Modules 101. Sample response: Drama. Prescribed text: The Shoe-Horn Sonata,
John Misto, 1995. Related text: 'Beirut Aftermath', Spencer Platt, Getty Institute, ...
Modules
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Sample response: Drama Prescribed text: The Shoe-Horn Sonata, John Misto, 1995 Related text: ‘Beirut Aftermath’, Spencer Platt, Getty Institute, World Press Photo winner, 2007 (image)
Introduction responds to question and links this to understanding about the module Names texts and authors Thesis linking both texts comes at the end of the introduction
Topic sentence links both texts to war
Context and purpose stated with examples given to support the topic sentence
We are living in a visual world filled with images, but the visual isn’t only to be found in pictures. Words can also capture what we see. It is therefore through words and images that we can gain a sense of what is distinctively visual. Any playwright writing a play will see the scenes in his or her mind, but has to convey this in words so that a director can then translate the written play into a performance. The same process takes place in the mind of a photographer. The photographer’s job is to capture an idea using an image. This has to be created into something that will trigger an idea in the mind of the viewer. This process of connecting an image with an idea can be seen as being distinctively visual. To illustrate just how effective the distinctively visual can be in conveying distinctive experiences, I will be discussing two texts: the play, The Shoe-Horn Sonata by John Misto, and the photo, ‘Beirut Aftermath’, by Spencer Platt, winner of the 2007 World Press Photo. Interestingly, both texts deal with an aspect of war, and they both use the visual to engage the audience and to make them think about the impact of war. Both texts attest to the power of war photography. John Misto wrote his play in 1996, with the clear purpose of drawing the attention of the Australian public to the forgotten heroes of World War II, the women. He was challenging the Australian government to officially acknowledge the women in war. Misto used war photos for his research but he also embeds these into his play, projecting images behind the characters to offer a sense of authenticity to the drama in the exposition and also at critical moments. Posters for the Women’s Army from the 1940s, photographs of a wealthy Singapore in 1942, photographs of victorious Japanese soldiers and finally the “famous photograph” of twenty-four emaciated Australian Army
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Cambridge Checkpoints HSC Standard English
The visual and aural are connected to experiences
nurses after their rescue from Belalau trace the story of the women in the play. These superimposed images, songs and dialogue work together to create a strong sense of the experiences of the women as part of a bigger political story. Military songs such as ‘Fall in Brother’ and nationalistic songs such as ‘Rule Britannia’ and ‘Jerusalem’ are used throughout the play to demonstrate the prosperity and triumph of a country. In scene 1 ‘Rule Britannia’ is played as the scene ends and projections of images appear on the screen to contrast the power of the English against the Japanese. These images and songs are later used to ironically suggest the failure of Britain as the great empire. By connecting official war photos with his play, Misto is connecting the two lives on the stage to a bigger political picture. The photos appear oppressively behind the women as a constant reminder of the interference of governments in the lives of innocent women in World War II.
Related text on the same topic of war as previous paragraph
Spencer Platt’s war is much more recent. His photo is taken during a lull in the bombing of Beirut in 2007. Like all war photographers he is sending out a message about war, but like Misto he is also sending out a challenge – a challenge for us to reconsider our views of war. A shiny red sports car appears in the foreground of the award-winning photo. It seems to glide past a scene of devastation and creates a horizontal vector, effectively cutting the foreground and background in half. Busy men pick through the rubble of buildings in the background while elegant young people peer from their vehicle, one holding a handkerchief over her nose, the other woman using her mobile camera to take a photo and a third blonde girl looking out while a man drives the car. The photo attracted a great deal of controversy, leading to criticism of the occupants of the car who, it was said, looked like tourists surveying the carnage. But the reality was very different and these people, like those in the background, had returned to look for the homes they had lost. The light falls on the blonde woman in the foreground, emphasised by her white T-shirt, the scene reflected in her sunglasses as she leans slightly forward, moving us on and adding to the sense of movement away from the darker scene behind the car.
Clear connection with prescribed text is offered Context and techniques are discussed to support the thesis
Visual effect of light and dark is connected to experiences in the play and to deeper meaning about revelation
Light and dark also function as signs in the play. The two women, Bridie and Sheila, are meeting for the making of a documentary about the plight of women, fifty years after the fall of Singapore. The first scene opens in darkness. The Japanese word “Keirei!” is heard, then clapping in the darkness and then lights come on. Lighting is an essential element in any play and here it is being used to convey a message as well as to illuminate the characters. An important theme in the play is the idea of revelation. The documentary is about revealing truth, so the lights come up on the first interview of the documentary as if announcing the time for truth. Political incompetence and cover up are also revealed and the light serves to show this symbolically. There is another level of revelation and this is at the very personal level. The public stories of the two women are discussed in the light of the studio, but the alternating scenes of the play are set in a private motel room, visually indicating the division between the public and private stories. Eventually, in a climactic moment, we learn the truth that Sheila has kept hidden for so many years about having sexual relations with the Japanese soldier in order to gain lifesaving medicine for her friend.
Discussion on light is applied to related text and used to offer a final connecting
Spencer Platt stated in an interview that understanding light is not about learning photography. When he said that an author like “Camus or something like that can teach you a lot more about light than any professor
Modules statement about meaning in both texts
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can”, he was drawing attention to the fact that the visual comes not only from images but from the experiences that surround it. The image can be created in our minds, using words to imagine a visual terrain. He showed this through the impact of his photo, which sent out so many confronting and conflicting messages. Misto’s play takes our understanding of the relationship between the visual and the experience one step further, showing us how effective the play form can be in using and creating visual images that reinforce a historical epoch and also attack an established truth. In so doing, both composers have illustrated the power of image and its relationship with experience, showing that the distinctively visual conveys distinctive experiences.
Working with the sample response Read the Notes from the Marking Centre and complete the questions below. Notes from the Marking Centre: General Comments on Module A Most candidates displayed a genuine understanding of voice/visual with good levels of literacy and well-structured responses being evident. Responses were varied and therefore interesting in the ways that they approached the question. Many candidates were clearly well prepared and were able to shape their knowledge to answer the question. Weaknesses were evident where candidates were clearly using old electives. The use of one related text meant that candidates were expected to analyse in detail and with depth. There was a wide variety of related texts but better choices were those that were more relevant to distinctive voices or the distinctively visual. Candidates who made their own selection of related texts usually provided a more genuine and personal response, rather than a common or generic response. Candidates who demonstrated a deep engagement with the related text were often able to provide a purposeful answer to the requirements of the question. Photographs, paintings, picture books and films were popular as related texts, and offered potential for a purposeful and integrated response in the Distinctively Visual elective. In the Distinctive Voices elective, popular choices were speeches, poems, songs, films and television shows. While also offering potential for purposeful discussion, they appeared more difficult for candidates to analyse and shape to the question. Better responses analysed their related text in terms of the question and in relationship to the prescribed text or its ideas, furthering their thesis. Connections were made in a variety of ways in terms of experiences, ideas, themes, style and techniques. The use of their related text was purposeful, thoughtful, effective and relevant to the requirements of the question. Better responses demonstrated high levels of visual literacy. Weaker responses were typified by a range of features including poor choice (especially in terms of relevance), brevity, weak links to the question, description rather than analysis, and failure to address composing techniques (e.g. cinematography in films, musicality in songs). Drama – The Shoe-Horn Sonata Some responses included analysis of aural imagery, but the better responses used this to make the point that sound reinforces the understanding of the visual.
