VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In ‘Oedipus the King’, there are no right…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Written against the historical backdrop of the Peloponnesian War and the plague of Athens, the ancient Athenian…
Written against the historical backdrop of the Peloponnesian War and the plague of Athens, the ancient Athenian tragedian, Sophocles composed the tragedy, ‘Oedipus the King’ in the collection of ‘the Three Theban play’ to reflect the turbulent era. According to Socrates’ philosophy of ‘rationalism’, Sophocles utilizes the play to suggests that the concept of ‘choice’ is a sense of illusion. Initially, Sophocles presents the human autonomy as a mortal flaw that ultimates in deconstruction. Furthermore, Sophocles endeavours to illustrate the notion that all sense of human deliberation is well manipulated by the divine orchestration. In doing so, the tragedian suggests all ‘rational’ decisions in mortal perspectives are pre-determined. Therefore, Sophocles frequently utlises the characters and the structure of the play to deliver the requisition to withstand and maintain the wisdom of ‘sophrosyne’.
Sophocles initially presents the triumph over divine decree in order to seize the illusion of autonomy is a sense of ‘desire’, an illustration of blasphemy. Under the presence of dramatic irony, the pre-requisition of the tragedy’s context from the audience, the playwright’s portrayal of Oedipus deliberation to ‘flee from Corinth… gauging its landfall only by the stars’ as a response to the inquiry of the prophecy: ‘you (Oedipus) will couple with your mother (Jocasta)’ and eventually ‘cut your (Oedipus) father (Laius) down’ is rational. ‘Running, always running’, stemming from Oedipus’ fear and his altruistic characteristic, the mortal audience are likely to resonate with his response to the Oracle. However, due to the existence of the heavily felt off-stage characters, the divine orchestration, Oedipus eventually resulted at the ‘crossroads’. Although, the ‘crossroads’ definition, owing to literature, suggested a symbol of ‘choices’ and directions, it ultimately becomes an exercise of divine orchestration. As a result of the chance-meeting of Oedipus and Laius, the tragic protagonist committed the serious crime in the ancient Greek era, patricide. Therefore, the juxtaposition between Oedipus’ rational response and the overwhelming divine orchestration further reinforces Sophocles’ message of human agency is an illusion. Furthermore, Laius’ response to the Oracle, sending Oedipus to the ‘barren, trackless mountain’ and the decision to ‘fasten his (Oedipus) ankle’ is likely to be interpreted as a release from the prophecy. Ironically, owing to the divine ordainment, the chance-meeting of the Theban shepherd and the messenger from Corinth ‘(un)fastened’ Oedipus. Therefore, both Oedipus and Laius are ‘(re)fastened’ to the ‘Oracle of Delphi’. Hence, the tragedian, Sophocles lucidly delivered the message that free will is a sense of illusion and will be overshadowed by the gravest kinds.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does 'The Memory Police' reveal the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: How does 'The Memory Police' reveal the impact of oppression? Set on an unnamed island plagued by the gradual…
How does 'The Memory Police' reveal the impact of oppression?
Set on an unnamed island plagued by the gradual disappearance of objects, Yoko Ogawa's Japanese novel, 'The Memory Police', published in 1994 and translated by Stephen Snyder in 2019, examines the multifaceted nature of oppression, interrogating the dangers of ideological conditioning and the existential threats it poses to humanity. Ogawa reveals the physical and emotional consequences of sustained subjugation on individuals living within a hollowing society, while also warning against the threat of systemic collapse under a mysterious governing force. The novel explores the physical impacts of authority on an individuals daily life, portrays the emotional damage and trauma that is inflicted by relentless marginalisation, and demonstrates the risk of systemic autophogy under an authoritarian figure.
Ogawa depicts the physiological and direct consequences of sustained corrosive authority on individuals living within a totalitarian society. Ogawa first depicts the physical oppression of individuals on the island when the family is taken away by the Memory Police, toward the beginning of the novel. The narrator describes how the family was "loaded into the truck" in the street. Ogawa goes on to describe the "young girl... with knobby knees", underpinning the innocent nature of the girl who can remember through this descriptive imagery. By further portraying the girls fear after she "scrambles to get up" when falling over, Ogawa illustrates the forced oppression of individuals who can remember, creating public fear and encoraging complacency within society by exemplifying the ruthlessness of the Memory Police, not showing any mercy, even for a young girl. This concept of the physical confinement of individuals under authority is most clearly noted through R's forced confinement in the secret room to resist discovery by the Memory Police. By going into hidding, quitting his job and leaving his family, R is forced into completing everyday mundane tasks such as "polishing the silver" or "organising the tax book". Through this intellectual deprivation, Ogawa demonstrates the power of authority in controling an individuals daily life, dictating their actions. The physical toll this confinement has on R is exemplified through the narrators description of R as "feel[ing] the outline of his body blurring, his blood thinning". Through these connotative words, Ogawa evokes a sense of weakening of R due to the sustained confinement to the hidden room, further exemplifying the physical toll prolonged hidding has had on R's body. In doing so, Ogawa depicts the long-term physical consequences that corrosive oppression has on an individuals physical health, and quality of life.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent is Sunset Boulevard about…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: Having control over one's life decisions is vital for the unconstrained expression of oneself. Billy Wilder,…
Having control over one's life decisions is vital for the unconstrained expression of oneself. Billy Wilder, renowned Hollywood director of the mid-1900s, explores this idea through his 1950s film noir Sunset Boulevard and how control is very much limited for individuals in the Hollywood Realm. He explores the different facets of lost control, such as that over one's perception, their future and sanity, and their common throughline, being the malicious motivations of Hollywood. Thus wilder the contends that Hollywood thrives off of gained control over others, and thus, Sunset Boulevard largely revolves around the lost control of Hollywood artists.
Wilder the presents Hollywood as a narcissistic entertainment industry that controls the trajectory of its aspirants. Wilder places the “first husband" of Norma Desmond, Max von Mayerling, as a symbolic representative of the Hollywood machine. Thus, as Max takes "Mr Gillis's bags" and "naturally" brings the rest of Joe’s belongings into Norma’s “haunted sunset castle”, Wilder the uses Max's eager characterisation to take Joe into Norma's environment to symbolise and reflect Hollywood's similar enthusiasm to take in young aspirants such as “17 year old norma” and entrap them in the “prison” of Hollywood. As the film progresses, it becomes increasingly evident that Max facilitates the course of action which both Joe and Norma take, being of ultimate peril. During the denouement of the film, as a close-up with harsh striking lighting captures norma presenting herself to the “press agents”, Max is seen to eagerly take on the director's role, commanding “action”. Wilder thus uses this to illustrate Max's ultimate role in Norma’s life, being her destructive enabler. He does this to further reflect the similarly destructive and selfish nature of Hollywood dictating the outcomes of its by you serving their power over said outcomes.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Sunset Boulevard, it is the capacity…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Confined within the illusory glamour of a Hollywood machine built on youth and disposability, Billy Wilder's…
Confined within the illusory glamour of a Hollywood machine built on youth and disposability, Billy Wilder's cynical film noir Sunset Boulevard interrogates the destructive role of self-delusion within the exploitative studio system of 1950s America, exposing its unyielding dominance over fame and wealth. Through manipulative relationships, such as the transactional bond between Joe and Norma, Wilder reveals how power and financial motives become corrosive within the world of Hollywood. He further explores the blurred distinction between illusion and reality, exposing the ways individuals construct false identities to escape the harshness of their circumstances in a desperate bid to preserve their fading relevance. Yet Wilder ultimately positions Hollywood itself as the manufacturer of this capacity for delusion, critiquing an industry that commodifies individuals, values youth and success, and ruthlessly discards those who no longer serve its interests.
Built on a condemnation of Hollywood’s brutal reality, Wilder critiques the ways in which individuals become tied to the pursuit of financial freedom. From the outset, Wilder introduces his doomed protagonist through an opening scene that begins where the film ultimately ends: with Joe Gillis’s death. This non-linear structure creates a closed, fatalistic cycle, symbolising Hollywood’s tendency to discard principles, ambition and idealism. Wilder highlights the financial struggles of unsuccessful screenwriters through the symbolic loss of Joe’s car, which is threatened by the “repo men” before Norma dismisses the issue, stating that “we only need one car.” Through this act of financial manipulation, Wilder frames Norma's control over Joe as suffocating, one that steadily severs him from the creative world he once belonged to. Joe’s gradual submission to Norma’s controlling behaviour and financial generosity reflects the oppressive illusion surrounding her world, while also exposing the social façade of appearing successful in 1950s Hollywood. Although Joe attempts to maintain the image of prosperity, he becomes increasingly trapped within Norma Desmond’s distorted reality. Within Norma’s gothic mansion, Joe is frequently dwarfed by wide camera shots, particularly as he moves up the grand staircase, visually diminishing him and foreshadowing his entrapment and separation from the outside world. The non-diegetic voice-over further disrupts Norma’s illusion; Joe’s cynical, world-weary tone directly addresses the audience, cutting through Norma’s melodrama and repeatedly drawing them back to the distorted truth and the underlying reality of his murder. Through this posthumous narration, Wilder reinforces the noir fatalism surrounding Joe’s story and how his deluded pursuit for financial freedom can ultimately become destructive.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Oedipus the King, Sophocles suggests…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: In Oedipus the King, Sophocles suggests that seeking the truth is dangerous, as it unearths the tragic and…
In Oedipus the King, Sophocles suggests that seeking the truth is dangerous, as it unearths the tragic and misery-filled lives they all truly live. While Oedipus’s aggressive pride and intellectual arrogance accelerates his catastrophic downfall, attributing the tragedy solely to human ego oversimplifies the play. Sophocles ultimately demonstrates that whilst Oedipus’s hubris is what blinds him from reality, the tragedy is fundamentally written by his inescapable prophecy and a relentless civil duty that weaponizes truth against the protagonist. Through the unravelling of Thebes, the playwright exposes how human agency is systematically flawed by design, where attempting to learn ones true destiny only guarantees ones destruction.
Sophocles establishes early that Oedipus’s unchallenged hubris and faith in his own intellect directly catalyzes the tragedy of his journey. From the beginning of the play, Oedipus views himself as the savior above mortal limitation, declaring to suffering Theban citizens, “You pray to gods? Come, Let me answer your prayers”. This outlandish overconfidence blinds him to the boundaries of human knowledge. When the blind prophet Tiresias gently attempts to guide him away from the truth, Oedipus’s pride weaponizes his intellect, leading him to accuse both Tiresias and Creon, rather than humbling himself before the prophecy. His temper and demand for absolute control means that every step he takes to ‘solve’ the murder of Laius is driven by his ego in that he can outthink his own destiny. Consequently, Sophocles frames Oedipus’s ruin as a natural and destruction sequence of a mortal who mistakes his cleverness for supremacy.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Oedipus the King, there are no right…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Hailed as the pinnacle of Greek tragedy, Sophocles Oedipus the King explores the inescapability of fate, steeped…
Hailed as the pinnacle of Greek tragedy, Sophocles Oedipus the King explores the inescapability of fate, steeped in dramatic irony, Oedipus attempts to thwart fate by trying to outrun it and instead runs towards its eventual succession. Throughout the play, Sophocles explores the fine line between leadership and hubris. Although actions taken throughout the play in response to major events could be classified as actions that serve the polis and actions that serve the self, ultimately fate is intertwined in all actions taken by characters such as only the course of their destiny is altered but never their fate.
To begin with, Sophocles explores how actions can be taken that embody leadership and serve the polis. Firstly, Oedipus, the King of Thebes, after hearing the way to rid the miasma from the polis, believes that he “will bring all to light” and promptly opens an investigation into the murderer of King Laius, the father to Oedipus and the previous King of Thebes, though this investigation begins the downfall of Oedipus, Sophocles uses his actions to exemplify the traits ancient Greeks believed those in leadership should have. Next, after it is revealed that Oedipus is the murderer of king Laius, Oedipus with his last order as a leader asks to become exiled, instead of covering up the findings of the incident, Oedipus accepts both his mistakes and his punishment for his ignorance and his blind faith in human autonomy. Sophocles highlights to the Athenian audience when provided with the chance to serve himself or serve the polis, a renewed Oedipus aligns himself with the traits of a leadership and chooses to serve the polis at the price of his position as king and his image as the saviour of Thebes. Finally, Creon, the brother of Jocasta considered to be the foil of Oedipus, instead of sending Oedipus immediately to be exiled allows him the chance to speak to his daughters one last time. Through this Sophocles positions the Athenian audience to understand that true leaders are not always rigid in their ways and are able to express empathy and understanding to the plight of others. Ultimately, Sophocles examines how choices can take that can serve the polis and exemplify the qualities of leadership
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The characters in Rainbow's End are driven…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Harrison characterises her women as forcefully driven by the need to achieve personal agency due to the despotic…
Harrison characterises her women as forcefully driven by the need to achieve personal agency due to the despotic nature of the white society they live under, and reveals the differing generational ideals towards this achievement. Throughout the play, the Dears are subject to severe institutional control that dictates their lives, treatment and individual freedoms. Harrison explores this within her characterisation of Nan, where her bitter reflection “They… forced us to leave Cummergunja. Our home.” exposes the historically continuous dominion that white Australia imposes upon Indigenous peoples as a means of eroding their cultural roots in a move towards white conformity. Nan’s own endeavour towards personal agency is performed as a reclamation of these cultural roots where her declaration “My birth certificate says Murray River. Born there and by crikey, I’m gunna go back and die there.” crystallizes her deep internalised desire for self-determination within her connection to the land. This act of defiance holds true to her cultural bonds as the imposition of dying on her land represents the ultimate form of resistance against a regime that denies her agency over her life. This
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Discuss how identity and the struggle for…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Stephen Maxwell Johnson's 2020 film High Ground, set in the aftermath of the 1919 Gan Gan massacre, serves as a…
Stephen Maxwell Johnson's 2020 film High Ground, set in the aftermath of the 1919 Gan Gan massacre, serves as a visual condemnation of Australia's colonial era, illustrating how the violent imperatives of white settlers act as the primary catalyst for the systemic disruption of Indigenous existence. Johnson delineates a stark binary between Indigenous and colonial ontologies; while the Yolngu people are defined by ancestral tradition, intrinsic spiritual value, and an immutable connection to Country, the colonisers are driven by a Eurocentric ideology of violence and absolute subjugation. Yet, even as Johnson maps this defining cultural chasm, he simultaneously complicates the notion of a predetermined, static identity by exploring the psychological fractures endured by individuals cast into the liminal spaces between the Yolngu and colonial worlds.
Johnson frames High Ground as an uncompromising celebration of Yolngu sovereignty, suggesting that despite the relentless frontier violence inflicted by imperial forces, Indigenous identity remains steadfast in its cultural integrity. This resilience is primarily epitomised by Grandfather Dharrpa, a Yolngu Elder whose profound wisdom and quiet strength anchor his community against the existential threat of the colonial project. When the central protagonist, Gutjuk, undergoes a spiritual reclamation of his heritage after a childhood of forced assimilation at the mission, Dharrpa serves as a crucial guiding figure, instructing him to “listen to Father Sky. To Mother Earth, to what she is telling you.” Through this interaction, Johnson emphasizes that maintaining an unbroken connection to Country is the ultimate form of anti-colonial resistance. The enduring power of Yolngu identity is visually manifested during the film's climactic confrontation, wherein Gutjuk fiercely declares, “My name is Gutjuk, you killed my family, say it!” This emotionally charged assertion transforms Gutjuk’s reclamation of his birthright into an act of supreme defiance. By capturing this moment through a distinct low camera angle, Johnson visually elevates Gutjuk into an imposing figure of resistance, while simultaneously positioning the colonisers as physically threatened and vulnerable. This subversion of typical frontier iconography directly invokes the historical reality of Indigenous guerrilla warfare, celebrating it as a symbol of power and survival. Furthermore, Johnson reinforces the conceptual superiority of the Yolngu worldview by juxtaposing Gutjuk’s later realization that “when you’ve got the high ground, you can see everything,” against Travis’s earlier tactical instruction that the high ground allows one to “control everything.” This deliberate contrast between holistic sight and violent surveillance elevates the Yolngu identity as one rooted in ecological harmony, balance, and peaceful coexistence.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: The people we outgrow
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 80%: A tumultuous sheet of grey washed over the horizon as crystal leads began to pour down from the sky. Crowds of…
A tumultuous sheet of grey washed over the horizon as crystal leads began to pour down from the sky. Crowds of villagers hurried inside, shielding themselves from the rain. Not too far away, on an unremarkable hill, lived a boy no older than 15. He rushed outside, endeavouring to put his washing inside before the rain got to it. The villagers didn't know much about the boy; they only knew about the rumours. "He lives by himself," some say, "others gossip about how he grows his own food." The general sentiment was unanimous though; he must be so lonely without anyone to talk to. The boy knew about their conversations, their whispers drifted up from the village towards his small, mundane wooden shack. They floated through his window and into his alabaster ears.
As the sun dipped below the horizon and the fires started to burn low, their murmuring became clearer. "My brother said he watches us from up there." "What does he do all day?" they questioned. "What an outcast." The boy had become used to hearing these words; their arrival filling him with an unusual sense of familiarity. At first he wondered what they meant; he would journey down to the village and sneak around; listening to their conversations, even participating in them sometimes. However, as he sat on top of his window ledge, peering down at the village below, he felt an uncomfortable sense of isolation. He lived right next to them, yet he felt like an outsider. From the top of the hill, the village seemed so distant and the boy felt so alienated, but what else was the boy to do?
At least that's what he wrote.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: The people we outgrow
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 77.5%: A tumultuous sheet of grey washed over the horizon as crystal leads began to pour down from the sky. Crowds…
A tumultuous sheet of grey washed over the horizon as crystal leads began to pour down from the sky. Crowds of villagers hurried inside, shielding themselves from the rain. Not too far away, on an unremarkable hill, lived a boy no older than 15. He rushed outside, endeavouring to put his washing inside before the rain got to it. The villagers didn't know much about the boy; they only knew about the rumours. "He lives by himself," some say, "others gossip about how he grows his own food." The general sentiment was unanimous though; he must be so lonely without anyone to talk to. The boy knew about their conversations, their whispers drifted up from the village towards his small, mundane wooden shack. They floated through his window and into his alabaster ears.
As the sun dipped below the horizon and the fires started to burn low, their murmuring became clearer. "My brother said he watches us from up there." "What does he do all day?" they questioned. "What an outcast." The boy had become used to hearing these words; their arrival filling him with an unusual sense of familiarity. At first he wondered what they meant; he would journey down to the village and sneak around; listening to their conversations, even participating in them sometimes. However, as he sat on top of his window ledge, peering down at the village below, he felt an uncomfortable sense of isolation. He lived right next to them, yet he felt like an outsider. From the top of the hill, the village seemed so distant and the boy felt so alienated, but what else was the boy to do?
At least that's what he wrote.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: The people we outgrow
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 75%: A tumultuous sheet of grey washed over the horizon as crystal leads began to pour down from the sky. Crowds of…
A tumultuous sheet of grey washed over the horizon as crystal leads began to pour down from the sky. Crowds of villagers hurried inside, shielding themselves from the rain. Not too far away, on an unremarkable hill, lived a boy no older than 15. He rushed outside, endeavouring to put his washing inside before the rain got to it. The villagers didn't know much about the boy; they only knew about the rumours. "He lives by himself," some say, "others gossip about how he grows his own food." The general sentiment was unanimous though; he must be so lonely without anyone to talk to. The boy knew about their conversations, their whispers drifted up from the village towards his small, mundane wooden shack. They floated through his window and into his alabaster ears.
As the sun began to dip below the horizon and the fires start to burn low, their murmuring became clearer. "My brother said he watches us from up there." "What does he do all day?" they question, "What an outcast." The boy had become used to hearing these words; their arrival filling him with an unusual sense of familiarity. At first he wondered what they meant, he would journey down to the village and sneak around; listening to their conversations, even participating in them sometimes. However, as he sat on top of his window ledge, peering down at the village below, he felt an uncomfortable sense of isolation. He lived right next to them, yet he felt like an outsider. From the top of the hill, the village seemed so distant and the boy felt so alienated, but what else was the boy to do?
At least that's what he wrote.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: High Ground serves as a condemnation of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Within his 2020 film High Ground, Stephen Maxwell Johnson strongly condemns the injustices experienced by…
Within his 2020 film High Ground, Stephen Maxwell Johnson strongly condemns the injustices experienced by Indigenous peoples during Australia's colonial era. As a result of the Eurocentric ideology forced upon the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land, Indigenous Australians were ultimately subject to an attempted forced assimilation, leading to dispossession as a result of colonial violence. Whilst Yolngu culture ultimately persisted despite the colonist's efforts to dispossess them, Johnson criticises the colonial ideology and illustrates the devastating impact their imperialist movement had on Indigenous populations.
From the outset, Johnson exemplifies the stark impact colonial violence had on the Yolngu peoples. Through the initial massacre scene, where colonists remorselessly destroyed protagonist Gutjuk's community, Johnson delineates the chauvinism of the settler's movement, suggesting that they undoubtedly reigned supremacy over the consequently vulnerable Yolngu people. Johnson reinforces this idea through Eddy, a strong-minded police officer, representative of the white supremacy ideology at the forefront of the colonialist movement. When in conversation with Travis, he exclaims that "what matters is that we work as unit," blatantly disregarding the violence and brutality the Yolngu were subjected to in the opening sequence. Johnson's deployment of a close-up shot depicting Eddy, conveying his violent and negligent attitude, heightens the tension between him and Travis, characterising Eddy as a poster figure of the colonial project, shifting the audience's attention towards his own perception of the settler's movement. Johnson reinforces this idea through Moran, the police chief of the mission and an authoritative figure entrenched in the deeply rooted injustices of the colonial system. Johnson employs Moran's position of power and control to exert his perspective of the Yolngu peoples, which Johnson ultimately condemns through his representation of the destructive impact colonial violence had on the Yolngu community. During the film's final sequence of the shootout, Moran is unequivocally determined to finally eliminate Gutjuk and his community, commanding that "they get all of them this time!" Through Johnson's characterisation of Moran, he portrays the influence of authority and control in conducting the colonial movement, ultimately condemning the use of violence to spread the Anglocentric ideology. Through his depiction of colonial brutality, Johnson reject the colonial system, exemplifying its impact on the Indigenous experience of injustice.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Framework 2: Protest Title: Resist and…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 80%: Resist and Persist You ever notice how everything has conditions? You can rest after you've finished your work.…
Resist and Persist
You ever notice how everything has conditions?
You can rest after you've finished your work.
You can be proud after you've achieved something.
You can be happy once you've sorted your life out.
Sounds fair, doesn't it? Resist. Persist. Make your parents proud. Get good grades. Get a decent job.
And whatever you do, don't fall behind. Because God forbid you're twenty years old and still figuring things out.
I used to think that was just how life worked.
My parents worked hard so I could have opportunities they never had.
They sacrificed things I probably won't ever fully understand.
And I love them for that. But sometimes love gets tangled up with expectation.
A good report card isn't just a good report card. It's proof that their sacrifices meant something.
A mistake isn't just a mistake. It's a wasted opportunity.
And suddenly, you're not studying because you're curious about the world.
You're studying because you're terrified of disappointing someone. Maybe your pressure comes from your parents. Maybe it's your friends, your teachers, or that random bloke on LinkedIn announcing he's founded three companies before breakfast.
Whatever it is, you start measuring yourself against everyone else. And somehow, you're always coming up short.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: The people we outgrow
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 72.5%: A tumultuous sheet of grey washed over the horizon as crystal leads began to pour down from the sky. Crowds…
A tumultuous sheet of grey washed over the horizon as crystal leads began to pour down from the sky. Crowds of villagers hurried inside, shielding themselves from the rain. Not too far away, on an unremarkable hill, lived a boy no older than 15. He rushed outside, endeavouring to put his washing inside before the rain got to it. The villagers didn't know much about the boy; they only knew about the rumors. "He lives by himself," some say, "others gossip about how he grows his own food." The general sentiment was unanimous though, he must be so lonely without anyone to talk to.The boy knew about their conversations, their whispers drifted up from the village towards his small, mundane wooden shack. They floated through his window and into his alabaster ears.
As the sun begins to dip below the horizon and the fires start to burn low, their murmuring becomes clearer. "My brother said he watches us from up there." "What does he do all day?" they question, "What an outcast." The boy had become used to hearing these words; their arrival filling him with an unusual sense of familiarity. At first he wondered what they meant, he would journey down to the village and sneak around, listening to their conversations, even participating in them sometimes. However, as he sat on top of his window ledge, peering down at the village below, he felt an uncomfortable sense of isolation. He lived right next to them, yet he felt like an outsider. From the top of the hill, the village seemed so distant and the boy felt so alienated, but what else was the boy to do?
At least that's what he wrote.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: The people we outgrow
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 75%: A tumultuous sheet of grey washed over the horizon as crystal leads began to pour down from the sky. Crowds of…
A tumultuous sheet of grey washed over the horizon as crystal leads began to pour down from the sky. Crowds of villagers hurried inside, shielding themselves from the rain. Not too far away, on an unremarkable hill, lived a boy no older than 15. He rushed outside, endeavouring to put his washing inside before the rain got to it. The villagers didn't know much about the boy, they only knew about the rumors. "He lives by himself," some say, "others gossip about how he grows his own food." The general sentiment was unanimous though, he must be so lonely without anyone to talk to.The boy knew about their conversations, their whispers drifted up from the village towards his small, mundane wooden shack. They floated through his window and into his alabaster ears.
As the sun begins to dip below the horizon and the fires start to burn low, their murmuring becomes clearer. "My brother said he watches us from up there." "What does he do all day?" they question, "What an outcast." The boy had become used to hearing these words, their arrival filling him with an unusual sense of familiarity. At first he wondered what they meant, he would journey down to the village and sneak around, listening to their conversations, even participating in them sometimes. However, as he sat on top of his window ledge, peering down at the village below, he felt an uncomfortable sense of isolation. He lived right next to them, yet he felt like an outsider. From the top of the hill, the village seemed so distant and the boy felt so alienated, but what else was the boy to do?
At least that's what he wrote.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Framework 2: Protest Title: Resist and…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 75%: Resist and Persist You ever notice how everything has conditions? You can rest after you've finished your work.…
Resist and Persist
You ever notice how everything has conditions?
You can rest after you've finished your work.
You can be proud after you've achieved something.
You can be happy once you've sorted your life out.
Sounds fair, doesn't it? Resist. Persist. Make your parents proud. Get good grades. Get a decent job.
And whatever you do, don't fall behind. Because God forbid you're twenty years old and still figuring things out.
I used to think that was just how life worked.
My parents worked hard so I could have opportunities they never had.
They sacrificed things I probably won't ever fully understand.
And I love them for that. But sometimes love gets tangled up with expectation.
A good report card isn't just a good report card. It's proof that their sacrifices meant something.
A mistake isn't just a mistake. It's a wasted opportunity.
And suddenly, you're not studying because you're curious about the world.
You're studying because you're terrified of disappointing someone. Maybe your pressure comes from your parents. Maybe it's your friends, your teachers, or that random bloke on LinkedIn announcing he's founded three companies before breakfast.
Whatever it is, you start measuring yourself against everyone else. And somehow, you're always coming up short.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: The people we outgrow
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 67.5%: A tumultuous sheet of grey washed over the horizon as crystal leads began to pour down from the sky. Crowds…
A tumultuous sheet of grey washed over the horizon as crystal leads began to pour down from the sky. Crowds of villagers hurried inside, shielding themselves from the rain. Not too far away, on an unremarkable hill, lived a boy no older than 15. He rushed outside, endeavouring to put his washing inside before the rain got to it. The villagers didn't know much about the boy, they only knew about the rumors. "He lives by himself," some say, "others gossip about how he grows his own food." The general sentiment was unanimous though, he must be so lonely without anyone to talk to.The boy knew about their conversations, their whispers drifted up from the village towards his small, mundane wooden shack. They floated through his window and into his alabaster ears.
As the sun begins to dip below the horizon and the fires start to burn low, their murmuring becomes clearer. "My brother said he watches us from up there." "What does he do all day?" they question, "What an outcast." The boy had become used to hearing these words, their arrival filling him with an unusual sense of familiarity. At first he wondered what they meant, he would journey down to the village and sneak around, listening to their conversations, even participating in them sometimes. However, as he sat on top of his window ledge, peering down at the village below, he felt an uncomfortable sense of isolation. He lived right next to them, yet he felt like an outsider. From the top of the hill, the village seemed so distant and the boy felt so alienated, but what else was the boy to do?
At least that's what he wrote.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Framework 2: Writing about protest •…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 77.5%: June 24, 2022 — Washington, D.C. Sophie didn't say hello. She held her phone across the table until the…
June 24, 2022 — Washington, D.C.
Sophie didn't say hello. She held her phone across the table until the screen was an inch from my face.
SUPREME COURT OVERTURNS ROE V. WADE.
"Tomorrow," she said. "Ten o'clock."
"Sophie..."
"Don't."
"I didn't even say anything!"
"You were going to." She pulled the phone back. "I know what you think. That it's just noise, and we'll all go home and nothing will be different." She laughed bitterly. "Well, maybe that's true. But I can't sit in my room refreshing the news until it stops being our new reality."
I looked down at my own screen, refusing to meet her eyes.
“Fine.” She bit out after my silence dragged on far too long. She grabbed her things and left and I told myself the tightness in my chest was irritation.
Grandma's house smelled the way it always did. The soft scent of lavender and vanilla candles clinging to the walls.
Mum had asked me to start sorting through Grandma's things to take with her to the nursing home.
As I reached the bottom drawer, I was met with old photographs, dusty books and outdated gadgets. I was about to push it closed when the blue cloth cover of a small book caught my eye.
I nearly dropped it into the box marked DONATE. Then I saw the name in the top corner of the cover, written in handwriting so careful it looked printed.
Eleanor Grace Whitmore. September 1962.
My great-grandmother. I remembered a small woman with silver hair who slipped peppermints into my coat pockets.
I almost closed it. It felt private, as though reading it would mean trespassing into the most intimate corners of her life. But the first few pages offered a glimpse into her world: dances, friends, her aspirations and dreams.
It wasn't until I reached the entry dated October 17, 1965, that I was truly drawn in.
October 17, 1965
I met the most interesting woman today at church. She spoke of a small group of women writing letters to our state legislators, urging them to reconsider the abortion laws. She spoke with such conviction, such passion, that I found myself captivated by every word. They are fighting for women. It has dominated my mind since.
October 23, 1965
I went to my first meeting today. I lied to Mother and Father. They wouldn't understand. Mother would tell me it was improper. Father would tell me to leave such matters alone.
But I couldn’t. It was the most alive I’d ever felt.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: The people we outgrow
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 67.5%: A tumultuous sheet of grey washed over the horizon as crystal leads began to pour down from the sky. Crowds…
A tumultuous sheet of grey washed over the horizon as crystal leads began to pour down from the sky. Crowds of villagers hurried inside, shielding themselves from the rain. Not too far away, on an unremarkable hill, lived a boy no older than 15. He rushed outside, endeavouring to put his washing inside before the rain got to it. The villagers didn't know much about the boy, they only knew about the rumors. "He lives by himself," some say, "others gossip about how he grows his own food." The general sentiment was unanimous though, he must be so lonely without anyone to talk to.The boy knew about their conversations, their whispers drifted up from the village towards his small, mundane wooden shack. They floated through his window and into his alabaster ears.
As the sun begins to dip below the horizon and the fires start to burn low, their murmuring becomes clearer. "My brother said he watches us from up there." "What does he do all day?" they question, "What an outcast." The boy had become used to hearing these words, their arrival filling him with an unusual sense of familiarity. At first he wondered what they meant, he would journey down to the village and sneak around, listening to their conversations, even participating in them sometimes. However, as he sat on top of his window ledge, peering down at the village below, he felt an uncomfortable sense of isolation. He lived right next to them, yet he felt like an outsider. From the top of the hill, the village seemed so distant and the boy felt so alienated, but what else was the boy to do?
At least that's what he wrote.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Writing about country Title: Finding…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 90%: Finding comfort It starts so perfect, so playful, so joyful. Glitter. Recasting rays of sunlight back to your…
Finding comfort
It starts so perfect, so playful, so joyful. Glitter. Recasting rays of sunlight back to your eyes, bouncing around the room, lighting up even the darkest corners. Fun and games until it’s not. Falling into crevices and slipping into cracks beyond your reach. Impossible to clean. Impossible to get rid of. Too hard to go unnoticed. Glitter. You are glitter.
It’s been three years to the day you left this earth. Three years since I heard the news, cursing to the vast ocean how you could just leave me to fight on my own in this world. How such a perfect soul could just be taken from me.
I remember the first month or two, locked away, rotting in my room. Starved of food. Starved of sunlight. Starved of your presence. Even when I felt so much comfort in that room, it grew to be unbearable as the memories of our times in there started to flood right back to me.
I remember the endless amounts of conversations we would have on my cold, hard floor when my couch was only metres away. The late night rants we would have in bed about how overwhelmed we were from school, or a difficult teacher, to the point where our words dissolved into tears. Even the bed remembered you. Your dent in the side you always slept on was there, and for a while your warmth lingered, but it left faster than I wished.
When I did finally leave my room, it was like you were still here. Everywhere I went, everything I did, you were right there.
You were still sitting at our cafe. On the table we always sat at. Air lingering with the scent of coffee during the morning rush. People passing, going in and out of the cafe like a blur while you sit there with a hot hojicha latte and reading a book you picked up earlier that week, totally unfazed by the world around you. The calming early morning sunlight kissing your face just how you liked. You would eventually get distracted talking to every barista, as they worked on the other side of the counter. They never let go, marking your name to the only chair that you ever sat on.
Even in the quietest of places, the library or the hall where we always used to study, I still hear you ask for my calculator or a pen, some days maybe both. When you say “I’m going to lock in”. Just to then be distracted, writing poems of sunlight hitting the water, and always reminding me the Korean word for it is Yoonseul. And now seeing the sunlight sparkle across the water only ever brings me back to you.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: time to fight
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 85%: Listen. The photograph is beginning to tear. Two hours into the march, my fingers have worn its corners soft,…
Listen.
The photograph is beginning to tear.
Two hours into the march, my fingers have worn its corners soft, but I keep Armin’s face turned towards the sky. Red light flickers across thousands of faces as flares fill the street beneath restless flags. Fists clench, and voices rise from every corner. “Death to the dictator!” Banners snap above us, photographs held high.
I grip his portrait tighter. He was my joon—my heart, my little brother, whose crooked smile could soften my darkest days. Whenever the world grew heavy, he summoned happiness. Then, months ago, the sky split open above our neighbourhood in eastern Iran, our childhood home collapsing beneath a choking cloud of dust. The shaking stopped, yet I remained frozen; where Armin stood, only piercing white noise remained. A flash of uniform pulled me back to the wreckage, my shoulder stiffening as the air tightened around me.
Now, his absence joins countless others carried through streets where mourning has become defiance. Armed patrols turn our alleyways into zones of fear, harassing anyone who dares to look up. Security forces tear portraits from our hands, yet mourners retrieve them from the mud, restoring the faces the regime tries to erase.
What threat could a grieving family pose to a state armed with guns? We lift banners bearing the faces of those buried beneath the rubble, confronting the regime with the human cost concealed behind its illusion of a war without innocent victims. Beside me, a single protester cries a victim’s name. Hundreds echo it. The sound swells into a defiant wave, pushing back against the heavy republic marching toward us. Our voices falter, then surge, refusing the quiet they try to impose.
They want us silenced.
The word returns me to those first nights after the bombardment, walls shuddering around us as sirens tore through the darkness. My mother called Armin’s name until her voice broke. Our pain was folded beneath the state flag and carried away quietly. They renamed our suffering: destroyed homes became collateral damage, grief became civil disorder, and our voices became national threats.
Yet families still search the wreckage with bare hands for loved ones the regime dismisses as “terrorist elements.” Photographs rise beneath floodlights, held by hands refusing to let the dead disappear. The protest feels less like a march than a cemetery that has learned to move.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Sunset Boulevard shows how illusions and…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Billy Wilder’s 1950 noir gothic horror film ‘Sunset Boulevard’ exhibits that the foundation of Hollywood itself- an…
Billy Wilder’s 1950 noir gothic horror film ‘Sunset Boulevard’ exhibits that the foundation of Hollywood itself- an illusion- is the very thing which destroys its creatives. Wilder presents Hollywood as being built on gender roles and power dynamics, which allow it to exude an unattainable facade of youth and beauty for its audience to idolise. Wilder reveals that the pursuit of success and aspiration within Hollywood depends on deception, lies and self-delusion. Ultimately, Wilder exposes the paradox at the heart of Hollywood: the very illusions that sustain its stars are also what ultimately destroys them.
Perhaps the most consistent underlying theme in Sunset Boulevard is that of the roles and beliefs instilled on characters in Hollywood based on their gender- most of which aren’t a reality. Women are both the backbone and victim of Hollywood’s ‘star system’- it is revealed to Joe that Norma entered the industry because of Max, the butler telling Joe, ‘I discovered her when she was eighteen. I made her a star’. Through revealing Norma’s origin story, Wilder demonstrates how young, naive actresses are lured into Hollywood by the sensationalised promise of undying fame and adoration, only to be disregarded at the first glimpse of age to preserve the facade of young, untouchable beauty on the screen- this unattainable standard keeping the audience satisfied. Essentially, Wilder presents Hollywood as deceiving its female stars as a means to deceive its audience. In Sunset Boulevard, this role of women to maintain the illusion of youth is starkly different to that of the male figures in Hollywood. In many scenes- such as when Joe is speaking to Betty on the Paramount film set- the camera angle is such that Joe is above Betty; looking down at her, a clear power dynamic established despite their conversation appearing equal. This exhibits that gender roles in Hollywood are ever-present, regardless of the fact Betty is not an actress. Male power is inherent in every aspect of the industry, and Betty is not immune just because she’s behind the camera. Men can act, direct, maintain relevance without the hindrance of age, whilst their female counterparts are disregarded and left ‘sleepwalking along the giddy heights of a lost career’, still chasing the illusion they were promised. Wilder communicates that the ‘star system’ so fundamental to Hollywood’s success relies on manipulating its female stars to present a false fantasy to its audience.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: to what extend does rainbows end show that…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: Harrison champions Indigenous individuals’ determination to elevate their place within society through familial…
Harrison champions Indigenous individuals’ determination to elevate their place within society through familial motivation, allowing them to challenge and potentially overcome their marginalisation. When rejecting Nan Dear’s pessimistic dismissal of her hopes surrounding the Inspector’s report as mere “daydreams”, Gladys is revealed through Harrison’s stage directions to intend to make her aspirations “come true”. Through this determined response and the concurrent symbolism of hope embodied in Gladys’ character, Harrison elevates Indigenous individuals’ determination to preserve their familial bonds and overcome the institutionalised barriers imposed upon them by ethnocentric society. Harrison’s almost-certain portrayal of Gladys’ internal resolve to maintain her family’s unity and improve their living conditions illustrates how familial devotion can generate optimism even within an oppressive society. In doing so, Harrison champions the hope of Indigenous individuals in 1950s Australia to preserve their familial relationships and challenge the segregationist policies that seek to marginalise them. Subsequently, through the juxtaposition of Gladys’ aspirations with Nan Dear’s pessimism, shaped by her previous experiences of institutionalised discrimination, Harrison suggests that
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In High Ground, Johnson shows the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 67.5%: In High Ground, Johnson shows the colonisers and the colonised cannot live in peace. Discuss. Set in Arnhem land,…
In High Ground, Johnson shows the colonisers and the colonised cannot live in peace. Discuss.
Set in Arnhem land, Stephon Maxwell Johnson’s revisionist neo-western film(2020) ‘High ground engages in truth telling of post colonial Australia, specifically the injustices and unlawful discriminations First nations people endured. Through confronting cinematography, Johnson promulgates that a society under colonial authority will fail to live in peace with it’s victims, unless justice and reconciliation is achieved. However, he also puts forth that to live in peace, there must be a relationship of mutual respect and recognition of Indigenous lore to enable the “balance” required to pave the way for Makkarata. Through exploring the consequences of political dominance displacing Indigenous sovereignty, the patterns of institutional oppression are made clear, demonstrating the unforgivable actions of colonisers. However, its also conveyed that those with prevailing moral consciences are able to actively work against these systems to from interracial relationships.
From the outset, Johnson condemns the lack of rectification of injustices by western patriarchs, exposing how this further perpetuates cycles of violence, thus causing a greater dichotomy between colonisers and the colonised. During this period, defined as the frontier wars, racial discrimination was prevalent and widespread, leading to the physical and cultural genocide of thousands of Indigenous Aboriginals. Demonstrated from the opening scene, the subjective camera angle through Travis’ rifle scope frames native families swimming in a tranquil oasis. This is juxtaposed to the deadening diegetic sound which follows consisting of birds squawking, bodies falling and guns shooting. Johnson visually positions the audience as complicit observers to this mistreatment and pacification of these people; mirroring colonial surveillance and control. Through the quick transition from calm to chaos, Johnson prompts the recognition of unwarranted murders of families and children and the normalisation of power wrongfully exerted. This is consistent with the station men who reveled in the killings, even viewing it as entertainment as one exclaims, ‘Did i get her?’. Not only does Johnson frame the inhumane and horrifying mindsets of colonial authority, but he reveals the depravity and trauma inflicted to Indigenous Australians brought to subjugation. Further emphasised by the contemptuous characterisation of Moran, a key stakeholder “representing the king’, his incongruous unnaturally white and clean suit representing his lack of appreciation and knowledge for native culture and sovereignty. Not only does he represent the mentality of Western supremacy, he acts as a sole power refusing to 'negotiate' with and ‘concede’ to the laws from mother earth’ despite the fact that ‘his law comes from across the sea’. Johnson purposefully juxtaposes the different parties from their appearances to their beliefs to propound that if justice is not served then there is no hope for healing and reckoning, especially when oppressors refuse to comply or submit their power. Ultimately, Johnson validates that when systems are designed against a marginalised party, there is no room for forgiveness without true recognition of indigenous ownership and humanity.