate that ambition and selfishness can be disastrous for an individual
and their relationships.
However, the film does not always show ambition and a desire for success
to be wholly negative. In particular, it juxtaposes Joe’s self-interest with the
characterisation of Betty Schaefer, an aspiring writer who has ‘not once’
wished for fame, and who ultimately views success as writing ‘true’ and
‘moving’ screenplays. Betty’s emphasis on creating work that holds its value
contrasts with Joe’s choice to work on Norma’s ‘idiotic script’ for short-term
gain; Betty’s ambition is presented as being more admirable than Joe’s. Near
the end of the film, Joe
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: People In hollywood create fantasies for…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Billy Wilders famous 1950’s film Sunset Boulevard is a cautionary tale about the destructive desire to attain and…
Billy Wilders famous 1950’s film Sunset Boulevard is a cautionary tale about the destructive desire to attain and cling on to fame and success in Hollywood. Wilder Shows that Hollywood is run on illusion, and those who stick to living in a fantasy succumb to there demise. However individuals such as Betty hold true to there values and act as a hope for the next generation for Hollywood who sees it as a way to convey a message.
Norma Desmond an Ex silent film star still clings to the illusion that she is a great star neglected by Hollywood and awaits for her so called big return. Which those around her feed into her delusions, which ultimately succumbs to her down fall. When Joe firsts encounters Norma’s house, Wilder uses the House symbolically to represent the slow decay of Norma herself Aswell as the forgotten old Hollywood “a neglected house gets a unhappy look this one had it in spades” within the house the large manner is filled with shrines of herself “how could she breathe in that house full of Norma Desmond’s?” within norma’s sunset castle a immaculately designed mise en scene is shown where each detail is perfectly arranged to sustain Normas illusion of her past greatness, allowing for Norma too remain strangled in illusion. Wilder makes it clear that Normas grotesque vanity and self-absorption are the products of Hollywood dream factory who force old stars out of the industry. When Joe so called helps Norma with her script he decides he can use her and perform like a “chimp dancing for pennies” his cynical and monomaniacal focus on the “gravy train” allows himself to also be caught up in the illusion of having a successful plan, but too is destroyed by his infatuation with recognition and money.
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VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Station Eleven: Mandel suggests that the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: In Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel delves into how individuals are remembered in the aftermath of worldwide…
In Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel delves into how individuals are remembered in the aftermath of worldwide catastrophe, forming questions about the relationship between the lives we lead and the legacies we leave behind. Mandel advocates that the way we live plays a critical role in shaping the legacy we leave behind, but also emphasizes that legacy is unpredictable- formed by survival, interpretation and actions. Ultimately, Mandel presents legacy as a very complex intersection of memory, intention and chance. Reflected through Miranda’s quiet, intentional life, which results in a lasting artistic legacy; Arthur, whose legacy is constructed through the memories of others; and the Prophet, whose inherited legacy is distorted by trauma and survival.
Miranda’s quiet dedication towards art expresses how a life lived with intention and authenticity can form a meaningful legacy, despite being in a world where survival is uncertain. Miranda removes herself from other characters by never seeking fame or power, Miranda lives her life with unintentionality, channeling her energy through creations of art. Station Eleven, her graphic novel ultimately transcends her own life and the collapse of civilization. Her comic book is described as her “constant”, provoking the idea that it is not merely a project, but a stabilising force and profound expression of self. This quiet yet passionate commitment is further emphasized through the line, “She never thinks of it as work. It's more like a religion”, positioning her art as a personal belief system- a source of meaning in a chaotic world. Paradoxically, although she lives in relative obscurity, Miranda’s work transforms into a vessel of hope and memory for the travelling symphony along with Kirsten through the post-pandemic era. Mandle highlights Miranda’s final words, “I repent nothing”, to serve not only as a personal affirmation, but a subtle rejection of regret in favor of self-authored meaning. Mandel critiques cultural obsession with external achievements and suggests that a meaningful legacy is not necessarily loud to the public. Through Miranda's life Mandel illustrates it as it is often formed through authenticity, passion and the quiet resilience of creative expression.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Jackson suggest that ultimately…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: How does Jackson suggest that ultimately isolation is necessary for survival? Whilst isolation can be used as a…
How does Jackson suggest that ultimately isolation is necessary for survival?
Whilst isolation can be used as a necessary tool for survival and protection, excessive alienation can become damaging.
This notion is supported in Shirly Jacksons novella “We have always lived in the castle” which is a mystery and gothic fiction showcasing the struggles faced in 1960s American society, centered on the Blackwood family and their life after a tragic poisoning. Jackson portrays how seclusion can be vital to survive cruelty of a small village and be an effective way to resist traditional patriarchal roles. However, Jackson ultimately underscores how isolation may become a source of entrapment and imprisonment.
Jackson explores how isolation is needed to cope with a hostile village. In order to survive the intimidation and judgment from a claustrophobic village, separating oneself can be seen as an effective method. Jackson displays how the village has grown hatred towards the Blackwood sisters as they only encounter negative experiences in the village. The Blackwood family, which is a wealthier upper class family, has never been accepted by the villagers especially after the tragic death of Blackwood members. Jackson creates an atmosphere resembling post war paranoia through the hostility of the village as they are suspicious of 'others' leading to scapegoating and exclusion. Merricat, an imaginative and volatile young woman, "played a game" as she enters the village to do simple tasks such as shopping or going to the library which emphasizes how the severe hostility causes people to make an imaginative world and isolate from reality. The village people who "have always hated [them]" essentially push Merricat out of society, leaving her with nothing else but to isolate. Merricat lives a hidden world protecting her and her sister, Constance, which is reinforced through the symbol of a wire gate. The wire gate is symbolic of how the Blackwood family aims to keep out the villagers and protect their secluded bubble. Jackson utilizes the hostile village to reflect how isolation can be necessary to survive just like Merricat and Constance do. Additionally, Jackson portrays how the Blackwood sisters’ isolation shows endurance as the sisters grow a strong bond towards each other. Although Merricat can be seen as a psychopathic and damaged character who is obsessed with secluding Constance in, Constance still loves her. Merricat becomes "chilled" at the thought of Constance taking a couple more steps beyond her usual boundaries in the garden. However Merricat’s troubled mind and obsession to keep them isolated can be seen as a way to protect them from the outside world. Jackson showcases how Constance still loves Merricat despite her strict routine of seclusion showcasing that isolation can help in allowing people to succeed in a world where outsiders are hostile. Despite that the Blackwood sisters have no one but themselves and their uncle, they are fine with it as they have each other. Therefore Jackson suggests that isolation from those who are judgmental can be necessary for survival.