VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Ghost Wall explore power?
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Transcending from primitive roots, humans, built off a herd mentality, desire power and agency within their lives,…
Transcending from primitive roots, humans, built off a herd mentality, desire power and agency within their lives, seeking to control not only themselves but also others. Sarah Moss's bildungsroman, 'Ghost wall', highlights the duality of power, and its illusory value that induces this chase within people. Amidst a diverse, patriarchal society, control is portrayed as systemic as opposed to an attainable state, handed to someone based off marginalisations and qualities, that others may fall victim to. While it's largely apparent who ascertains it, power is rather concealed, always present yet utilised through psychological degeneration and coercion, contrary to physical apprehension. Regardless, this lingering nature can prove destructive for both parties, if one allows it to consume their sense of rationality and seep into a state of extremism. As such, Moss posits control and agency as empowering yet corruptive.
Exposing the stark division of humanity in modern society, Moss unveils power as institutional, gifted, not earned, to one based off a number of metrics. Opening the novel, Moss's eerie prolepsis establishes the dominion of men in a patriarchal society. Employing a feminine figure as the sacrifice, objectified as simply a "fearful body", Moss alludes to the omnipotence of men utilising women to implore their visceral rituals. The presence of the crowd, complete with "children… peep[ing] at her from behind their mothers", illustrates this helplessness of women in society, made to voyeur on masculinity dictate their livelihood. Paralleling this, the familial dynamic between Silvie, Bill and Alison is dictated largely off their gender status. Bills persistent dissatisfaction with female's "inferior plumbing" captures this systemic rule of men, antagonizing their need for extra bodily care as a sign of weakness, the connotations of plumbing objectifying them as subhuman. Alison's need to plead for sanitary protection against Bill's view that "women managed well enough.. back in the day without spending money on all" the sanitary products conveys the inherent power men capacitate from their innate benefit of requiring lesser bodily management. Bill's glorification of "women in the family… feeding babies the way nature intended", alongside the symbol of cooking wherein Alison is trapped at the camp, preparing food for the rest of the group, exacerbates the expectation of women to attend to domestic duties, while men provide for the family giving masculine figures power by creating a dependence for social and financial freedom, Moss refuting these gender norms as unjust and anachronistic, largely through Molly whom transcends them, painting men as "poor dears" from their excessive pride and inability to "acknowledge that someone else down know" something they don't. Furthermore, Moss depicts power as a commodity, controlled and distributed by those with profound tangible belongings like knowledge or wealth. The contrast between the professor and his higher-level education creates tension with Bill whom lacks a formal education. While Bill encompasses the skills required to reenact the iron age, the professors "posh" nature and textbook education, "having read a lot", gives him the authority over the group, advancing the notion that power is systematic, dependent on corporate knowledge over situational awareness. Similarly, Molly and Silvie's trip to spar extends on the leverage attained from opulence. Silvie's lack of prosperity, simply having to "see what [she] can afford", places her into a position of submission to Molly whom possess' wealth and thus power as to where they venture. As such, Moss chastises modernity and it's adulation with tangible resources and innate qualities, subverting power as given to those incapable of utilising it.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent does Shakespeare present…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: William Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello exposes the fragility of human nature when individuals are subjected to…
William Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello exposes the fragility of human nature when individuals are subjected to jealous obsession. While Othello’s internalised racial insecurity makes him vulnerable, it is ultimately Iago’s predatory manipulation that drives his downfall, showing that internal doubt alone is not enough to cause destruction without external influence. The tragedy builds towards catastrophe because the characters are trapped by the deceptive nature of false friendship, meaning that jealous obsession becomes a force that reshapes Othello’s perception, identity, and moral judgment. Ultimately, Shakespeare presents a warning that when prejudice creates vulnerability, jealous rage can completely destroy even the most noble identity, demonstrating that jealous obsession is the true driving force behind tragedy.
Shakespeare establishes that jealous obsession begins the tragedy by exploiting Othello’s existing vulnerabilities within a prejudiced Venetian society, where identity is constructed through reputation and social perception. The audience is immediately introduced to a world governed by deep-seated biases when Iago weaponises hateful dialogue, shouting that “an old black ram / Is tupping your white ewe.” The animalistic connotations and aggressive tone in the metaphor of “an old black ram” showcase the racialised suspicion embedded into public consciousness, proving that the environment actively frames Othello as inherently othered, reinforcing the conditions in which jealous suspicion operates through socially constructed prejudice.
This internal vulnerability allows false narratives to thrive, captured when Iago openly admits that “I follow him to serve my turn upon him.” This soliloquy grants Iago uncontested authority over the audience’s understanding, establishing him as the architect of deception while Othello remains a blind participant, revealing how jealous manipulation is enabled through hidden control beneath apparent trust.
To further establish this power, Shakespeare uses the convention of the soliloquy when Iago confesses that Othello “is of a free and open nature... and will as tenderly be led by the nose as asses are.” By juxtaposing Othello’s noble trust with animal imagery, Shakespeare shows that emotional openness becomes the weakness that allows manipulation to succeed, showing how jealousy transforms trust into vulnerability.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘You do not have to walk on your knees /…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: Across her collections American Primitive and Dream Work, Mary Oliver's confessional free verse poetry, employing…
Across her collections American Primitive and Dream Work, Mary Oliver's confessional free verse poetry, employing direct address and vivid natural imagery, dismantles inherited narratives of guilt and positions the natural world as a site of unconditional belonging. Whilst Oliver celebrates the liberation that comes from accepting our flawed, imperfect natures, framing peace as freely available, she ultimately insists that genuine acceptance means embracing difficulty and ugliness as the necessary preconditions for beauty, growth, and renewal. Oliver first subverts the penitential impulse, positioning acceptance of ourselves as a release from guilt and self-imposed pressure; yet she complicates this by acknowledging that accepting the world around us also means accepting a smaller life, one defined by attention and connection rather than grand ambition. Ultimately, Oliver locates peace in the willingness to celebrate the difficult and the ugly as the very things that make renewal possible. For Oliver, peace is found in accepting who we are, not who we force ourselves to be.
Oliver contends that in order to achieve freedom and happiness, humans should release themselves from the weight of perfectionism in order to generate the first step towards peace. In ‘Wild Geese’, Oliver’s direct address, ‘You do not have to be good’, releases the reader from the heavy pressure of perfectionism, illuminating how humans can only be at peace when they shed the burden of failure and imperfections. This is deepened by the metaphor, ‘You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves’, in which Oliver frames the ‘soft animal’ as humanity’s fragile, yet vital natural instincts. This contrasts with the harsh, rigid expectations of society, revealing how following our true instincts rather than synthetic instincts will allow us to nurture peace within ourselves. Furthermore, Oliver’s anaphora of ‘Meanwhile’ to describe how ‘the world goes on’ and the geese ‘heading home again’, showcases how the ongoing, welcoming rhythm of the world acts as a source of comfort rather than a dismissal of achievement, suggesting that nature offers its acceptance regardless of human emotions. Here, Oliver argues how the progression of internal acceptance to external connection will allow humans to resolve the fear of imperfections and generate peace through acceptance. This same idea is present in ‘One or Two Things’, where Oliver’s confessional enjambment, ‘for years and years I struggled just to love my life’, isolates the ‘struggled’ at the line’s end, emphasising the exhausting effort of investing in something that should come naturally, reinforcing that the struggle itself is the obstacle to acceptance. This is deepened through Oliver’s use of simile, ‘like a sharp iron hoof at the centre of my mind’, where the harshness of “iron” and “sharp” underscores how self imposed expectations become instruments of suffering. Furthermore, Oliver’s emblematic butterfly which ‘rose, weightless, in the wind’ and instructs to 'don't love your life too much’ before it ‘vanished into the world’, reinforces that peace comes from releasing rather than controlling it. Oliver insists that peace begins with accepting ourselves as we are - the desire to be perfect, to force happiness, to earn belonging through suffering, is the very wall that is blocking the path towards peace.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Fate controls every aspect of Oedipus the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: In Oedipus the King, fate is presented by Sophocles as the dominant force controlling many aspects of the play,…
In Oedipus the King, fate is presented by Sophocles as the dominant force controlling many aspects of the play, while also demonstrating the limitationslimiations ofted human agency. This is primarily conveyed through the authority of the Gods which shape the trajectory of the narrative. Further, Sophocles also explores human attempts to resist or outwit prophecy, which ultimately contribute to its fulfillment. However, Sophocles acknowledges a limited form of free will in the ways individuals respond to the consequences of their fate. Ultimately, Sophocles suggests that although fate determines the course of events, human agency exists in response to what is destined.
Fate is portrayed as an overpowering and inevitable force, which ultimately governs the characters' livescourse of events. Set in 5th century Athens, the play reflects an audience that viewed the Gods as all-knowing and greater than humanity. The prophecies of the Gods dictate many major events of the play, specifically that Oedipus would "kill [his] father and marry [his] own mother". Despite his and Jocasta's efforts to escape their destiny, they unknowingly fulfill it, emphasising the chorus' assertion that "no mortal can escape his fate". As Sophocles wrote this play during a time where scepticism was emerging about the power and supremacy of the Gods, he explores humanity's questioning of divine authority through Oedipus' initial rejection of Tiresias' warnings that "[Oedipus is] the curse, the corruption of the land" and that he will eventually succumb to his fate. Tiresias is presented as a messenger of divine prophecy, at first resisting revealing the truth, asserting that "what will come will come" yet ultimately disclosing Oedipus' fate, reinforcing the idea that fate will unravel independent of human control. However, Oedipus' hubris blinds him from seeing the truth clearly, and instead of accepting the truth, he interprets it as a conspiracy of Tiresias and Creon being "so hungry to overthrow [him]". He also elevates himself to the Gods' level, asking his citizens to "let [him] grant [their] prayers," failing to recognise the difference between his fallibility and the Gods' infallibility. However, his denial and hubristic mindset does not alter the outcome of Apollo's prophecy, as his attempts to resist the truth only contribute to its fulfillment, indicating that he operates under the illusion of free will. Therefore, Sophocles presents fate as a dominant and relentless force over human lives, regardless of individual resistance or perception.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In the 2007 film Into the Wild, director…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: In the 2007 film Into the Wild, director Sean Penn examines the motivations and actions of Christopher McCandless.…
In the 2007 film Into the Wild, director Sean Penn examines the motivations and actions of Christopher McCandless. Penn initially indicates that seeking isolation grants freedom from modern society, however, he later reveals that Chris refuses to prioritise human connections as he believes they conflict with his desire for freedom. Ultimately, Penn highlights how these beliefs are flawed and paradoxically lead to entrapment while causing profound emotional damage to loved ones.
Penn initially indicates that the pursuit of isolation allows one to withdraw themselves from the expectations of a materialistic society. In the magic bus, Chris describes society as a “poison” which he must “flee to walk alone”. Penn frames society as restrictive as something one must withdraw themselves from if they wish to experience true freedom, thus celebrating Chris's pursuit of isolation early on. Later, Penn uses a montage of Chris jumping excitedly into rivers and running with horses during sunset to romanticize his solitary immersion with nature. Slowed footage and close-up shots elongate the audience's exposure to Chris's raw happiness and focus them entirely on his heightened sense of fulfillment. Chris also explains how "no phone, no pool, no pets" and "no cigarettes," lead to ultimate freedom. The director uses repetitive negative listing to convey that Chris associates true independence not with what he possesses, but with what he rejects. By listing only material possessions, Penn encourages audiences to admire Chris's dedication to simplicity and achieving personal freedom through these rejections of materialism. Therefore, Penn initially supports Chris's pursuit of seclusion by illuminating how his repudiation of civilization allows him to experience freedom and satisfaction.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Prompt: A single spark can transform a…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 95%: It all originated from a single spark. A match so faint that it was indistinguishable from its own shadow. This…
It all originated from a single spark. A match so faint that it was indistinguishable from its own shadow. This spark, however, travelled with the frantic assistance of paint thinner, which clung to the concrete prison walls like a dying breath. The distinct scent of salty rain and burnt plastic stagnated over the alienated town, a heavy, chemical shroud. Faces of cheerful children were plastered against the slabs of concrete—pleas for a future that would forever haunt my mind. It felt as though the town had calcified into a permanent state where justice was a myth and silence was the law.
“Violence is not the answer to violence!” a voice cried from the safety of the dark.
“Those offenders deserved to rot in their cells! Not to burn!”
“Find him! Catch the man who did this!”
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “It is easier to be an insider as an…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: Identity is often not shaped by one’s self, but by the experiences and lessons learnt through life. Set against a…
Identity is often not shaped by one’s self, but by the experiences and lessons learnt through life. Set against a backdrop of oppressive political systems in postcolonial South Africa, Trevor Noah’s Born A Crime explores the role of race in defining one’s identity and understanding of self. Noah exemplifies the role or race in shaping the lives of individuals through its influence on identity, and through social relationships that base themselves on a flawed understanding of race. Furthermore, Noah highlights the cultural alienation that arises from racial segregation, and the ways in which it impacts one’s sense of belonging. Ultimately, Noah suggests that race is a core part of society and its multifaceted nature can influence individuals and communities on a larger scale.
Throughout the memoir, Noah highlights how rigid racial classifications affect individuals’ identity and a sense of self in marginalised groups. From the outset, Noah presents the “Immorality act of 1927” in the epigraph, which condemned “race mixing [as] a crime worse than treason”. This creates a conflicting undertone to begin the text, highlighting the ironical nature of Noah’s birth, being “born a crime”. Describing interracial relationships as “worse than treason” highlights the internalised hatred toward Black people in society, putting forward the notion that they are unfit to live in a white society and should not continue their lineage under apartheid. Additionally, the government teaches “coloured” people that “black people are holding them back”, and that their black heritage is a “taint” in their bloodline. As a result, Noah elucidates that it is not uncommon for biracial children to feel disconnected, being taught that they should be ashamed of their parents, and that they are “product[s] of crime”. Furthermore, Noah employs a humorous undertone to highlight the absurdity of the laws under apartheid, explaining how if you keep your “hands off the chocolate, [then] maybe one day you can become white”. Referring to Black people as “chocolate”, Noah highlights how one must resist temptation and avoid them in order to gain freedom, furthering the argument that Black people are unfit for progression of society under apartheid. Ultimately, Noah posits that the racial categorisation system created by architects of apartheid had devastating impacts on the identity of mixed people, preventing them from finding pride and sense of self in being biracial.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: Here is the verbatim transcription of…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 70%: Appointing her condemnatory argument, Green-Moore targets both socially engaged and apprehensive listeners to…
Appointing her condemnatory argument, Green-Moore targets both socially engaged and apprehensive listeners to uncover common misconceptions about ethical shopping. She initiates her presentation, by employing a welcoming, and appreciative tone to immediately put the listener at ease, aiming to establish connection and lower the defenses of opposing listeners. Leveraging imagery, Green-Moore then urges the audience to “close their eyes and picture” a typical grocery run, this hypothetical scenario aims to evoke pathos in everyday shoppers who are “already familiar” with the experience of buying “all natural ingredients” that are believed to be “great for the environment, ultimately trying to relate to listeners through shared experiences, and create a sense of comfort. However, Green-Moore immediately juxtaposes this sense of comfort, through a jarring tonal shift, to pronounce blind trust in packaging labels as “wrong!”. This sudden revelation, is intended to create doubt and act as a moment of consideration about listeners' own behaviour, and aims for a moment of self-assessment especially amongst like-minded environmental shoppers. Additionally, this dismantles the confidence of refuting listeners,
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The prompt is "Remebering is essential to…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Primarily, Ogawa illustrates how essential memory is to the composition of an individual's humanity and morals,…
Primarily, Ogawa illustrates how essential memory is to the composition of an individual's humanity and morals, warning how individuals can not fill the void of memory loss. Ogawa highlights that an individuals memories of objects tied to loved ones grants them their humanity. As she begins to lack any feelings of attachment towards objects of importance. This idea of the importance of remembering alludes to how totalitarian governments in the 20th century erase records for of past atrocities to avoid accountability. Thus, Ogawa explores the importance of memory through her characters' losses of memory as they lose parts of their humanity.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The prompt was "Forgetting is ,ore…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 60%: Primarily, Ogawa warns how forgetting leads to the eventual erasure of one's identity. She mirrors the reality of…
Primarily, Ogawa warns how forgetting leads to the eventual erasure of one's identity. She mirrors the reality of mid-20th century totalitarian regimes such as the Nazis in Germany who attempted to 'erase' the identity of the Jewish people, to illustrate how the state relies on the erasure of people to maintain power. This is most evident when the narrator describes the results of forgetting as having "no seeds inside [her]" to help symbol of the generative power of memory as without "these seeds", an individual is left in a state of permanent standstill, unable to "sprout" or grow. Additionally her admission that "what is gone is gone completely" highlights the finality of the state's control over the psyche. Thus, Ogawa utilises the imagery of plants and a bleak, cut tone to emphasise the finality of the disappearances, the metaphor of the "seeds" suggests that memory is an organic, life giving force; without it, the narrator's internal world is rendered barren and sterile. This symbol represents the generative power of "self"; by loosing her memories, the protagonist loses the very foundation from which her unique identity grows and nurtures. Thus Ogawa demonstrates that the "danger" of forgetting lies in its ability to render the individual a hollow vessel, complicit in their own psychological erasure.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: 1. In 'Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood is…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Billy Wilder's film noir Sunset Boulevard (1950), attempted the return of former silent star accompanied by…
Billy Wilder's film noir Sunset Boulevard (1950), attempted the return of former silent star accompanied by struggling screenwriter in desperate attempts to return to the big stage. Set in the 'golden era' of Hollywood, Wilder exposes the delusion that errades from the Hollywood industry of fame causing delusion towards individuals. Fed by the star system, individuals will feed their desperation by adapting towards Hollywood's expectations, in the process losing their own self-morality. However, it can be turned into ambition amongst the delusion. Wilder composes a series of thematic and symbolic ideas in discussion of Hollywood's lifeless treatment to those who are deluded in their path to fame.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: It is on the novel 'The Memory Police' by…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: Primarily, Ogawa warns how forgetting leads to the eventual erasure of one's identity. She mirrors the reality of…
Primarily, Ogawa warns how forgetting leads to the eventual erasure of one's identity. She mirrors the reality of mid-20th century totalitarian regimes such as the Nazi's in Germany who attempted to erase the identity of the Jewish people, to illustrate how the state relies on the erasure of people to maintain power. This is most evident when the narrator describes the wailes of forgetting as having "no seeds inside [her]" to illustrate the generative power of memory as without these "seeds," an individual is left in a state of permanent standstill, unable to "sprout" or grow. Additionally, her admission that "what is gone is gone completely" highlights the finality of the state's control over the psyche. Thus, Ogawa utilises the imagery of plants and a bleak, cut tone to emphasise the finality of the disappearances. The metaphor of the "seeds" suggests that memory is an organic, life giving force; without it, the narrator's internal world is rendered barren and sterile. This symbol represents the generative power of "self"; by loosing her memories, the protagonist loses the very foundation from which an unique identity grows and nurtures. Thus Ogawa demonstrates that the "danger" of forgetting lives in its ability to render the individual a hollow vessel, complicit in their own psychological erasure.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: demand progreess
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 85%: Demand progress For centuries, protest had stood on its forefront, desperate for the social change. People…
Demand progress
For centuries, protest had stood on its forefront, desperate for the social change. People repeatedly challenge issues ranging from imbalance of gender equality to global political decision. From a birds eye view, protest may appear to be nothing more than crowds marching through streets, holding signs and chanting slogans. However, the depth of protest is far more about a public refusal of silence, it is an act of courage that allows ordinary people to confront bias and demand a need of progress to better, despite their wealth, authority, race or influence. Those who refuse to accept had repeated demonstrated that courage can leave a significant mark on society. Although their voice may be small, but the impact can extend far beyond their time, inspiring more to come. So the conclusion revealed itself clear, ------
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Sunset Boulevard explores the dangers of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Set in post-war Hollywood, Billy Wilder’s American masterpiece ‘Sunset Boulevard’ exposes an industry obsessed with…
Set in post-war Hollywood, Billy Wilder’s American masterpiece ‘Sunset Boulevard’ exposes an industry obsessed with fame and image at the expense of authentic relationships. Demonstrated through his examination of the effects of illusion vs reality, Billy Wilder’s American film noir ‘Sunset Boulevard’ suggests how a misinterpretation of reality can not only lead to erosion of identity but can also unmoor an individual’s sanity. However, Wilder further demonstrates how delusion allows for individuals to remain in a safe bubble, free from the harsh realities of the real world. Initially, Wilder diminishes how a crave for stardom leads to an erosion of one’s identity. Furthermore, he then demonstrates how transactional and commensalistic relationships feed into delusionality, thus allowing for dangers to occur. Yet, Wilder still exuberates the utter importance of illusion as a psychological shield insulating one from life’s brutal truths.
Initially, Wilder portrays how Norma Desmond’s relentless craving for renewed stardom gradually erodes her sense of self, blurring the boundary between her true identity and the roles she once played. Cooped up in her decaying mansion, isolated from the real world, Norma remains convinced that she is still adored by her “fans”, proclaiming “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.” Through this, Wilder lambasts how continual denial and self-obsession can warp one’s grasp on reality, reducing identity to a fragile performance sustained only by elusion. Moreover, Wilder furthers this toward the end of the film, displaying the consequences of feeding into Norma’s fantasy as her desire for stardom is perpetuated, she states how “[She is] the greatest star of them all” and how “[the fans] still want [her].” By embedding these famous lines, Wilder highlights how Hollywood’s disposability of stars leads to erosion of their identity as they cling to outdated images of themselves, mistaking nostalgic adoration for present reality and surrendering any stable sense of who they are beyond their fame. In doing so, Wilder suggests that Norma’s desperate attachment to her former stardom is not merely vanity, but a tragic by-product of an industry that builds identities on illusion and then abandons them once the spotlight moves on, proving Hollywood’s ability to ‘lend’ actors fame when they most desire – demonstrating their corrupt nature.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Sunset Boulevard shows that the pursuit of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: The corruption of the Hollywood dream is central to Billy Wilder’s 1950 pax-Americana film noir, Sunset…
The corruption of the Hollywood dream is central to Billy Wilder’s 1950 pax-Americana film noir, Sunset Boulevard. Set after the advent of the 'talkies,' the film explores how the endeavor of stardom is corrupted by the toxic hollywood environment. Additionally, Wilder conveys how such ambition can be detrimental to one's own well-being and mental state. Despite this, the film reveals that although the pursuit of status can be treacherous, it is not always inevitable. Ultimately, Wilder emphasises how fame is an illusion that consumes those who worship it.
Wilder conveys how the strive for status is consequentially jeopardised as a result of Hollywood’s toxic underbelly. This notion is reiterated through Betty Schaefer, a young, desiring actress who fails to succeed in the industry because “they didn't like [her] nose”. Undertaking strenuous training and a payment of “$300” to get her nose "fixed," Betty’s prolonging dream was again closed as they "didn't like [her] acting”, yet were now “crazy about [her] nose". By going to the extent of surgically altering physical appearance, Wilder reveals how aspiring individuals like Betty were willing to take extreme measures to meet the benchmark of Hollywood. Furthermore, the director uses her nose job to condemn the industry's unethical expectations, manipulating ambitious individuals into feeling worthless if they do not meet certain specifications, requiring complete “fixe[s]” to physical identity to satisfy these high standards. However, Wilder expresses that these measures are not innate to the youth. This is furthered through Norma's deluded ambition to “return to the screen”, which is established early on through the thick makeup accentuating her lips and eyes, reminiscent of the style of the silent film era. The director employs this technique to lambast the consequences attached to an individual's rise of fame within Hollywood, creating harmful obsessions with the substantial commercial standards that gradually apply to both work and personal life. As the film progresses, Norma continues to immerse herself into the commercial standards, undertaking arduous beauty procedures conveyed by extreme close ups. By magnifying minor facial characteristics such as her eyebags, Wilder further condemns the strict physical specifications that Hollywood abides by to grant fame, consequentially creating detrimental self-image for those who strive for status in the industry. Therefore, Wilder suggests that the commercial standards of the industry enable a pursuit for fame to be perilous.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Norma only has herself to blame for her…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: Wilder reflects upon the lack of control Norma Desmond has in dictating her own story, through the use of…
Wilder reflects upon the lack of control Norma Desmond has in dictating her own story, through the use of structural film techniques. Sunset boulevard presents an uncommon film technique of cyclical structure alongside symbols relevant to Norma which represents her future to be inevitable. In the film, Wilder cleverly implements a cyclical structure by showing the frame of Joe dead in the pool at both the beginning and the end of the film. This cyclical structure introduces the theme of inevitability, as the ending is already established. This causes the audience to experience a sense of helplessness towards Norma's gradual demise, thus affirming its inescapable nature. Furthermore, Norma’s lack of control is reiterated through Joe’s consistent narration throughout the film. Joe narrates the plot and describes each scene from his personal perspective and beliefs. Wilder’s choice of this narration translates to how
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: Oral Presentation: Should Australia…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 95%: INTRO Politicians, last year Australians went to the polls with energy policy at the heart of the national…
INTRO
Politicians, last year Australians went to the polls with energy policy at the heart of the national debate. The choice was stark: a Labor government doubling down on renewables, or a Coalition vision that dared to say the word that has long been banned in this country, “nuclear”. The Coalition lost. But that does not mean the argument was wrong.
Mr. Speaker, I stand before you today as a senator, a senator who can see the clearcut evidence. If Australians are serious about reliable, affordable, low emissions electricity for our children, we must invest in nuclear energy.
ARG 1
Critics will tell you nuclear power is too expensive. But in the long run, is it?
Yes, nuclear plants carry high upfront construction costs. On paper you would never consider nuclear energy. Their operating lifespans stretch to 60 or even 80 years. Wind farms and solar farms can run for a maximum of 25 years. Hydro farms have an expected lifespan of 45 years. It would take the operational lifespan of an offshore windfarm and a hydro farm just to match the lifespan of a nuclear reactor. Nuclear energy also is more consistent through its lifespan, according to a blog posted by the U.S department of energy. Nuclear energy runs at maximum capacity more than 92% of the year while wind and solar run 35% and 25% of the year respectively. When you look past the initial price tag, nuclear energy isn't an expensive gamble. It’s a multi-generational investment that outlasts and out-powers the competition
ARG 2
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Change is unwelcome in We Have Always…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 100%: Set against the suffocating atmosphere of 1960s New England, Shirley Jackson’s ‘We Have Always Lived in the…
Set against the suffocating atmosphere of 1960s New England, Shirley Jackson’s ‘We Have Always Lived in the Castle’ serves as a cultural critique of the chains of a conforming society. While change is greatly feared in the narrative, it ultimately leads the characters to an ideal reality and serves as their saviour. The story illustrates the ghastliness of the societal expectations imposed upon the women of the era. Furthermore the author utilises fantasy as an effective coping mechanism to ‘change’ one’s reality. Ultimately, Jackson presents change as a dire need for the characters in the novel, and how it leads to their utopia.
Critiquing oppressive domestic expectations, Jackson exposes the unwelcome fear that a patriarchal environment brings. The gothic elements of the story are utilised by the author to foreground the ‘fictitious’ nature of the fear that ‘ordinary’ women faced during the time. Merricat’s deluded view of Charles as a “ghost…sleeping in father’s bed” serves as a testament to this gothic register. She views Charles as an apparition to demonstrate her fear against the ‘ghost’ of patriarchal intrusion, and the change he threatens to bring. Jackson’s crafting of Merricat’s eccentric view is used to reflect her own feelings against the era that fought to confine her, and the ostracization that comes from a defiance to small-town conformity. This gothic element is further compounded by its dehumanising nature, where Charles is depicted as a “big white face…still looking like our father”. This dehumanisation is used to further subvert the ‘humanity’ that a paternalistic society holds and directly mirrors the “flat grey faces” of the village. Through this juxtaposition, Jackson proposes that oppression doesn’t only take place in the ‘macro’ of large mobs but takes root directly in the domestic sphere as well, illustrating a corrupt and androcentric society as a weed that binds women. The author solidifies the horrific nature of the conforming society through the authority meant to help them. The act of Jim Donnell “[taking] off his hat saying ‘CHIEF’…in complete silence” serves as a dramatic device of ‘slow building’ apprehension; Jackson renders mob violence with horrifying deliberateness, where villagers' "justice" is exposed as pure cruelty, vindicating the sisters' original choice to isolate. Jackson implicates the community as the true source of violence - the sisters are not dangerous outcasts but rational escapees from a genuinely brutal social order. Ultimately, Jackson subverts the gothic trope of the ‘monster’ by painting an ‘ordinary’ conforming society as monstrous harbingers of change.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Aim is to argue. This is for oral…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 75%: In Australia, over half of young females drop out of sport, with many blaming lack of support as key reasons.…
In Australia, over half of young females drop out of sport, with many blaming lack of support as key reasons. Some may believe it is due to lack of ability, however it is because local sporting clubs are failing to address the barriers such as judgement, unequal funding and limited role models. We as a community must prioritise the participation of young females in sport to foster a safe and friendly environment for all players, throughout their lives.
Negative stereotypes and embarrassment play a major role in the discouragement of female participation in sport, especially during adolescence. From an early age, females are encouraged to view sport as masculine and ‘unfeminine’ and that girls are too delicate and fragile for male-dominated sports. This marginalisation, often reinforced by media and the community, intentionally or unintentionally, causes girls to drop out due to low confidence or fear of being judged and mislabelled regarding their sexuality or femininity. Once most females reach adolescence, they are undergoing numerous overwhelming transitions. Their bodies are undergoing rapid physical changes, they are just beginning high school, and are pressured to engage in competitive leagues of sport. This number of rapid overwhelming changes can make young females more self-conscious and ultimately withdraw themselves from sport. According to a report by Youth Sports Trust, 62% of young females want to participate in sport at school, however they hesitated due to lack confidence and fear of judgement. This confirms females possess a desire to participate, however due to the perception of environments being unwelcome or dismissive of females, it feels like they missed an opportunity. If local clubs can demonstrate inclusive and inviting surroundings, it will help boost female participation as it will help build females’ confidence and make them feel accepted. To accomplish this, we can start by encouraging social connection between all players and club members by throwing club-organised events to create new and strengthen team bonds.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Discovery Joy
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 70%: Hues of crimson, amber and tuscany blend into the marble of the early morning sky. Sun peers through the stand…
Hues of crimson, amber and tuscany blend into the marble of the early morning sky. Sun peers through the stand of acacias trees, as the summer zephyrs brushed through the window of Grandma’s farmhouse attic, waking up Mia. Silence. Nothing but the symphony of the dawn choruses melding with the cicadas chirping. This was unusual; unlikely. Silence absent her whole life suddenly swamped the atmosphere around her, with a steady pace thudding in her chest, the echo of her breathing sounding ever so pristine clear.
Back home, silence never existed, as did her idea of a perfect family. Every morning began with the constant bickering of her parents ricocheting through the paper thin walls of Mia’s bedroom, The air thickened with the rage boiling inside her. Her desire to take action against her parents was crushed at her utter reluctancy, deep down knowing her actions lacked the impact needed. Her chest tightened, energy drained as the weight on her shoulders anchored her to the rough wooden floor, as she puddled on the floor, blending into the confinement of her room.
Descending the stairs of the farmhouse, Mia awaits the chaos to begin. Yet again, nothing. Just the sweet aroma of honey drizzled upon Grandma’s fresh batch of pancakes, with a hint of the lavender scent wafting through the porch of the farmhouse. Tip-toeing into the kitchen, Mia’s stiff, tightened chest softened to the sight of her grandmother placing the cut-up bananas around her pancakes, forming flowers. She recognised the feeling: love, but what scared her was the thought that she wouldn’t find this again. Her parents' love for each other was gone, what was even left to share with her? As Grandma reached for the cupboard, Mia’s stomach twisted into a knot as she was…
…Suddenly back in her house, warily stepping out toward the battlefield of the war between her parents. In the eyes of 7-year-old Mia, society would expect her to start weeping, pleading to stop, maybe even run up to her parents, and vanish all their issues. But the true discovery that day uncovered another layer to her trauma, that she indeed, was the issue.
“I should have never had a child with you!” declared her father.
“Do you think I did either?” her mother agreed, “She is our only bond to each other, our pure bond of hatred”
Now Mia knew: her life was the bane of their existence . Her fingernails dug into her palms, as the tension settled into the air. The anger bottled up from her young age gushed through each vein in her body. Glaring at her for a split second, as her expression blanked, her parents began bickering again. The blood that once surged through her body drained at an instant. The walls trapped her in her own spiraling thoughts, as her chin quivered, the silent sob overpowered by the constant arguing. She scans the room for an escape, the antique cupboard. Inching past the chaotic argument, Mia locked herself inside, when she realised she had found her new home. Curled into a ball, she detached herself from the harsh truth: Mia is nothing.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: writing about country
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 85%: A Disconnected Country Wound This country has a scar. Severed from itself. Buried among a sprawling, silent…
A Disconnected Country
Wound
This country has a scar.
Severed from itself.
Buried among a sprawling, silent tide of society’s castoffs.
A submerged landscape. Drowning everything beneath a stagnant sea of refuse.
The air is hot.
Suffocating.
Every breath taken is a stark reminder that this country is now broken, beyond repair.
And it's OUR fault.
There’s a buzz. Life here is a rarity, an iridescent haze hangs over the sludge. The humming of flies swarming over the landscape of debris and decay. This is all that’s left.
It's repulsive.
However you were right, all those years ago when we questioned you and looked to you to grant us change. But our country is naturally regenerative isn't it? Is Climate change just another Generation Z progressive tantrum?
I wonder if that's still the case.
Memory
I’m lucky.
I remember this country before. It was a vast, breathing masterpiece- ancient, untamed, and luminous in its quiet power.
The air was pure.
Calm.
The sky stretched endlessly, a deep and generous blue that seemed to cradle the land beneath it. Sunlight poured over the deep red earth in golden sheets, warming it and igniting the colours of the bush into something almost dreamlike. Rivers ran clear, unhurried, threading through the land like veins of glass.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Title: 'Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 100%: Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust January in the Old Land was a frigid, stormy period. Wisps of dust covered the…
Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust
January in the Old Land was a frigid, stormy period.
Wisps of dust covered the barren wasteland; the lifeless dormant trees whispered. Underneath the high-rise sun, the ripe apples – fruits of all knowledge – fell in sequence.
They came for the apples, seeking to caress the symbol of creation. To have plucked it from its stem and prayed to their thousand-year-old souls.
In sight of eternal life, they scraped the dry earth in their pilgrimage to the Old Land. Their eyes, filmed with the grey dust of the wasteland, scanned the horizon for the curve of the ripening fruit. They did not want to survive; they wanted to outrun the grave – to be more than human. They sought to be cleansed.
This was the Elders’ burden; they claimed to be the keepers of life, yet their hands were perpetually stained grey. They had spent so many centuries dissecting the anatomy of ash that they had forgotten the presence of air. They taught the Bright Generation that to live forever, one must first master the decay.
But in that month of January, the Dark Plague came. It killed insidiously as it progressed from a simple cold into the decay of ash and dust. It marked the season of forgetting. During this period, the Old Land turned its back on the sun; a jagged silence, it felt, refused to thaw. The sun’s cycle became irregular; it slowed down as if it were an ember gasping in ash. The apples softened and fell one by one: the Old Land was dying.
The Elders were custodians; they had interpreted the scripture of decay. They made it their mission to guide the Bright Generation along a path toward eternal life.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “Apollo commands us – he was quite clear –…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: ‘Oedipus The King’ is a Greek tragedy, written by Sophocles in 429 BCE, and performed in Dionysia – a festival for…
‘Oedipus The King’ is a Greek tragedy, written by Sophocles in 429 BCE, and performed in Dionysia – a festival for the god Dionysus. The play centres Oedipus - the king of Thebes, praised and crowned for saving Thebes from the Sphinx. Despite the triumph, Oedipus is not free from human flaws, which later leads to his downfall. Further to be shown, a plague strikes down to Thebes, from Apollo’s command – to “drive the corruption from the land”, to “root [the corruption] out”, Oedipus is actually stepping away from the truth by the hubris and the inability to find out the truth despite his determination of pursue the truth at all costs, contributing to the continuation of Thebes’ suffering.
Sophocles illustrates how hubris can badly lead Oedipus to his own ruin, extending Thebes’ suffering. By being able to solve the Sphinx’s riddle that no one can solve, this creates a foundation of Oedipus’s hubris when he is triumphed to be the king of Thebes after Laius’s death. Oedipus believes he possesses an incredible intelligence that can be equivalent to gods, to “grant the prayers”, believes that he is destined to bring the plague away, further accentuates when he has the highest authority throughout Thebes despite the words came from the priest that he “cannot equal the gods". Oedipus lives on the demand of gaining people’s respect, wanting his name to be renowned throughout the world, “the world knows [his] fame, [he is] Oedipus”. This is further portrayed during stichomythia between Creon and Oedipus, Oedipus accuses everyone is conspiring against him, including Creon who is “equal” to Oedipus thinking “[Creon], plotting to kill me, kill the king—I see it all”; or Chorus, the people he is fighting for, after they begs for the pair to meditate for good intentions, assuming they "want [him] banished or want [him] dead", without realising the absurdity of this false logic. Oedipus is overshadowed by his own hubris, and thus cumulatively being more reckless and impulsive as a leader or “the tyrant”. This delays the resolution of the truth, thereby prolonging Thebes’ suffering.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Oedipus The King suggests that suffering…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: ‘Oedipus The King’ is a classic Greek tragedy, written by Sophocles in 429 BCE. The play centres on Oedipus, a…
‘Oedipus The King’ is a classic Greek tragedy, written by Sophocles in 429 BCE. The play centres on Oedipus, a noble protagonist, who is prophesised to kill his father and marry his mother. By attempting to escape the oracle’s decree, Oedipus ultimately leads to own inevitable suffering by reconcile himself to the price of his own eyesight for the truth and restoration of Thebes. However, Sophocles suggests that while humans do not have control over their own fate, they have the power to define their character on how they respond to that suffering.
Firstly, Sophocles emphasises the unavoidability of fate that binds mortal lives within an inescapable loop. The play begins when Oedipus decides to flee Corinth after hearing the oracle’s prophecy, believing he has self-autonomy without any deities’ active control. However, this attempt paradoxically leads Oedipus closer to fulfilling the revelation, as he encounters the “triple crossroads”, where he unknowingly kills Laius, his true father. The “triple crossroads” here symbolises fate, evidently establishing how Oedipus is bound to his fate no matter what path he chooses, it is futile. Sophocles uses Oedipus to represent the human belief in self-control, illustrating the tragic consequences of hubris and hamartia when they arrogantly defy the omnipotence of the gods. After successfully becoming the ‘saviour’ of Thebes from the Sphinx, Oedipus builds a foundation of hubris, which subsequently leads him toward to be a theomaniac. Despite the Priest’s reminder that he is “not equal to the gods”, his ego leads him to believe he can “grant” the prayers of the people, once more attempting to save Thebes from the destructive plague by investigating Laius’s murder. Ironically, this investigation is the factor that pushes Oedipus into his “ruin” as each step taken in pursuit of truth brings him closer to the fulfilment of the prophecy and ultimately his destined suffering. Sophocles suggests that attempts to challenge fate ultimately result in suffering, as Oedipus’ pursuit of truth only draws him closer to his inevitable downfall.