HSC Advanced:Module A

Frankenstein /Blade Runner

The Rubric (content)

“similar content in a pair of texts”“different times and contexts”“changing values”“(changing) perspectives”“comparing (rep. of) values and ideas”“language (and film!) forms and features”“meaning of each text”“significance of each text”

The Rubric (skills you need)

Know well both texts.Know well both texts’ time and context.Be able to compare the “treatment”

(=representation) of “content” (=ideas and values). This means you MUST create SYNTHESIS.

Draw original, sophisticated conclusions (“heightened understanding of meaning / significance of texts”).

Values (Three big ‘uns)

Humanity

Nature

Science and Technology

Value: Humanity

What defines a ‘human’?What is normal / aberrant human behaviour?

What are we capable of? (good and bad)

What motivates humans?

Value: Nature

What role does ‘Nature’ play in the lives of humans? (...its effects?)

Can humans do without the natural world / realm?

How highly do we value the natural world / realm?

Value: Science & Technology

Is S & T progress always good / bad?Can S & T solve humanity’s problems?Can S & T answer spiritual questions?What detrimental cost are humans

willing to pay for the advance of S & T?

S & T progress is only beneficial if it can be monitored / controlled...agree / disagree?

Context: Frankenstein

Enlightenment (late 17th – late 18th C.)Romanticism (late 18th – mid 19th C.)

◦I’textual refs to and excerpts from Coleridge and Percy Shelley.

Shelley’s personal context◦Her parents; death of her mother.

Gothic Novel (a progressive form)Geneva group (writing collaboration)Industrial RevolutionFrench Revolution (political / social upheaval)

Context: Blade Runner

PostmodernismEnvironmentalism / Global WarmingLate Capitalism, Post-IndustrialismRise of Totalitarianism / Autocratic political

regimes in 20th C.Biomechanics, Robotics, GeneticsDystopiaFilm Styles:

◦Scott as an ‘Auteur’ (contrast with Shelley: Scott composes not in collaboration but alone)

◦Film Noir (The film can be considered ‘Future Noir’)

Exemplar Introduction

The natural realm is characterised by juxtaposing attributes in the pair of texts studied. Nature is a dominant force in Frankenstein where it is represented as both a domain for restoration and respite. In Blade Runner, however, Ridley Scott has chosen to marginalise nature to the point where it is only present in artificial forms, or else is absent. Both of these representations of nature reflect each text’s contemporary context and values. Mary Shelley is responsive to the ideals of the Romantic period, which pursued a sublime connection between man and nature. This perspective of reverence for nature empowers the ‘Romantic Individual’ when confronting conflicting societal shifts such as the Industrial Revolution. Ridley Scott’s 1982 / 1991 (choose a year) film accentuates the negative effects on nature, spawned by Industrialism. He portrays a future city that is belaboured and derelict in the wake of Capitalist Industrialism that secured ascendency throughout the Twentieth Century. The distinctly postmodern thesis of simulacra pervades the film and enhances its foreboding warning concerning the unsustainable effects of capitalist culture that wreaks disastrous effects on nature.

Final Tips...

Get your quotes from both texts (and context!)… Learn them.

Identify and practise points of synthesis between texts (move beyond superficial comments!).

Practise with different types of Q’s. (Go back and have a look at ‘10 & ‘09 HSC Exam Q’s)

Practise expression: be clear and specific.Identify relevant techniques / features of

both texts (i.e.: a novel; a film) and refine your analysis.