Modules
101
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
102
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
103
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.