VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: 'Do I dare disturb the universe?'
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 72.5%: Do I dare disturb the universe? The words echoed over and over in my mind. As I stand on the edge of my…
Do I dare disturb the universe? The words echoed over and over in my mind. As I stand on the edge of my eighteenth birthday, I accept that tomorrow is the day I leave my adolescent self and become a man. In my kingdom, here at Veyndral, adulthood is not marked or celebrated by a feast nor a ceremonial beverage but is decided by mounting a majestic beast and taking to the skies. Ever since I was young, I’ve been gnawed by fear, melting my soul like candlewax, for my older brother met his end within the fangs of one of these sky-tyrants.
As I sit off the edge of my kingdom, gazing off into the horizon, staring at the vast range of jagged, volcanic and rocky mountains, breeds of drakes, dragons and other airborne animals roost in grottos around me. The sky filled with former and current peers of mine soaring with their sky-tyrants, gleefully, without a worry in the world. As the chill of the night starts to meet with my skin, my dad, the king, calls me down for my last supper as a youngling.
As our repast is concluding; my mind is racing with thoughts, ‘What if I was never meant for the skies’, ‘what if I fail?’ An elder of mine comes to me, he is the only one who sees my trepidation, the only one who doesn’t believe my fake courage, the only one who sees through my lies. He utters under his breath, slightly smirking while staring meaningfully at my shameful eyes, ‘Even a dragon’s wings tremble before the wind. Courage is not in stillness, but in flight despite the storm.’ As I bound into my bed, my elders’ words spin around my head like an axe swinging at a
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Do I dare disturb the universe?
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 75%: Do I dare disturb the universe? The question used to excite me, like a shiver along the spine, like a whisper…
Do I dare disturb the universe? The question used to excite me, like a shiver along the spine, like a whisper of hope, like the boundless possibilities that were mine to touch. I asked myself that question in quieter times, when ambition was a friend not a shackle. I had never known how heavy the answer could become.
Among a select few, I had been summoned to wield a power older than memory; to pull the sun from its hidden cage and force it to speak our language. We were scientists, greying men in lab coats. But in those cramped government laboratories, we were gods. Each formula was a shimmering promise, each successful reaction, a prayer that sun had answered. We were inventing the impossible.
Our lives of study and work had all been building up to this. And when it succeeded, when the pilot pressed that small red button, and the brilliant searing light split the sky, the thrill was almost unbearable. As that far off city disappeared under the mushroom cloud, I could only sit in shock. It was as if the universe had bent to our will.
At first, the pride was intoxicating. We spoke of precision and scientific triumph, hoping that the brilliance of the blast lay the promise of peace. Telling ourselves that we were the shield, not the sword. They spoke of a greater good, and for a time, I mistook their conviction for
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Macbeth Shakespeare “ Look like th’…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: Human societies are built on trust, however deception and manipulation will prevail over morality and lead to the…
Human societies are built on trust, however deception and manipulation will prevail over morality and lead to the downfall of individuals and its society. ‘Macbeth’, speculated to have been written in 1606 during the Jacobean Period by William Shakespeare. Set in 11th century Scotland, a play that follows the rise and downfall of Macbeth who was consumed by his own ambition, as the play was written for King James I in a period marked by political unrest and suspicions of treason. Shakespeare explores the nature of deception and manipulation, suggesting that individuals corrupted by their ambition will often resort to deceiving others in order to gain power and control. Shakespeare reveals this through the way deception distorts moral integrity, breaks the bonds of social order and fuels the pursuit of power.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: "Stand Out" Do I dare disturb the…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 67.5%: The first second after the candle is lit. A child is born. His family rejoices. The candle flickers with a…
The first second after the candle is lit. A child is born. His family rejoices. The candle flickers with a warmth and a brightness that could illuminate even the darkest of rooms. His first words. The candle burns brighter. His first steps. The candle burns brighter. For the first second in his 5 second life, he seems unstoppable. Filled with ambitions, dreams, and a desire to stand out, the candle sends out blazing sparks, spitting with happiness and delight.
The second second after the candle is lit. The child matures. His family reassures. The candle flickers less brazenly now, no more stable. Its ambitions have been fed a dose of reality. His dreams of ruling as a king over a distant kingdom or a knight slaying a ferocious dragon have been extinguished. The candle burns at a steady rate. He tries to appease everyone, sometimes failing. Now a young adult, the child begins to stress. He ponders and daydreams of philosophical questions that would have once flown over his head. He becomes preoccupied, distant, and yet, determined. He has made up his mind. He will choose to shatter the burdens now growing upon him. He will choose to stand out.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: "Stand Out" Do I dare disturb the…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 75%: The first second after the candle is lit. A child is born. His family rejoice. The candle flickers with a…
The first second after the candle is lit. A child is born. His family rejoice. The candle flickers with a warmth and a brightness that could illuminate even the darkest of rooms. His first words. The candle burns brighter. his first steps. The candle burns brighter. For the first second in his 5 second life, he seems unstoppable. Filled with ambitions, dreams, and a desire to stand out, the candle sends out blazing sparks, spitting with happiness and delight.
The second second after the candle is lit. The child matures. His family reassures. The candle flickers less brazenly now, no more stable. Its ambitions have been fed a dose of reality. His dreams of ruling as a king over a distant kingdom or a knight slaying a ferocious dragon have been extinguished. The candle burns at a steady rate. He tries to appease everyone, sometimes failing. Now a young adult, the child begins to stress. He ponders and daydreams of philosophical questions that would have once flown over his head. He become preoccupied, distant, and yet, determined. He has made up his mind. He will choose to shatter the burdens now growing upon him. He will choose to stand out.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Resist and Persist (stimulus: an image…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 90%: Our protests can only dismantle the structures that confine us, after we have broken the silence that sustains…
Our protests can only dismantle the structures that confine us, after we have broken the silence that sustains them.
Good morning, members of Parliament. As I stand before you today, as a young Australian woman, I ask: If our voices hold no power, why do you try to silence us?
Why are we called disruptive, emotional, irrational for campaigning against our own oppression? Why is our anger deemed dangerous while your indifference is seen as order?
As women stand up to sexist remarks, we’re told, “Don’t be so sensitive.”
As women speak out against assault, we’re told, “Not all men.”
As women are killed, you call it “senseless” violence.
This is not senseless. It is femicide—systemic, patterned, preventable. Each death is not a falling domino but a deliberate push by the same hands that refuse to intervene. And your sympathy without action is complicity; your performative statements are the silence that sustains this chain reaction.
Every day, women resist—against jokes, policies, and the constant expectation to stay quiet. Our protest lives not just in marches, but in moments: when we challenge a sexist remark, demand equal pay, walk home with keys between our fingers, and still refuse to shrink. Each act of defiance is a hand halting the next domino. Resistance is not chaos—it’s the only thing stopping collapse.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Oedipus is destroyed by his own flaws, not…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Sophocles’ Greek tragedy, ‘Oedipus the King’ (c.430 BCE) explores the heroic, yet prideful King Oedipus of Thebes…
Sophocles’ Greek tragedy, ‘Oedipus the King’ (c.430 BCE) explores the heroic, yet prideful King
Oedipus of Thebes as he discovers the unfortunate truth of his birth and marriage, in his pursuit of
resolving the murder of King Laius. Despite Oedipus’ best attempts to exercise his freewill, each
action he takes inadvertently brings him closer to fulfilling the divine punishment foretold by
prophecy. Sophocles demonstrates to the attendees of the City Dionysia the interplay between
human flaws and divine fate, and their influence in his downfall. While fate provides the
inescapable framework of prophecy, it is Oedipus’ hamartia – his pride, and rashness – that
accelerate his ruin and intensify his suffering, suggesting that neither element alone is individually
responsible.
Sophocles implies that Oedipus’ own hubris is responsible for his destruction, as it prevents
him from reflecting on the truth. As Oedipus is introduced to Tiresias – the blind prophet brought
to him by his trusted advisor Creon – he exclaims “blind as you are, you can feel all the more”,
expressing his trust in the ability of the prophet to witness the truth, despite his literal blindness.
This eventually contrasts Oedipus’ language towards Tiresias as the episode progresses, as once
he claims that Oedipus is responsible for the death of King Laius, (and therefore responsible for
the plague), Oedipus retaliates with ad hominem attack, dismissing him as a “scheming quack”
who is “blind in his craft”, discrediting his abilities while mocking his blindness. As Oedipus’
initial trust in Tiresias, and therefore in divine authority, collapses the moment it threatens his self
image, Sophocles positions Athenian viewers to recognise the dangers of instilling oneself with
divine power, condemning Oedipus’ hubris that catalysed his downfall. The symbolism of Tiresias’
blindness sharpens the plays dramatic irony: though physically sightless, his humility grants him
enlightenment, whereas Oedipus, with perfect vision, is blinded by pride. This willful ignorance
ensures that the moment he realizes his identity – the anagnorisis of the play – Oedipus experiences
his “suffer[ing] twice over,” – dealing with the “agony” of truth, as well the humiliation caused by
his conceit. Sophocles didactically frames immense pain as an inevitable consequence of prideful
attempts to avoid one’s fate, ultimately urging the spectators to value humility in the face of an
inscrutable cosmic order. In the original context of the play’s presentation, Ancient Greek
audiences were already aware that the claims made my Tiresias’ are accurate, which strengthens
the notion that Sophocles aimed to explicitly convey the significant role an individual’s personal
flaws and decision-making play in their own suffering.
Sophocles interrogates the role of Oedipus’ wrath and precipitousness plays in his ruin,
both causing him to suffer, as well as increasing its pace and devastation. Inflamed by the disputes,
Oedipus frantically questions his wife Jocasta, where he recalls meeting a man who appeared “just
as [she had] described” King Laius, crying that he struck “him in anger”. As Oedipus is already
established as the murderer of King Laius in Greek mythology, and therefore his biological father,
his impulsiveness is portrayed to audiences as a driving force in the fulfillment of his devastating
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VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "You've got to keep fighting, eddie. for…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Rachel Perkins film, ‘Mabo’, revolves around the character, Eddie Koiki Mabo, and his success in the case of the…
Rachel Perkins film, ‘Mabo’, revolves around the character, Eddie Koiki Mabo, and his success in the case of the recognition of his peopl’s traditional land rights. It is quite evident that this accomplishment was due to the unwavering support of the people around him, further showcasing the theme of The Ordinary Man And Woman's reliance on community. The film illustrates how the collective strength of his family, the intellectual backing of allies, and the legal expertise of his team were all indispensable elements that carried him through a decade of hardship and ultimately led to a historical victory. Without this network, Mabo may have remained a lone man, railing against the oppressive system rather than a catalyst for national change.
The Mabo family, particularly Bonita, provided the crucial, emotional support that sustained Mabo throughout his legal battle. The film highlights the immense burden placed on the family but also their enduring strength. Bonita’s anguish is captured in the quote, “You've got three kids, stupid man! Fourth on the way... Gotta be fed, gotta have clothes on.” Yet further in the film her support is unwavering as reflected in the quote, “we got to do this for our children.” The director also uses cinematic techniques to emphasise this, such as various close-up shots of Bonita’s face as she listens to her husband’s case revealing a deep involvement and hope. These moments evoke empathy and admiration, highlighting the immense sacrifice of an ordinary woman for a case that would change the nation. There for the film makes it clear that without his family’s support, the sacrifice required to sustain the legal challenges would have been unbearable.
Perkins demonstrates that while familial support provided Mabo with emotional endurance, his fight for justice would have been impossible without the intellectual and strategic framework provided by his academic and legal allies. The film shows that Mabo’s encounter with Henry Reynolds and Noel Loos, who helped educate marble about the existence of Terra Nullius and provided a legal theory to frame his claim. This is exemplified when Mabo exclaims, “you mean the Australia law says my land not mine?” The subsequent guidance from lawyers Brian Keon-Cohan and Ron
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The conflict between art and business is…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Billy Wilder’s 1950 film noir melodrama Sunset Boulevard is a scathing critique of the relentless Hollywood…
Billy Wilder’s 1950 film noir melodrama Sunset Boulevard is a scathing critique of the relentless Hollywood industry, exposing the corrosive tension within a system where artistic integrity is sacrificed for profit, fame and survival. Through the film’s exploration of the star system’s commodification of art and sacrifice, the strain between survival and creative recognition and the illusion of fame in a commercial setting, the director frames Hollywood as an oppressive empire that ultimately entraps stars within their fate.
Through the imagery of decay alongside the relics of silent film cinema, Sunset Boulevard portrays how genuine artistry is devalued and discarded once it no longer generates financial success. Wilder utilises the mise en scène within Norma Desmond’s desolate bedroom as a symbol for her bygone era. The walls are crowded with framed photographs from her youth, alongside heavy drapery and low-key lighting, turning the space into a shrine of self-obsession, creating an atmosphere of isolation and decay. Wilder utilises the space as a tomb for deserted obsolete artistry where its oppressive darkness contrasts with the artificial brightness of a studio setting, symbolising how genuine creativity has been buried beneath industrial progress. Similarly, when Norma and Joe screen Queen Kelly, the scene intensifies her fractured psyche. She suddenly snaps upwards, interrupting the projector beam and blocking the light, symbolising her desperate attempt to halt time and preserve the illusion of artistic immortality. Norma’s gesture symbolises her refusal to accept the fans that have already passed her by, desperately searching for her return; exposing the emotional cost of a commercial system that values profit over longevity. The moment transforms the mansion into a mausoleum of the cinema industry itself, a space haunted by artistry past and trapped in the illusion of its own performance. In this sense, Wilder shows that the conflict between art and business does not merely destroy careers, it erases meaning, turning creativity into a relic of what the market once found profitable.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: title: to know country is to know…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 95%: The morning light in Jaffna always began with sound — roosters crowing, bicycle bells chiming, the distant call…
The morning light in Jaffna always began with sound — roosters crowing, bicycle bells chiming, the distant call of vendors threading through the humid haze. The air carried jasmine and smoke, the sweetness of coconut oil and the salt of the sea. Somewhere, Amma’s ladle struck the side of a pot — a small, rhythmic drum. The world smelled of spice and sun-warmed dust. It was not simply where I lived; it was the pulse that kept me alive.
I was the eldest of seven. Our house was a narrow spine of rooms and voices — a space where stories were told through food, through gesture, through the gentle authority of Amma brushing stray rice from the table. We believed the world began at our front gate and ended at the mango tree down the road. Country was both map and heartbeat.
Then came the day that unstitched everything.
The knock — three hard blows that shook the walls — the thunder of boots, the collapse of certainty. Soldiers poured in, their voices clashing with the sound of Amma’s pot hitting the floor. Laughter turned to echo. Safety to silence. The world I knew folded in on itself like a torn letter.
I fled with what I could carry. From the small plane window, I watched Sri Lanka dissolve beneath clouds, the red earth fading to white. I told myself I would rebuild somewhere else, but I didn’t yet understand: when you leave Country, the outline of yourself blurs.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Discuss the importance of relationships in…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: ‘When Michael Met Mina’, authored by Randa Abdel-Fattah, traverses the riveting notion that when inherited…
‘When Michael Met Mina’, authored by Randa Abdel-Fattah, traverses the riveting notion that when inherited prejudice leads to a perpetuating cycle of hate, true change begins when this bigotry is dismantled. Michael, the male protagonist, initially embraces a Eurocentric worldview, a product of his upbringing and other surrounding factors. However, Mina, the female protagonist, incessantly questions him, nudging him to confront his own prejudice and form his own opinions. Her inspiration in Michael leads him to undergo significant personal growth nearing the end as he finally empathises with the ineffable hardships refugees face.
Abdel-Fattah critiques the notion of inherited prejudice, depicting it as not inherent, warping an individual’s worldview before they can grasp. The novel interrogates the roots of racism through Michael, where he inadvertently adheres to discriminatory ideologies due to his upbringing. Early in the novel, Michael shares a heated discussion with Mina about the suffering of refugees, arguing, “it’s not ideal what they’re going through…But Australia has the right to protect its borders,” revealing his lack of empathy for groups that do not affect him. His dismissive tone immediately disregards the grief refugees face, following an attempt to rationalise injustice. Additionally, when he expresses “if you’ve come by boat, you’ve jumped the queue”, further demonstrates how he is not capable of forming autonomous thoughts as he repeats a common anti-refugee slogan. Yet, he is still responsible for the harm these thoughts cause, even if holding it without vehement hatred. Thus, the astute portrayal of Michael’s initial adherence to xenophobic values, illustrates how personal enlightenment emerges only when individuals acknowledge the humanity of the other side.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: how does high ground depict the lasting…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: The 2020 film *High Ground*, directed by Stephen Maxwell Johnson, powerfully interrogates the lingering…
The 2020 film *High Ground*, directed by Stephen Maxwell Johnson, powerfully interrogates the lingering consequences of colonial violence in Australia. Rather than presenting history as a closed chapter, the film illustrates how the trauma of dispossession, massacre, and cultural erasure continues to shape both Indigenous and European-descended communities. *High Ground* ultimately explores the lasting impact of colonial violence by illustrating how trauma is inherited and endured through new generations. Johnson illustrates how colonial violence fuels enduring cycles of vengeance and mistrust, embeds trauma within the Australian landscape, and disrupts cultural continuity by severing spiritual and communal ties.
Johnson reveals how colonial violence becomes embedded within the landscape itself, turning the Australian environment into a silent witness of historical trauma. The film opens with Gutjuk painting himself in white ochre, his body blending with Country as soft, natural lighting and tight close-ups capture the sacred intimacy of his ritual. This peaceful tone is shattered by the non-diegetic silence that follows the gunfire in the massacre, leaving the land to “speak” through smoke and wind, as if it too absorbs the violence. Johnson’s mise-en-scène reinforces the imbalance of power in Moran’s photograph, where Travis stands tall while First Nations people are told to “get down,” visually encoding colonial hierarchy within the frame. The rifle placed at the centre of the composition acts as a symbol of Western domination, dividing the image and metaphorically severing connection between people and land. Even the soundscape, horses galloping, birds scattering, becomes a diegetic reminder of disruption and fear spreading through Country. The sweeping aerial shots over Nimbuwah Rock, accompanied by non-diegetic First Nations music, establish the landscape as pristine and sacred, yet scarred by what has occurred. By repeating this image in the closing sequence, Johnson presents the rock as both witness and survivor, underscoring how the trauma of invasion is etched permanently into the earth. Through this, High Ground frames the land not as backdrop but as a living archive of violence, one that continues to hold the memory of injustice across generations.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘Just a movie writer with a couple of B…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Billy Wilder’s 1950 film noir, Sunset Boulevard begins with a corpse narrating his own death, a macabre inversion…
Billy Wilder’s 1950 film noir, Sunset Boulevard begins with a corpse narrating his own death, a macabre inversion of the Hollywood dream. From the outset, the film’s voice over narration becomes the filter through which the audience perceives glamour, ambition and decay. Joe Gillis’ self-mocking introduction, calling himself “[j]ust a movie writer with a couple of B pictures to his credit”, encapsulates the film’s tone of bitter irony. Through this sardonic voice, Wilder constructs a narrative that dismantles the mythology of success and exposes the corruption beneath cinematic illusion. The narration is not a neutral recount but a performance: a tool that manipulates how the audience interprets character, morality and truth. By combining noir fatalism with confessional wit, Wilder utilises Joe’s voice to invite the audience to be both participants in and critics of Hollywood’s self-destruction.
Wilder immediately positions Joe as both storyteller and spectacle, granting him narrative power even as he floats lifeless in a pool. His cynical humour invites the audience to see him as self-aware yet already doomed. This irony dismantles the glamour traditionally attached to ambition: Joe’s death is not heroic but predictable, the inevitable consequence of moral erosion. The retrospective narration turns the film into an investigation rather than a confession — an autopsy of lost integrity. Even the cinematography mirrors the narration’s reflective quality: the camera peers upward through water as if through memory, reminding viewers that every image, like every story, is mediated. Wilder thus conditions the audience to approach the film with scepticism rather than awe, perceiving Hollywood not as a dream factory but a mausoleum of broken ideals.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “In Sunset Boulevard, Wilder exposes the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950) exposes the corrosive façade of Hollywood, where ambition and illusion…
Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950) exposes the corrosive façade of Hollywood, where ambition and illusion consume identity and morality. Through its non-linear structure, chiaroscuro lighting, and Waxman’s haunting score, the film critiques the destructive pursuit of fame and power. Wilder presents a world where characters sacrifice integrity for illusion, revealing Hollywood not as a dream factory, but a graveyard of broken souls.
The pursuit of success often disguises decay, as ambition transforms into a performance of illusion rather than authenticity. The film’s haunting opening, framed by Franz Waxman’s eerie non-diegetic score and a pan along the “Sunset Boulevard” billboard, foreshadows the moral corruption beneath Hollywood’s glamour. The narrator’s sardonic line, “Before those Hollywood columnists get on it,” immediately exposes the obsession with image and reputation. The high-angle shot of Joe’s corpse floating lifelessly in a pool transforms success into tragedy, his ambition literally submerging him beneath the illusion he chased. Joe’s reflection that “the price turned out to be a little high” suggests that the pursuit of wealth and recognition demands the surrender of one’s soul. The slow pan across his cluttered desk and unpaid bills highlights his decay beneath surface charm, while his voice-over narration mirrors Hollywood’s artificial storytelling — Joe scripts his own demise as though it were another film pitch. Through these techniques, Wilder constructs a morally bankrupt world where appearance replaces truth and ambition becomes a form of self-destruction.
Illusion not only distorts truth but also erodes identity, consuming those who depend on validation to feel seen. The low-key lighting as Joe enters Norma’s “big white elephant of a place” transitions from daylight into shadow, symbolising his descent into emotional captivity. Norma’s insistence that “they’re dead, they’re finished” when speaking of modern studios reflects her refusal to accept change, aligning her with Hollywood’s obsession with youth and control. The close-up of her face illuminated by her old
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: personal journeys
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 72.5%: Jason’s bloodshot eyes reflected in the subway window like twin rubies as the midnight train screamed towards…
Jason’s bloodshot eyes reflected in the subway window like twin rubies as the midnight train screamed towards the city. His skeletal body curled into the corner seat, a cloud of nicotine and bottom-shelf liquor clinging to his unwashed clothes. Purple bruises flowering across his knuckles from the brawl outside a club. He fumbled with the small plastic bag of pills that promised to silence the relentless voice in his head that whispered he’d never be anything more than a burnout destined to disappoint everyone who’d ever bothered to care. One by one he admired each pill, pupils bright beneath the harsh carriage lights. Electrified by the promise of escape. No judgement, no responsibility, just release. Stepping out of the real world had become a comfort to Jason, away from the persistent bullying, the bad grades, and the quiet loneliness that followed him everywhere.
The train sighed to a stop. Jason stumbled onto the platform, disoriented, the tiles tilting underfoot. The rails shimmered with light, two narrow paths vanishing into blackness. A pulse of air rose from the tunnel, pulling him forward. For a moment, he imagined letting it take him. Then a powerful hand caught his sleeve and jerked him back. He fell hard. The stranger’s breath smelled faintly of rain and metal. “Careful,” was all he said before disappearing into the crowd.Jason stayed on the cold solidified ground for a while, the noise of the city folding around him. Across the yellow line, the tracks hummed softly, as if still remembering the train that had just passed. He stared at them until they blurred, a single thread of light running deeper than he could see.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “In Sunset Boulevard, Wilder shows that…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950) exposes the corrosive façade of Hollywood, where ambition and illusion…
Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950) exposes the corrosive façade of Hollywood, where ambition and illusion consume identity and morality. Through its non-linear structure, chiaroscuro lighting, and Waxman’s haunting score, the film critiques the destructive pursuit of fame and power. Wilder presents a world where characters sacrifice integrity for illusion, revealing Hollywood not as a dream factory, but a graveyard of broken souls.
Wilder opens the film with Franz Waxman’s eerie non-diegetic score and a camera pan along the “Sunset Boulevard” billboard, foreshadowing the moral corruption beneath Hollywood’s glamour. The narrator’s sardonic line, “Before those Hollywood columnists get on it,” immediately exposes the obsession with image and reputation. The high-angle shot of Joe’s corpse floating lifelessly in a pool transforms success into tragedy, his ambition literally submerging him beneath the illusion he chased. Through Joe’s reflection that “the price turned out to be a little high,” Wilder suggests that the pursuit of wealth and recognition demands the surrender of one’s soul. Inside the apartment, a slow pan across Joe’s cluttered desk and unpaid bills highlights his decay beneath the surface charm. Wilder’s use of voice-over narration mirrors the artificial control of Hollywood storytelling—Joe scripts his own demise as though it were another film pitch. Collectively, these techniques depict a morally bankrupt world where image overrides authenticity and where Hollywood’s seductive façade conceals despair.
Through Norma Desmond, Wilder explores how fame warps both gender and identity. The low-key lighting as Joe enters her “big white elephant of a place” transitions from daylight into shadow, symbolising his descent into moral and emotional captivity. Norma’s insistence that “they’re dead, they’re finished” when referring to modern studios reflects her inability to accept the evolving world, aligning her with Hollywood’s own obsession with youth and control. The close-up of her face illuminated by the glow
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Journey to success
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 75%: Talent. A gift. A curse. It begins like a spark- full and bright with promise, entailing everyone gazing upon…
Talent. A gift. A curse. It begins like a spark- full and bright with promise, entailing everyone gazing upon it as a pathway to success. My powerful hands were kept sacred, where a single bruise or scratch would result in vast consequences. Looking past the faded leather belt and down to the previous week’s bruises on my legs, they were soon covered by my tan silk pants, assisted by my mother. It acted as a barrier to disconnect my external life and home life, characterised by blood, sweat, and tears. The blood soaked into my clear white socks, which were supposedly picked out to match my bright off-blue-tinged shirt. This shirt, my favourite, corresponded to my steel-blue eyes, allowing them to sparkle- although some days it had felt like that sparkle was a tear being trapped like a rat in a maze, dying to escape. As I stared down the barrel of the hot sun, shining with the sheen of a shotgun, my pupils constricted in agony. It was the only option. ... Hard work fused with talent oozing with screeches of pure discomfort has led to this point. Flicking the tassel from right to left, embarking on a new journey with new steps coincided with mortarboards flying in the air in cohesion. Surprise, happiness, and tears filled the lively atmosphere, which screamed new beginnings. These new beginnings smelled of love, yearning, and determination, requiring grit to accomplish your dreams of varying characteristics. A firefighter for some, a doctor for others, brought together by the longing to step forward in unison, making the people they love most proud. This hard work, like no other,
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: First Steps “Only those who will risk…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 85%: First Steps
First Steps
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Framework of Ideas: Protest Title:…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 67.5%: Aren't we lucky to be alive? Aren't we lucky to have access to education, to devices like our phones, to…
Aren't we lucky to be alive?
Aren't we lucky to have access to education, to devices like our phones, to support systems like the ones around us?
Oh, sorry.
I meant to say aren't YOU lucky?
Aren't YOU so lucky to be able to ignore the news, to scroll away from posts begging fro help, to come home to friends and family that accept you?
God, you're so lucky.
The hardest day in your life is probably when your mum cooks your least favourite meal for dinner.
I mean, talk about the end of the world, right?
See, there are those of us who aren't so lucky.
We're getting thrown out of our homes, being spat on like we're scum, being beaten and ignored by people like you.
So we aren't always lucky enough to finish school. To get a good job like you will. To have a phone just for
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In order to succeed in Hollywood the only…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: Through “Sunset Boulevard” , Wilder aims to expose Hollywood as an industry that disregards the ambition of its…
Through “Sunset Boulevard” , Wilder aims to expose Hollywood as an industry that disregards the ambition of its stars once they are no longer profitable, showcasing the idea that what Hollywood really values is profit rather than ambition. Wilder portrays this idea by utilising characters such as Norma Desmond, who was a successful silent film actor who was cast out of the industry once she reached the point where she no longer fit the feminine identity of a female star in 1950’s Hollywood, which was someone who was young, beautiful, and passive, as these are the elements of a profitable star. Despite this, Norma is still obsessed with the fame she once had, completely consumed by the idea that she still belongs in an industry that abandoned her. This is showcased by the author through Norma’s mansion, a place that Joe described to be “out of beat with reality”, where the curtains are drawn and there are pictures of Norma during her glory days all over the
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “There is nothing tragic about being 50,…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard dissects Hollywood’s infatuation with youth — an obsessive, almost foolish love…
Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard dissects Hollywood’s infatuation with youth — an obsessive, almost foolish love that blinds both individuals and the industry itself. Through meticulous cinematography, expressionist lighting, and the self-destructive performance of Norma Desmond, Wilder exposes how Hollywood’s worship of youthful beauty becomes a pathological refusal to accept time. The film suggests that there is indeed nothing tragic about being fifty; the tragedy arises only when one tries to remain twenty-five in a world sustained by illusion.
From its opening sequence, Wilder constructs the moral and visual decay that results from this infatuation. The overhead shot of Joe Gillis’s corpse floating face-down in a swimming pool, framed from below through the rippling water, literally distorts reality. The camera’s placement beneath the surface makes death appear glamorous, reflecting the industry’s capacity to aestheticise ruin. Gillis’s detached narration — “Yes, this is Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. It’s about five o’clock in the morning” — strips the moment of tragedy and replaces it with irony, establishing the cynical tone of a world where appearance outweighs substance. Wilder’s low-key lighting and static framing of Norma’s mansion further visualise the stagnation that follows Hollywood’s obsession with youth. The once-lavish home is shot through lattices of shadow, the dust-laden chandeliers flickering like dying stars. Within this mausoleum of mirrors and memories, Norma Desmond clings to an image of herself that no longer exists. When she insists, “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small,” Wilder’s tight mid-shot traps her between two mirrors, literalising the ego’s imprisonment within reflected beauty.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: sunset boulevard - "in sunset boulevard,…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Sunset Boulevard is a film noir melodrama of 1950; Billy Wilder critiques the film industry of Hollywood,…
Sunset Boulevard is a film noir melodrama of 1950; Billy Wilder critiques the film industry of Hollywood, exploring how illusion and denial shape the human experience. Wilder uses characters such as Norma Desmond, Joe Gillis, and Max Von Mayerling, to expose this idea, outlining how their delusions and refusal to the truth and reality deepen their psychological and moral consequences. The film suggests, adopting to defiance and escaping from reality consumes individuals only leading to unfulfillment, tradegy and unhappiness or temporary comfort.
Wilder suggests that denial and the inability to confront reality traps individuals in the past, resulting in self-destruction. Norma Desmond is a once famous silent-film actress whom refuses to accept that Hollywood has moved on, remaining forgotten and irrelevant in the film industry. She declares, "I am big, its the pictures that got smaller", illustrating her refusal to confront the decline of her fame and relevancy, dwelling her deeper into delusion. Her mansion, used by Wilder as a metaphor for denial, the mis-en-scene - withering gardens, gloomy lighting, looming architecture and high walls—conceptualizes her psychological state, once grand, now rotting and sealed away. Norma surrounds herself with old silent films and old photographs of her dearest self to remain back in a time where she was adored and youthful, immersing herself in memories rather than reality. Max, her servant, feeds her delusion by writing fake 'fan letters' reinforcing her denial enabling her descent into madness. This is evident as Max directs her 'final scene', which is truly her final breakdown, capturing her 'close up' - Norma announces "Alright Mr DeMille, i'm ready for my close up", illustrating her disconnection from reality. Wilder critiques the idea of living in illusion, demonstrating denial isolates and leads to psychological sufferring.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Title “finding my way” Stimulus 2:…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 65%: Finding My Way The school library was nearly empty that afternoon. As the sun softly glare outside. Just the…
Finding My Way
The school library was nearly empty that afternoon. As the sun softly glare outside. Just the sound of keyboards clinking and occasional whisper and soft rustly of pages turning. Juli sat in the corner near the back of the library. so surrounded by shelves and shelves of books. She had no interest in reading. It was not like she was going to study, she just went there for the wifi.
Her laptop sat open untouched, a half-finished career quiz still on the screen. The questions all blurred together -
"where do you see in 10 years?"
"what are your hobbies? your passions?"
"long term goals."
She didn't seem to know nor be able to answer. while everyone else seems to. Already know what they want to do. Her best friend has already know that she wants to be a nurse even when they were kids.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Title: Open your eyes Stimulus: I…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 90%: THE ATLANTIC 2/5/25 Open Your Eyes to the Battle We Must Fight Today By Ben Davis The history of…
THE ATLANTIC 2/5/25
Open Your Eyes to the Battle We Must Fight Today
By Ben Davis
The history of interconnectedness between land and humans is a story of utilising and exploiting land for our survival and then using this to thrive and dominate. However, this story is now a fleeting one. This land which we once dominated now is continually disappearing. Parcels of ground we once ruled are becoming increasingly unsteady, and the proof of this is seen nowhere better than in Venice.
Venice, once the anchor of European tourism, a thriving maritime city, now lies still and vulnerable. Rising waters continually threaten the very foundations upon which the city is built. In November 2019 tides reached heights of up to 2 metres. Rushing waters flooded the town, resulting in over a billion euros in damages. Repair costs which fell directly onto the residents themselves. A direct result of warming climates these continually rising waters now threaten to lay siege on the city, warming climates which local governments chose to turn a blind eye to. It’s time to open your eyes, childlike ignorance will not solve such devastating issues, instead, only leave us ill-prepared. Venice’s slow drowning is not an isolated event, but a foreboding warning of what is yet to come as the nations of the world choose to collectively turn a blind eye to climate change.
Even more alarmingly, Venice is simply the beginning. Rising sea levels threaten nations worldwide. Like Venice, pacific island nations such as the Maldives and Tuvalu. Both countries will be first to face the issue of rising waters, a threat which will not spare even the smallest nation. Both island countries are unique in that they sit only 1-2m above sea level. Projections are nothing short of dire. It’s expected that before the turn of the century over 77% of the land area of the Maldives will be submerged, and Tuvalu will be uninhabitable. This is land rich with people and culture, it is more than just stats and percentages. These represent real families who have been doomed to displacement, watching the fate of their nation be sealed as inaction allows their lands to be swallowed up by the rising waters.
Projections of this magnitude should shock,