Hey guys,
So I have a couple of questions for my extension essay (it's on Worlds of Upheaval):
-should I do an integrated essay? How? After hearing about it on the forums, I asked my teacher about it, but she didn't recommend it. I've always been taught to have a separate paragraph for each text and my teacher's a HSC marker, so I'm not sure what style to stick with.
-with the common module, what does 'identity, voice and points of view' mean? Does this refer to the author and their context or the way that the text has been written?
-how would you say the film Metropolis challenges literary conventions and traditional societal values/activates a change in attitudes?
Thanks
Hey, nishta!
I've got some suggestions which you can feel free to take on board if you wish based on personal experience, as well as what I have learnt from diving into the new syllabus more for Extension 1.
I would firstly say
yes to integrated essays! My school highly encouraged them and as a result, so do I! They enable you to better engage with synthesis, especially with an Ext 1 essay which has up to five different texts (if you are doing poetry).
However, if your teacher has recommended against using it and you are much more used to writing separate paragraphs for each text, go with that for your internals. Your teacher will be the one marking that essay so you'll want to appeal to what she has taught. After your Trials are done, work with what you think will maximise your performance. A marker is not going to deduct students' marks if they use one structure over another but there will be issues if your essay doesn't make sense and have cohesion.
If you would like to write in an integrated style, here's a link to
my Ext 1 essay that I wrote for the HSC. Although the syllabus has changed, you can clearly see the structure I have implemented to ensure the texts flow and develop one another's ideas. I've also attached a link to
Emily's Lecture Slides from January for Ext 1 and you can see the different ways you can approach writing paragraphs in Ext 1
Basically, do with what will make you feel most comfortable because there isn't a right or wrong way
As for the Common Module, "identity, voice and points of view" can be interpreted from both those lenses you have presented. It may refer to the composer and how their context, purpose and immediate audience has impacted their creative decisions within the text. It may also be explored within the characters, settings and other literary constructions within the texts. Those concepts are left open-ended for a reason and you can make the argument that the "identity, voice and points of views" expressed within the text reflect the composer's intentions and contextual values. That way, you develop a more layered argument and consider how the mechanisms of the text, and its conceptual foundations, are extensions of the composer. If you are having trouble with the Common Module, I did a
break down which might help!
I didn't study
Metropolis so I'm not too familiar with it but I would imagine it would both be a product of its time, as well as a challenger of its conventions, considering the nature of the module is on "upheaval" and that your text itself should embody that. With
Frankenstein and
Waiting for Godot, you can clearly see Romantic and Postmodern tendencies within those texts; I would imagine Modernist, and in particular German Expressionist, aesthetics similarly being so in
Metropolis. Both the other two texts there have challenged notions of progress and responded to the societal values of their time in hopes of activating a change in attitudes for audiences on what they have readily accepted in their immediate worlds. I would consider how
Metropolis is similarly a response to the instability and superficiality of the Weimar Republic, positioning audiences to evaluate their stance on society. Any innovative film techniques utilised to convey meaning would also be ideal to explore as they directly challenge traditional ways of representing ideas. I hope someone with more knowledge on the text can help you out with this question
Very long response from me today so hope something in it helps!
Angelina