VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Personal Journeys
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 85%: Optimism "I hate you! I wish I were never born!" was the last thing I ever said to my mother. I ran to my room…
Optimism
"I hate you! I wish I were never born!" was the last thing I ever said to my mother. I ran to my room and didn't leave until I knew she and my brother were asleep. I left my room with a bag of clothes in each hand and my mother’s diamond earrings in my pocket. I knew I had a bright future ahead of me.
That night, I slept under the stars and thought about the life I had ahead of me; a life without my mother’s nagging was waiting. It was three days before I saw a 'missing' poster with my name in bold letters. I couldn't sleep that night knowing my mother was already looking for me; the echo of my brother asking where I was consumed me. On the fourth day, I bought a ticket to the furthest states our buses went to, showering in the public bathroom before I left. Watching the mountain ranges slowly become flat plains sparked excitement for the future I had on my horizon.
It took a week and getting kicked out of three McDonald's for me to start missing home, but I couldn’t go back. I needed to find some work to distract myself. Every day I would see streets lined with women in small black clothing that I never thought I’d join. However, my times were getting desperate, and the future was beginning to seem further away. I just needed some money to start my new life properly.
I saw a woman climb into a car’s backseat one day, and pictured the cash she would likely receive later that night. I asked the woman who replaced the one I'd seen what I needed to do.
"You're a doll. The girls have some clothes back here." She led me through an alleyway to a tent with piles of black clothing.
The gnawing hunger in my stomach began to drown out the echoes of my old life, and as I stared at the black fabric of the clothes, blending into one another, the shame of going home finally felt heavier than the fear of staying here.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Personal Journeys
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 82.5%: Optimism "I hate you! I wish I were never born!" was the last thing I ever said to my mother. I ran to my…
Optimism
"I hate you! I wish I were never born!" was the last thing I ever said to my mother. I ran to my room and didn't leave until I knew she and my brother were asleep. I left my room with a bag of clothes in each hand and my mother’s diamond earrings in my pocket. I knew I had a bright future ahead of me.
That night, I slept under the stars and thought about the life I had ahead of me; a life without my mother’s nagging was waiting. It was three days before I saw a 'missing' poster with my name in bold letters. I couldn't sleep that night knowing my mother was already looking for me; the echo of my brother asking where I was consumed me. On the fourth day, I bought a ticket to the furthest states our buses went to, showering in the public bathroom before I left. Watching the mountain ranges slowly become flat plains sparked excitement for the future I had on my horizon.
It took a week and getting kicked out of three McDonald's for me to start missing home, but I couldn’t go back. I needed to find some work to distract myself. Every day I would see streets lined with women in small black clothing that I never thought I’d join. However, my times were getting desperate, and the future was beginning to seem further away. I just needed some money to start my new life properly.
I saw a woman climb into a car’s backseat one day, and pictured the cash she would likely receive later that night. I asked the woman who replaced the one I'd seen what I needed to do.
"You're a doll. The girls have some clothes back here." She led me through an alleyway to a tent with piles of black clothing.
The gnawing hunger in my stomach began to drown out the echoes of my old life, and as I stared at the black fabric of the pile, blending into each other, the shame of going home finally felt heavier than the fear of staying here.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Personal Journeys
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 80%: Optimism "I hate you! I wish I were never born!" was the last thing I ever said to my mother. I ran to my room…
Optimism
"I hate you! I wish I were never born!" was the last thing I ever said to my mother. I ran to my room and didn't leave until I knew her and my brother were asleep. I left my room with a bag of clothes in each hand and my mother’s diamond earrings in my pocket. I knew I had a bright future ahead of me.
That night, I slept under the stars and thought about the life I had ahead of me; a life without my mother’s nagging was waiting. It was three days before I saw a 'missing' poster with my name in bold letters. I couldn't sleep that night knowing my mother was already looking for me; the echo of my brother asking where I was consumed me. On the fourth day, I bought a ticket to the furthest states our buses went to, showering in the public bathroom before I left. Watching the mountain ranges slowly become flat plains sparked excitement for the future I had on my horizon.
It took a week and getting kicked out of three McDonald's for me to start missing home, but I couldn’t go back. I needed to find some work to distract myself. Every day I would see streets lined with women in small black clothing that I never thought I’d join. However, my times were getting desperate, and the future was beginning to seem further away. I just needed some money to start my new life properly.
I saw a woman climb into a car’s backseat one day, and pictured the cash she would likely to receive later that night. I asked the woman who replaced the one I'd seen what I needed to do.
"You're a doll. The girls have some clothes back here." She led me through an alleyway to a tent with piles of black clothing.
"Here, this will get you started." I took a skirt and lace top from her. "Get changed here; no one who sees you will remember."
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Personal Journeys
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 77.5%: "I hate you! I wish I were never born!" was the last thing I ever said to my mother. I ran to my room and…
"I hate you! I wish I were never born!" was the last thing I ever said to my mother. I ran to my room and didn't leave until I knew her and my brother were asleep. I left my room with a bag of clothes in each hand and my laptop, charger, and my mother’s diamond earrings in my backpack. I knew I had a bright future ahead of me.
That night, I slept under the stars and thought about the life I had ahead of me; a life without my mother’s nagging was waiting. It was three days before I saw a 'missing' poster with my name in bold letters. I couldn't sleep that night knowing my mother was already looking for me; the echo of my brother asking where I was consumed me. On the fourth day, I bought a ticket to the furthest states our buses went to, showering in the public bathroom before I left. Watching the mountain ranges slowly become flat plains sparked excitement for the future I had on my horizon.
It took a week and getting kicked out of three McDonald's for me to start missing home, but I couldn't go back; my future was still shining over the horizon, and I knew I could reach it. I took my laptop and earrings to the first pawn shop I found. He took the laptop, not the diamond earrings. "They'll help you attract customers," he said, pointing to the corner of the street where a fragile-looking woman was climbing into a car backseat. He handed me a hundred-dollar bill. "Hurry, soon there won't be any left." He laughed, seemingly at me.
I needed some money to start my new life properly; this was the easiest way to do that. I asked the woman who replaced the one I'd seen what to do.
"You're a doll. The girls have some clothes back here." She led me through an alleyway to a tent with piles of black clothing.
"Here, this will get you started." I took a skirt and lace top from her. "Get changed here; no one that sees you will remember."
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Personal Journeys
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 75%: "I hate you! I wish I were never born!" was the last thing I ever said to my mother. I ran to my room and…
"I hate you! I wish I were never born!" was the last thing I ever said to my mother. I ran to my room and didn't leave until I knew her and my brother were asleep. I left my room with a bag of clothes in each hand and my laptop, charger, and my mother’s diamond earrings in my backpack. I knew I had a bright future ahead of me.
That night, I slept under the stars and thought about the life I had ahead of me; a life without my mother’s nagging was waiting. It was three days before I saw a 'missing' poster with my name in bold letters. I couldn't sleep that night knowing my mother was already looking for me; the echo of my brother asking where I was consumed me. On the fourth day, I bought a ticket to the furthest states our buses went to, showering in the public bathroom before I left. Watching the mountain ranges slowly become flat plains sparked excitement for the future I had on my horizon.
It took a week and getting kicked out of three McDonald's for me to start missing home, but I refused to go back; my future was still shining over the horizon, and I knew I could reach it. I found a pawn shop on a run-down street for some lunch money.
"I’ll take your computer, not the earrings. They'll help you attract customers," he said, pointing to the corner of the street where a fragile-looking woman was climbing into a car's backseat, then handed me a hundred-dollar bill. "Hurry, soon there won't be any left," he laughed, leading me out of his door.
I needed some money to start my new life properly; this was the easiest way to do that. I could be in-and-out in a couple of weeks with some cash – and maybe some friends. I asked the woman who replaced the one I'd seen what to do.
"You're a doll. The girls have some clothes back here." She led me through an alleyway to a tent with piles of black clothing, don’t need gap
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The setting of the memory police reflects…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: uplodeaed Emma A The setting of the memory police reflects the type of society the narrator interacts with - bleak…
uplodeaed
Emma A
The setting of the memory police reflects the type
of society the narrator interacts with - bleak and hostile. Discus
Yoko Ogawa's dystopian novel 'The memory police' explores
the fragility of human identity and the consequences
of a society where memory, individuality and personal
autonomy are gradually eroded. The harsh expectations
and consequences to be withheld by the inhabitants
directly corresponds to the growing hostility and
resistance shown within the environment. Due to the
growing control of the authoritarian regime and
the total complacency demonstrated by the victims,
the environment reflects these within the physical setting
Ogawa illustrates the setting of the isolated island as
suppressive and violent while influenced by the
memory police. This is demonstrated as the authoritarian
regime are consistently described as "faces devoid
of any expression" while becoming "more brutal each
time." Due to the sheer control the memory police
hold against the inhabitants, their actions reflect
within the overall atmosphere and setting of the island,
creating an environment far from inviting. As the
insidious disappearances begin to escalate, the cruel
and oppressive ways of the memory police become clearer,
as seen when the old man returns from being
imprisoned for 3 days with a hoarse voice and
"lips... covered with scabs" for merely being suspected
to be involved with an attempted escape. This absolute
repulsion towards any form of rebellion exhibited by
the memory police helps to build a social environment
fuelled by fear and avoidance of brutality, leading to
higher rates of complacency and obedience in response.
The narrator mirrors these collective opinions of
cruel authoritarian figures within the metafiction where
because of the injurious actions of the typist teacher
against the student, her "soul [gradually] vanishes" while
"in captivity". This reflects the consequences of the
memory police who strip the inhabitants of their
autonomy and with that what makes up their unique identities, creating a uniform society with little to no diversity, essentially strangling their sense of self. "without any trace of emotion." Through these depictions, Ogawa actively critiques the idea of society run under authoritarian power, suggesting it suppresses the individuality that should flowish in society, instead creating a uniform society living in fear of violent reprecussions.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Write a persuasive text
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 80%: Every Dungeons and Dragons game begins the same way: a blank character sheet. Before the adventure starts, you…
Every Dungeons and Dragons game begins the same way: a blank character sheet. Before the adventure starts, you roll the dice and decide what kind of person you want to become, dictated by both your skills and your flaws. Intelligence? Wisdom? Strength? Every decision shapes how you'll face the world.
If modern Australia had a character sheet, we'd have invested into building ambition, productivity, and independence. We'd boast impressive Intelligence scores, Strength of massive proportions, maybe even of Wisdom beyond our years. But somewhere along the way, we decided Charisma, and the ability to connect, wasn’t a priority. We forgot that no quest, real or imagined, is meant to be completed alone. Somewhere along the way, we lost sight of what makes us human: our need to belong, to connect, and to share our lives with others.
When I tell people I spend my Thursday afternoons playing D&D, I usually get one of two reactions: confusion or amusement. To many people, it's still a weird game about rolling dice and pretending to be elves. Worst case, they believe its some devil-worshiping, cult-y freakshow with too many innuendos and too little deodorant. Yet despite this, every week, school D&D clubs fill with students who stay long after the (silent) final bell, choosing 'make-believe' instead of going home.
The same thing is happening far beyond Australian classrooms as well. Stranger Things transformed the Hellfire Club from a derogatory stereotype into a symbol of community, Baldur's Gate 3 introduced over 20 million players (so far) to collaborative storytelling, and audiences continue to spend hours watching strangers play D&D through Critical Role, and many other channels similar.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: 'Changing Directions', personal…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 72.5%: Since the first day my grandma came to Australia, I struggled to connect with her. She wore a heavy, solemn…
Since the first day my grandma came to Australia, I struggled to connect with her.
She wore a heavy, solemn expression that dulled my mood every time I walked into the kitchen. Her clothes were stained of the same turmeric and paprika that stung my eyes, the aroma saturating the house until it reached my bedroom walls. Her hair was twisted into a thick black braid, like a rope waiting to slash me. Her heavy accent jarred against my ten year old ears as she attempted to pronounce the English letters of my school photo, squinting against her rimmed glasses. I did not understand why she had to barge into my life, especially when she would not let me into hers.
In the evening of the first day she arrived, I tried to ask why she had to move in with us. Yet the words that bubbled up in my throat quickly popped as she glanced at the spoon next to our dinner plates.
“I don’t understand why you use this.” she declared in her language, pointing a finger at the spoon as if it had personally wronged her. I watched as she dug up the rice with her hands, shoving it in her mouth like a snowball. I grasped my utensils in concern. Why couldn’t she just eat normally?
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “Sophocles presents human suffering as an…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Set against the rigorous sociopolitical landscape of fifth-century BCE Athens, where the stability of the polis…
Set against the rigorous sociopolitical landscape of fifth-century BCE Athens, where the stability of the polis remained intimately connected to reverence for divine authority, Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus the King serves as a sobering indictment of human fallibility. By juxtaposing the apparent enlightenment of mortal reasoning with the inexorable machinations of divine destiny, Sophocles exposes the precariousness of human authority and the ontological limitations of mortal existence. Nevertheless, the playwright complicates absolute fatalism by presenting autonomous agency as both an unwitting instrument of moira and a means through which suffering is intensified. Ultimately, Sophocles reveals that while divine destiny establishes the immutable conditions of tragedy, humanity's inherent epistemic vulnerability and freely chosen actions shape the devastating experience of its consequences.
Sophocles situates human suffering within a predetermined cosmic framework, presenting Oedipus’ anguish as the inevitable consequence of a fate that human agency cannot ultimately evade. As the Corinthian messenger initially seeks to deliver the passing of Polybus, Sophocles constructs the Messenger as a catalyst for Oedipus’ tragic peripeteia. The Messenger destabilises Oedipus’ assumed paternal lineage by revealing that “Polybus was nothing to you […] not in blood.” Although Polybus’ death appears to confirm Oedipus’ successful circumvention of cosmic order, temporarily alleviating his suffering, the Messenger’s benevolent intervention paradoxically accelerates the revelation of an already fulfilled Moira. Within the fourth agon, Sophocles renders the Shepherd as a participant whose compassionate intervention inadvertently facilitates the fulfillment of divine prophecy. Upon being interrogated by Oedipus, the Shepherd retrospectively recounts his compassionate decision to preserve the infant’s life, revealing that “[He] pitied the little baby, master, hoped he’d take him off to his own country, far away, but he saved him for this, this fate”. Sophocles exposes the tragic paradox between benevolent human agency and cosmic inevitability, where the Shepherd’s compassionate intervention preserves the very life through which divine prophecy will ultimately be fulfilled, despite “[pitying] the baby”. Additionally, Sophocles employs visual dramaturgy to foreshadow Oedipus’ impending anagnorisis, as the titular protagonist “strains to see” the approaching Shepherd “[who] enters slowly, reluctant to approach the king”. Oedipus’ determination to ‘see’ the approaching Shepherd dramatises his tragic myopia, as his voluntary pursuit of genealogical truth inadvertently precipitates the belated anagnorisis through which his predetermined suffering becomes fully apparent. The Shepherd’s gradual approach stages Oedipus’ impending recognition through dramatic pacing where the son of Laius will be confronted with his tragic fate. Ultimately, the Shepherd precipitates Oedipus’ anagnorisis by exposing the corruption of his oikos and his unwitting patricide.
Confiding in Jocasta, Oedipus retrospectively recounts his flight from Corinth, unwittingly revealing how his autonomous attempt to circumvent moira facilitates his fulfillment. Moreover, Oedipus describes his “abandonment” of Corinth as guided “by the stars”, where he was “always running toward some place where [he] would never see the shame of all those oracles come true.” Ironically, Sophocles constructs a semantic field of displacement through ‘abandoned’, ‘running’ and ‘toward’, foregrounding Oedipus’ desperate assertion of autonomous agency in his futile attempt to circumvent moira. Yet the iterative repetition of “running, always running” exposes the futility of his attempted escape, as his physical departure inadvertently directs him towards the fulfillment of moira. Furthermore, the celestial imagery of ‘by the stars’ symbolically situates Oedipus’ apparent freedom beneath an overarching cosmic order, exposing the tragic paradox whereby his efforts to circumvent prophecy become instrumental to its fulfilment. Thus, Sophocles elucidates the paradox of mortal autonomy within an inexorable cosmic framework, whereby freely chosen actions unwittingly facilitate the fulfillment of divine prophecy and its attendant suffering.
Sophocles complicates the inevitability of human suffering by revealing how mortal agency intensifies the consequences of an already fulfilled moira. Oedipus' combative self-assurance transforms his legitimate pursuit of civic salvation into an instrument of personal devastation.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: itle: Echoes Stimulus 1: "The voice of…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 87.5%: Echoes: Transcript of retired AFL player Billy Flowers’ speech at the 2026 Brownlow Ceremony: There’s a…
Echoes:
Transcript of retired AFL player Billy Flowers’ speech at the 2026 Brownlow Ceremony:
There’s a moment in sports that most people here tonight, at the Brownlow, won’t get the opportunity to notice. It’s not on the field, nor does it make its presence known during the game. The subtle shift happens after. The cameras have been switched off. Crowds have returned home. Rooms are empty, not even an echo in them. Yet in the corner, a player continues to sit, still in his jersey. Alone. You ask him if he’s alright and receive a flippant response. “Yeah, all good”. Same words. Every single time. And we accept it. We don’t ask questions. To me, that’s the most dangerous part of the game. Not the tackles. Not the concussions. Not the injuries. The silence. Nobody speaks, yet the voice of the people is supposed to be the “voice of god”.
All the celebrations of excellence tonight are dampened for me by one thing. The silence. Not a word is spoken, yet the silence echoes louder than any could. The countless men who sit in this crown, letting their silence echo because they are afraid to speak.
After all the incidents and news stories, we still refuse to address the root of the problem. We treat it like an issue to acknowledge, not a system to challenge. We sit here, silent, waiting for the next young talent to be reduced to a headline in the Herald Sun. Protest, by definition, is not silent. It is not awareness without action. It is disruption. When I think of protest, I see a crowd marching through our streets, yelling through megaphones so their voice can be heard through the streets, echoing. Our comfort with uncomfortable silence means that right now, protest is unheard, unseen, and ineffective.
What does our beautiful game teach us about being a man? You endure, you push through the pain, you don’t complain. Why? Because you are privileged to be a ‘man’. You have it ‘easy’, so why march and protest? We treat the men who play through their injury as heroes, celebrating them as warriors, whilst the men who listen to their bodies and minds are deemed ‘soft’. What message does that send? What are we clearly communicating to the young boys at home watching on TV? What are we reinforcing to the young men, feeling lost, trying to pave their own path? We are consolidating the idea that strength is judged by how much weight you can carry. Alone. And that loneliness echoes through our game.
This isn’t just in football either. The silence and loneliness reverberate in everyday society, and football is one of the many culprits behind this toxic masculine culture of privilege and strength. By placing these men on a pedestal and othering them, we lose track of the true purpose of sport. The crux of this industry is to reflect humanity’s search for excellence and integrity. The very connotations of SPORTSmanship are collaboration and teamwork. Yet we judge and abandon our players in their attempts to preserve this sentiment.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Márquez presents a society where both men…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: In Gabriel García Márquez’s novella, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the rigid social expectations of a provincial…
In Gabriel García Márquez’s novella, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the rigid social expectations of a provincial Colombian town function not as a source of communal stability, but as a cage that equally traps both men and women. Márquez explores this Colombian society's code of honour not as a noble tradition, but as a rigid system that imprisons individual autonomy and enforces unyielding social pressure. Through the violent enforcement of female chastity, the compulsory performance of masculine honour, and the collective inertia of a complicit community, Márquez critiques these expectations as a corrosive ideology that destroys the individual lives and moral integrity of both genders.
Marquez portrays the women of the town as mere instruments of family reputation, illustrating how the cult of domesticity serves as a social cage that denies them personal agency. The control of female honour is sustained through systematic cruelty, exemplified through Pura Vicario, the mother of Angela Vicario, where Pura “watches over” her daughters with a vigilance that resembles custody rather than care. Marquez reinforces this subjugation through the zoomorphic implications of his diction; the Vicario sisters had been “reared to get married,” a verb choice that frames their upbringing as a process of animal husbandry and commodification, preparing them for the marketplace of marriage. By objectifying women within the novella, Marquez portrays the town as a site of domestication designed to strip women of agency, preparing them for a life of "suffering" in service to men. The destructive reality of this code is exposed through the moral logic following Angela’s return to the Vicario estate; where Pura’s admission that she “beat [Angela] for two hours” straight reveals that this violence is not an emotional outburst, but a ritualistic performance devoted to the town’s rigid rules. In this culture, a woman’s virginity determines her family’s social worth, meaning Pura’s instinct is to physically "correct" the shame rather than offer compassion. Ultimately, by presenting domestic cruelty as a socially accepted necessity, Márquez indicts a patriarchal system that normilises domestic imprisonment" that renders them objects rather than subjects of their own lives.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The world created by Jackson is one of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: Since 1962 gothic fiction novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle, follows the lives of the Blackwood sisters,…
Since 1962 gothic fiction novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle, follows the lives of the Blackwood sisters, after a tragic family murder, as the sisters battle the patriarchy and social pressures. While the world of the novel is presented as one of persistent cruelty, due to the prevalent patriarchal dominance, Jackson ultimately asserts that hatred forges greater resilience. Hence through patriarchal dominance and persistent societal standards, individuals experienced a world of brutal events. However, Jackson suggests that through cruel experiences, resilience is formed which betterment individuals’ lives.
Jackson suggests that the ruthless world created was through the overpowering patriarchal dominance. This idea is shown through the Blackwood house as it was built with “layers of Blackwood property weighing it and keeping it steady against the world”. Through the use of setting and symbolism, Jackson illustrates the physical power that Blackwood males sustained, and how it was a monument that symbolised the rigid patriarchal structures that shaped the cruel world. Furthermore, the “layers” highlight the generational male dominance present in the Blackwoods and in society, and how with each year the patriarchal dominance culminated, creating a brutal world for female individuals. Jackson condemns the patriarchal in the 1960s, highlighting how it created a restrictive place for women to thrive. Moreover, the patriarchal control is shown through the description of the men in the village saying that they “stayed young and did the gossiping” while the “women aged with grey evil weariness … silently waiting for the men to come home”. Through juxtaposition and characterisation, Jackson critiques the established power men have over women, and the visual depiction of males staying young while women aged. By stating that men stay young, Jackson exposes how the patriarchal power is active indicating the everlasting control men may have over women, compared to the ageing females, whose power grows old and ultimately turns weary. Thus, Jackson illuminates the dangers of the nuclear family and how overbearing male power that creates the cruel world for women. Jackson suggests that through male control, a world of brutality is formed.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: What if we tried something new When we…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 72.5%: Rubric Part B (1) What if we tried something new? Comic books: For play or for profit? Grace Grayson 27/10…
Rubric Part B (1)
What if we tried something new?
Comic books: For play or for profit?
Grace Grayson 27/10
The origin story
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Supermans debut, leaping in Action Comics #1 on the 18th of April 1938. Going for 10c, Which is in today is $6.52, Superman's first apperance was nothing like the superhero comic books we know today, he couldn't even fly! The man of Steel was created by Jewish-American's Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in a dangerous and scary time for the pair. Superman brought hope for citizens who had just survived the great deppression and were about to be thrown into a world war. However the character wouldn't be safe from the claws of DC comics and their strive for profit. Superman was bought by DC in March of 1938, with the two creators splitting $130. Profit found it's way into Superman comics before the character even debuted.
Batman followed soon after debuting in March of 1939 and recieving a solo series just a year later. Batman's debut can be pinned for one reason: Profit, following the success of Superman. DC didn't have to struggle for the rights of the character, as Batman was created directly for them. Although, the uncredited mastermind behind the legendary dark knight, Bill Finger, died broke and alone in 1974, without ever seeing his name associated with the character. Following this information, it's difficult to imagine if there ever even was a time where comic books were created for the sole purpose of play.
The Comics Code Authority: The suppression of art
The CCA was censor body for the U.S comic book industry formed in 1954 by the Comics Magazine Association of America (CMMA). The code was created following public panic regarding Dr. Fredric Wertham's 1954 book 'Seduction of the innocent' which had claims that comic books were directly responsible for youth crimes. Restrictions included crime & violence, horror & supernatural, sex & morality, LGBTQ+ content and notably, authority. Comic books could not depict any government officials, judges and police officers in a way that could create any disrespect for established authority. Comic books that once held the power to call out said authority on many
Rubic Para B 2
Social issues, now had their power removed from them.
List of criteria required to gain the approval by the CCA
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Márquez presents a society where both men…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: In Gabriel García Márquez’s novella, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the rigid social expectations of a provincial…
In Gabriel García Márquez’s novella, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the rigid social expectations of a provincial Colombian town function not as a source of communal stability, but as a cage that equally traps both men and women. Márquez explores this Colombian society's code of honour not as a noble tradition, but as a rigid system that imprisons individual autonomy and enforces unyielding social pressure. Through the violent enforcement of female chastity, the compulsory performance of masculine honour, and the collective inertia of a complicit community, Márquez critiques these expectations as a corrosive ideology that destroys the individual lives and moral integrity of both genders.
Marquez portrays the women of the town as mere instruments of family reputation, illustrating how the cult of domesticity serves as a social cage that denies them personal agency. The control of female honour is sustained through systematic cruelty, exemplified through Pura Vicario, the mother of Angela Vicario, where Pura “watches over” her daughters with a vigilance that resembles custody rather than care. Marquez reinforces this subjugation through the zoomorphic implications of his diction; the Vicario sisters had been “reared to get married,” a verb choice that frames their upbringing as a process of animal husbandry and commodification, preparing them for the marketplace of marriage. By objectifying women within the novella, Marquez portrays the town as a site of domestication designed to strip women of agency, preparing them for a life of "suffering" in service to men. The destructive reality of this code is exposed through the moral logic following Angela’s return to her Vicario estate; Pura’s admission that she “beat [Angela] for two hours” straight reveals that this violence is not an emotional outburst, but a ritualistic performance devoted to the town’s rigid rules. In this culture, a woman’s virginity determines her family’s social worth, meaning Pura’s instinct is to physically "correct" the shame rather than offer compassion. Ultimately, by presenting domestic cruelty as a socially accepted necessity, Márquez indicts a patriarchal system that prioritises the hollow performance of honour over human life, leaving individuals trapped in a cycle of irreparable psychological and physical harm.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Márquez presents a society where both men…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Both women and men have different roles in the 1900s, where communal expectations are placed upon them. Gabriel…
Both women and men have different roles in the 1900s, where communal expectations are placed upon them. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novella, Chronicle of a Death Foretold explores a Columbian social expectation not as a noble role, but as a rigid code that imprisons an individual’s autonomy and places unyielding social expectation. Through the repressive upbringing of Angela Vicario and her kept virginity, the theatrical performance of the Vicario brothers, and the paralysing inertia of the townspeople, Marquez critiques the town’s communal expectations as a corrosive ideology that equally destroys both genders as well as their individual lives and moral integrity.
Marquez portrays the women of the town as mere instruments of family reputation, illustrating how the cult of domesticity serves as a social cage that denies them personal agency. The control of female honour is sustained through systematic cruelty, exemplified through Pura Vicario, the mother of Angela Vicario, where Pura “watches over” her daughters with a vigilance that resembles custody rather than care. Marquez reinforces this subjugation through the observation of the Vicario sisters, who had been “reared to get married,” suggesting their life is a process of commodification. Through the zoomorphic metaphor, Marquez implies that the importance of women within this town is similar to the use of livestock. By objectifying women within the novella, Marquez portrays the town as a site of domestication designed to strip women of agency, preparing them for a life of "suffering" in service to men. The destructive reality of this code is exposed through the moral logic following Angela’s return to her Vicario estate; Pura’s statement of that she “beat [Angela] for two hours” straight, reveals that this violence is not an emotional outburst, but a performance devoted to the to the town’s rigid rules. In this culture, a woman’s virginity determines her family’s social worth, meaning Pura’s instinct is to physically "correct" the shame rather than offer compassion. Ultimately, by presenting domestic cruelty as a socially accepted necessity, Márquez indicts a patriarchal system that prioritises the hollow performance of honour over human life, leaving individuals trapped in a cycle of irreparable psychological and physical harm.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Title: ‘The choice’ Stimulus: ‘No two…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 72.5%: Section B Title: ‘The choice’ Stimulus: ‘No two journeys are alike’ The letter arrived on a Tuesday…
Section B
Title: ‘The choice’
Stimulus: ‘No two journeys are alike’
The letter arrived on a Tuesday afternoon.
It was waiting beneath the door when I came home with large words scrawled at the front
reading:
“To you in the future, thirteen years from now”
The hand writing was oddly familiar. The letters were fuller and looked much more carefully
placed compared to my hurried writing now. This was surely something I made when I was
twelve.
At twelve, twenty-five seemed impossibly old. It meant having an amazing job, a proper car,
having everything figured out. It meant already making that choice that would define the rest
of my life.
I turned the envelope over.
“POSTMARKED: 19th of July 2021”
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
“Dear me,
I hope you still draw.
I hope you became an artist.
I hope you ignored the people saying it was ‘impossible’
If you didn’t… I’d like to know why.
Love,
Me aged twelve.”
I read the last question twice.
Then I looked around my room. There were no drawings on the wall. None on my desk. No
blank sheets of drawing papers hidden under my bed.
There was only my laptop, open to a spreadsheet I was using at work.
For the past thirteen years. I had done what everyone said was sensible. I studied a practical
course. Gotten myself a well-paying job. Put in the hard work.
At twenty-one I didn’t have enough time. At twenty-two I told myself I would start when I was
freer. Twenty-three I forgotten all about drawing.
A month later, my parents called to tell me they were moving.
I had to empty out my old bedroom before the house was sold, so I drove there on a
Saturday morning exhausted.
While carrying boxes, I found myself standing outside the basement door.
I hadn’t been down there for years.
The smell of dust and damp concrete was exactly the same. This is where I would disappear
for hours, sitting at the old desk in the corner and drawing until someone called me upstairs.
The desk was still there.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Wilder explore the destructive…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: How does Wilder explore the destructive pursuit of Hollywood’s spotlight in Sunset Boulevard? From the outset of…
How does Wilder explore the destructive pursuit of Hollywood’s spotlight in Sunset Boulevard?
From the outset of post-war 1950s film noir, Billy Wilder’s quintessentially American melodrama Sunset Boulevard meticulously scrutinises the catastrophic cost of chasing Hollywood’s spotlight by constructing the industry as a claustrophobic tomb, tracing the psychological disintegration of those who trade their humanity for relevance. Compounded by the skilful audacity of a gothic lens, this noir mystery reveals the predatory machine that consumes human lives to sustain its materialistic tendencies.
Presenting this complex world as a dystopian nightmare, Wilder constructs the Hollywood industry as a claustrophobic tomb, suggesting that the pursuit of the spotlight necessitates a physical and metaphorical entrapment within the walls of obsolescence and forgotten glory. Through the characterisation of the reclusive, light-deprived interior of the Desmond mansion, Wilder transforms the “home” of the former star, Norma Desmond, into a sepulchre. By visually equating the spotlight of fame with an environment of decay, Wilder argues that the industry’s elite are not living in houses, but rather in monuments to their own obsolescence, proving that chasing the spotlight eventually leads to being buried alive by it. Wilder uses cinematography in the early act of the film: the restrictive frame of Norma’s bedroom often traps Norma in tight, medium shots that emphasise the walls closing in. This visual claustrophobia underscores the idea of pursuing a spotlight that has narrowed her external world. The industry has effectively walled her off from the real world, rendering her unable to exist outside the industry’s tomb she calls home. Finally, Wilder’s symbolism of the dried-up swimming pool, once a grand symbol of the “good life” and the status associated with Hollywood success, is now a dry, skeletal monument. Its physical state mirrors the industry and its empty promise of life and vitality, but for those who chase the spotlight, it has become a hollow, desiccated grave, offering no salvation from its predatory brutality.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: VATE ii. “... an OLD SHEPHERD enters…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: In Oedipus the King, Sophocles explores the human tendency to resist uncomfortable situations, suggesting that…
In Oedipus the King, Sophocles explores the human tendency to resist uncomfortable situations, suggesting that the desire to preserve one’s security and identity often outweighs the courage to confront painful realities. Through the reluctance of characters to reveal or acknowledge the truth, Sophocles demonstrates that the prospect of suffering can make ignorance appear preferable to knowledge. However, the playwright complicates this reluctance by distinguishing understandable fear from the destructive foolishness that emerges when individuals allow pride and misplaced certainty to obstruct their judgment. Although mortals may attempt to evade truths that threaten their understanding of themselves and the world, the fulfilment of divine prophecy ultimately exposes the limitations of such resistance. Sophocles also presents the avoidance of uncomfortable truths as an instinctive human response yet warns that genuine wisdom lies in accepting the limits of mortal understanding, embodying sophrosyne, and confronting reality with humility.
Sophocles initially presents reluctance to confront uncomfortable situations as an instinctive response to the fear of suffering, suggesting individuals often prioritize emotional security over the pursuit of truth. This tendency is established through Laius and Jocasta;s attempt to prevent the prophecy of their son committing patricide and incest from being fulfilled. Their decision to abandon their infant on a mountain reflects the desperation with which they attempt to escape a future that threatens their familial security and social order. The desolate mountain that Oedipus’ birth parents were so willing to leave him at emphasises the brutality of their response, revealing how fear can drive individuals to take extreme measures rather than confront the possibility of an uncomfortable reality. Nevertheless, their actions also expose the futility of resisting divine prophecy as their first attempt to prevent the predictive future ultimately contributes to its fulfilment. Sophocles further develops the agon between Tiresias and Oedipus, who states how terrible it is “to see the truth when the truth is only pain to him who sees”, presenting knowledge as a source of anguish rather than liberation. The paradox of truth and pain conveys the psychological burden of possessing knowledge that cannot be disclosed without causing suffering, complicating the assumption that reluctance necessarily reflects cowardice. Similarly, Jocasta’s urgent plea for Oedipus to “call off [his] search” reveals her growing anagnorisis that the investigation threatens to dismantle her understanding of her own identity and marriage. Through these characters, Sophocles establishes that the reluctance to face uncomfortable situations is deeply human as the fear of suffering encourages individuals to preserve the realities they know, even when those realities are founded upon ignorance and hubris.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: peace begins with us "But peace, like…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 90%: Peace Begins with US -- IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT OUR MISSION: To preserve peace, uphold order, and…
Peace Begins with US -- IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT
OUR MISSION: To preserve peace, uphold order, and protect the American people through the enforcement of immigration law.
ADELANTO ICE PROCESSING CENTER -- DISCHARGE FORM
Please fill out the details for the prison release discharge process.
Inmate Name: JOSE GUADALUPE RAMOS-SOLANO
DOB: c. 1973-1974
Inmate ID Number: #130006
Date of Admission: 02-23-2026
Date of Release: 03-25-2026
Intake Assessment and Medical Classification:
Inmate (INM) #130006 presented to ADELANTO on possession of a controlled substance and theft of personal property. #130006 received complete health and physical evaluation during intake screening revealing INM. suffered from diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension. #130006 identified as priority medical care patient, daily medication required.
Custody Status: Maintained
Order and Security: Maintained throughout the period of custody.
Priority Medical Care: Required
Medical Outcome: Irreversible
Reason for Release:
On March 25, 2026 (17:35), custody officers observed #130006 collapsed on his bunk, breathing with no active consciousness. Officers announced medical emergency in dorms.
17:36, RN arrived and observed #130006 on his side, unresponsive and pulseless. Blood glucose testing revealed presence of hyperglycemia.
17:37, RN instructed custody agents to contact emergency services, began chest compressions and applied an automated external defibrillator (no shock advised). CPR continued.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Memories are a lot tougher than you might…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Memories are a lot tougher than you might think. Just like the bodies that hold them." The Memory Police suggests…
Memories are a lot tougher than you might think. Just like the bodies that hold them." The Memory Police suggests that memory is essential to human identity. - Discuss.
In a world where memories don't simply pass with time but are systematically removed, human identity hangs on a loose thread. Yoko Ogawa's chilling dystopia The Memory Police depicts a regime where memories and objects are annihilated by force and individuals inevitably fail to perceive or remember. Through the elements of memory Ogawa suggests that the act of remembrance and memory functions as the basis of identity. However, she argues that once identity becomes dependent on memory, its inevitable loss results in the loss of both one's external and internal self. Ogawa examines this notion through the emotional numbness and collective forgetting followed by each disappearance, contrasted with the inhabitants’ resistance through the impulse to remember and ultimately the holistic loss of the self built on memory.
Ogawa initially explores the interrelationship between memory and identity by establishing memory as the basis of one's selfhood, suggesting that without it individuals gradually lose their sentience and individual agency. As the disappearance progresses, the inhabitants collectively comply with loss despite the degree of attachment. The narrator's apathetic description of birds as a 'species' she couldn't recall the name of despite it being tied to her father depicts the tragic loss of one's selfhood followed by disappearance. Ogawa’s use of generalised language exposes the strong overriding connection between memories and objects such that in its absence the narrator registers its existence abstractly as a ‘species’ , a form of scientific classification rather than an emblem of her father’s existence. By depicting this loss of intimacy to the bird, Ogawa underscores the fragility of identity, asserting that once memory fades, even the deepest parts of one's identity cannot be retrieved. Ogawa extends the external loss of family connection to the literal loss of individuality through the narrator’s opposition towards R’s insistence to preserve novels. Despite her identity as a novelist, the narrator's unbothered argument, "what's the point of storing books that have disappeared?" exposes how the physical loss of novels has singlehandedly diminished the connections she'd cultivated towards this form of art as a writer. By eradicating novels the state successfully removes any opportunities for inferences or understanding. Thus, her apathetic statement questioning the point of preservation despite being capable of doing so presents her immediate complacency to the state as the annihilator of her individual agency. Hence, Ogawa asserts that once loss is internalised the loss of memory results in the immediate collapse of one's selfhood despite the weight of connection or substance. Ultimately Ogawa's careful and deliberate construction of memory and identity serves as a reminder for its fragility and importance.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does the text examine the importance…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Ultimately, Johnson celebrates those who reject the violence sustaining colonial domination, suggesting that…
Ultimately, Johnson celebrates those who reject the violence sustaining colonial domination, suggesting that genuine restoration requires the reclamation of cultural identity and balance rather than the inherited cycles of retaliation that define "kinship" in this broken society.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Personal Journey
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 97.5%: Everyone notices the empty chair beside me but no one asks who it belongs to. It has a name. Not someone…
Everyone notices the empty chair beside me but no one asks who it belongs to.
It
has
a
name.
Not someone living. Not someone dead. The spare chair belongs to Maron, and she takes up exactly the right amount of space.
The classroom empties the same way every Friday. Chairs scrape against the floor, bags zip shut, and the door creaks closed. One by one, the noise disappears down the corridor until there is nothing left but the hum of the lights. I am always the one who stays behind, watching their backs vanish through the doorway.
I catch sight of them through the window as they cross the oval, four of them, already laughing at something I can't hear.
I tighten my grip on my pen, tracing its familiar edge.
"Look at them," Maron scoffs, letting the word fall with a quiet contempt. "Their simplicity is fascinating."
Their footsteps fade beyond me, carrying them along a path I’ve never stepped on.
Each of them remains distinct in my memory. The loudest one, the latest one, the one who smooths things over before they break.
This kind of information accumulates and finds a way to stay without permission.
“They always laugh like that,” Maron murmurs. “It’s not even amusing.” I leave her words where they are. They are easier to hold than the silence outside.
Through the window, the tall one starts another impression. I lean closer, catching only fragments of her voice until the punchline reaches me.
Without warning, something escapes, a laugh, abrupt and unwelcome. My hand flies to my mouth but it's already out, spilling into a silence that wasn't built to hold it.
Another follows before I can swallow the first. Two laughs now, loose in a room with no one to catch them, no one to laugh back. I watch them outside, one covering her mouth, eyes crinkling as the other bends forward beside her.
Outside, they fold into laughter, shoulders touching, pulled toward each other.
Whatever is pulling them stops short of me.
Maron taps her pencil against my desk, waiting for my attention.
“Look at this,” she chuckles. She spins the pencil between her fingers, nearly dropping it before catching it again. “Still got it.”
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Personal Journey
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 95%: Everyone notices the empty chair beside me but no one asks who it belongs to. It has a name. Not someone…
Everyone notices the empty chair beside me but no one asks who it belongs to.
It
has
a
name.
Not someone living. Not someone dead. The spare chair belongs to Maron, and she takes up exactly the right amount of space.
The classroom empties the same way every Friday. Chairs scrape against the floor, bags zip shut, and the door creaks closed. One by one, the noise disappears down the corridor until there is nothing left but the hum of the lights. I am always the one who stays behind, watching their backs vanish through the doorway.
I catch sight of them through the window as they cross the oval, four of them, already laughing at something I can't hear.
I tighten my grip on my pen, tracing its familiar edge.
"Look at them," Maron scoffs, letting the word fall with a quiet contempt. "Their simplicity is fascinating."
Their footsteps fade beyond me, carrying them along a path I’ve never stepped on.
Each of them remains distinct in my memory. The loudest one, the latest one, the one who smooths things over before they break.
This kind of information accumulates and finds a way to stay without permission.
“They always laugh like that,” Maron murmurs. “It’s not even amusing.” I leave her words where they are. They are easier to hold than the silence outside.
Through the window, the tall one starts another impression. I lean closer, catching only fragments of her voice until the punchline reaches me.
Without warning, something escapes, a laugh, abrupt and unwelcome. My hand flies to my mouth but it's already out, spilling into a silence that wasn't built to hold it.
Another follows before I can swallow the first. Two laughs now, loose in a room with no one to catch them, no one to laugh back. I watch them outside, one covering her mouth, eyes crinkling as the other bends forward beside her.
Outside, they fold into laughter, shoulders touching, pulled toward each other.
Whatever is pulling them stops short of me.
Maron taps her pencil against my desk, waiting for my attention.
“Look at this,” she chuckles. She spins the pencil between her fingers, nearly dropping it before catching it again. “Still got it.”
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: to what extent should ai - sexual…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 90%: In 2026, a woman can be the CEO of a global company, a world – class athlete, or a prime minister. But in less…
In 2026, a woman can be the CEO of a global company, a world – class athlete, or a prime minister. But in less than 30 seconds, an anonymous creator with an AI app can strip her of her clothes, her dignity, and her career. For professional women, a deepfake isn't just a 'fake photo' - it is a digital life sentence. So why is our law still treating it like a playground prank?
Honorable members, we stand at a crossroads where our laws are being outpaced by the very technology we once championed. I speak today on the fundamental right to digital bodily autonomy. In 2024, the definition of 'the self' can no longer be confined to physical skin and bone; It must extend to our digital likeliness.
Currently, the weaponization of artificial intelligence has created a new frontier of gender-based violence. Statistics from cybersecurity experts indicate that a staggering 96% of all deepfakes content online is nonconsensual and sexual in nature. This is not an 'innovation' and is not a 'glitch' in the system. It is a calculated violation designed to silence, shame, and erase individuals – predominantly women – from public life.
Now, there are those, including some in the tech sector, who argue that further criminalization may stifle 'artistic expression' or infringe upon 'freedom of speech'. However, I urge you, members of this house: Where does the right to speak begin, and the right to violate end? There is no artistic merit in the digital theft of a human being's dignity.
We cannot allow the 'freedom of speech' to be used as a shield for 'freedom to abuse. If our laws do not evolve to treat the creation of these deepfakes as a serious indictable offense, we are effectively telling Australian citizens that their digital bodies are public property. Parliament has a logical and moral duty to amend the criminal code to ensure that consent is not a relic of the past, but a protected right in our digital future.