Comparative Study of Text and Context: Elective 2- Texts in Time – Gail Perry
Module A: Comparative Study of Texts and Context
This module requires students to compare texts in order to explore them in relation to
their contexts. It develops students’ understanding of the effects of context and
questions of value.
Each elective in this module requires the study of groups of texts which are to be
selected from a prescribed text list. These texts may be in different forms or media.
Students examine ways in which social, cultural and historical context influences
aspects of texts, or the ways in which changes in context lead to changed values being
reflected in texts. This includes study and use of the language of texts, consideration
of purposes and audiences, and analysis of the content, values and attitudes conveyed
through a range of readings.
Students develop a range of imaginative, interpretive and analytical compositions that
relate to the comparative study of texts and context. These compositions may be
realised in a variety of forms and media.
Elective 2- Texts in Time
In this elective students compare how the treatment of similar content in a pair of
texts composed in different times may reflect changing values and perspectives. By
considering the texts in their contexts and comparing values, ideas and language
forms and features, students come to a heightened understanding of the meaning and
significance of each text.
Key vocab to unpack:
 Treatment
Implications within this context
Structures, genre, specific focus,
Attitudes toward key ideas & concepts.
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Similar content
Key ideas & concepts , characterisation,
Thematic concerns, authorial commentary
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Different times
Specific socio/historical and cultural
Influences
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Changing values
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Changing perspectives
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Key values that have shaped each work
What has changed? How? Why? How is this
Reflected? What was/what is?
Identify focus and the perspective presented
Whose view are we presented with? What
is the shift in perspective? Why does it
occur? How is it reflected?
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Contexts
Key socio/historic/cultural influences
That have shaped and are reflected in the
works?

Values
What values are reflected in each text?
What values are challenged? What is
Important , given status, seen as significant?
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Ideas
What are the central ideas explored and
how are they explored? What do they say
about the society they reflect?
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Language form and features
Specific forms & features, structures,
connotations, resonances & their impact
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Heightened understanding
Initial understanding- what has
changed/ shifted? How has it developed?
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Meaning
What is the students’ interpretation of
“meaning”?
What is the intention the composer?
What is the message of the text?
What concepts underpin this text?
What is the comment about humanity?
What is the focus of this story?
What is the moral function?
How is this “meaning” relevant to you
And your values?
What connections can be made with
contemporary concerns?

Significance
What is significant to the
module focus and the specific elective?
What is of importance in terms of
the module and elective?
What is of importance in terms of
your own response to the texts?
What are the concerns of the
texts?
What is memorable, notable?
What distinguishes this text as
note-worthy?
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2
Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein.
Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel written by the British author
Mary Shelley, when she was just 19 years old. Published anonymously in 1818,
Shelley's name did not appear until the revised third edition, published in 1831. The
title of the novel refers to a scientist who learns how to reanimate flesh and creates a
being in the likeness of man out of body parts taken from the dead. In modern popular
culture, people have tended to refer to the Creature as "Frankenstein" (especially in
films since 1931).
Frankenstein is a novel infused with some elements of the Gothic novel and the
Romantic Movement. It was also a warning against the "over-reaching" of modern
man and the Industrial Revolution, alluded to in the novel's subtitle, The Modern
Prometheus.
Literary influences
This work can be seen as a critique of the 1st generation Romantic preoccupations, a
critique of the power of the creative imagination in response to her husband’s work
and the assumptions that underpin it. For Percy Shelley, the imagination offers a way
to a new and better world. In poems such as “Ozymandis” and “the Triumph of Life”
Mr Shelley attempts to open the human mind and take it beyond its material world,
into a world where our previous perceptions are challenged. For him, the imagination
holds only promise. Mary Shelly, in response to these assumptions, suggests through
her work that the imagination is potentially a dangerous and soul destroying master
which offers only the illusion of promise.
Mary Shelley initially opens discussion through her references to familiar ideas with
the imagination connected to liberation- individual freedom from the confines of
limitation. For her, creation comes from chaos, not a void. She sees the imagination as
giving man god-like powers; however, Shelley suggests that the human mind has two
aspects in its capacity to create beauty and perversion of God’s beauty.
Milton’s Paradise Lost- used as an epigraph to the 1818 edition “Did I request thee,
Maker, from my clay To mould me man, did I solicit thee From darkness to promote
me…”(John Milton, Paradise Lost 1667)
Socio/ Political influences
The novel was dedicated to Rousseau and in particular William Goodwin, (Mary
Shelley’s father). Rousseau secularised the notion of the unfallen state of innocence
which the “creature” enjoys until corrupted by the evil ways of society and its people”I am malicious because I am miserable” (creature p147)
“Knowledge, and the enlargement of intellect, are poor, when unmixed with
sentiments of benevolence and sympathy… and science and abstraction will soon
become cold, unless they derive new attractions from ideas of society” (William
Goodwin, Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, p300)
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Scientific Influences
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Humphry Davy, pioneer of electrochemistry and discoverer of potassium
was a visitor at the Goodwin household during Mary’s childhood.
The tone and message of his publications embody much the same message
that Frankenstein was so entranced by in the “Panegyric” on chemistry
delivered by Professor Waldman at Ingolstadt University.
Davy claims that “science has done much for man but is capable of doing
still more.”
Waldman – “chemistry is that branch of natural philosophy in which the
greatest improvements have been made.” (p50)
Frankenstein- “…soon my whole being was filled with one thought…So
much has been done…-more, far more will I achieve; treading in the steps
already marked I will pioneer a new way ..and unfold to the world the
deepest mysteries of creation.” (p49)
Concepts
Frankenstein is in some ways allegorical. The novel was conceived and written
during an early phase of the Industrial Revolution, at a time of dramatic advances in
science and technology. That the creation rebels against its creator can be seen as a
warning that the application of science can lead to unintended consequences.
Alchemy was a very popular topic in Shelley's world. In fact, it was becoming an
acceptable idea that humanity could infuse the spark of life into a non-living thing
(Luigi Galvani's experiments, for example). The scientific world just after the
Industrial Revolution was delving into the unknown, and limitless possibilities also
caused fear and apprehension for many as to the consequences of such horrific
possibilities.
Through the violent contest between repression and liberation themes of modern
industrial society are explored.
The nature of humanity and life itself are examined; who should hold the power over
life? What is the nature of mankind? What happens when we rebel against nature?
Frankenstein’s dream of manipulating nature and the subsequent glory which was to
come to him was only an illusion of promise. From the moment his unlawful creation
first took breath, life for both creator and creation would be a torment.
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Blade Runner- Its origins
Directed by Ridley Scott, Screen play by Hampton Francher.
Adapted form the novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, by Philip K Dick, (a
prolific writer of Science Fiction) Blade Runner is a reworking of the book with the
same story line for a dissimilar medium. 1 Written at the height of the Vietnam War,
Sheep stemmed from the authors’ basic interest in the problem of differentiating the
authentic human being from the reflexive machine, the android; a metaphor for people
who behave in non-human ways. Access to Gestapo documents lead to the conclusion
that with the Nazis “we were dealing with a defective group ...a mind so defective
that the word “human” could not be applied to them.”2 Further, Dick’s revolutionary
and existential views have had a profound impact of the characterisation of the novel,
as he believed that these “android personalities were so dangerous to humans that it
might become necessary to kill them”3. Paradoxically, our efforts to wipe them out
would make us become like the androids. Thus, the focus of this work is very much
centred on the amoral nature of the artificial human, while exploring the notion that
love and compassion were the crucial differences between man and machine.
Ironically, Blade Runner, explores as one of its key concepts the nature of humanity,
while suggesting that the replicants are in fact more human that the humans due to
their capacity for empathy, compassion and even love; all absent in the human
characters of the film.
1
The Making of Blade Runner, Paul M Sammon.
The Making of Blade Runner, Paul M Sammon (p16-17)
3
The Making of Blade Runner, Paul M Sammon (p16-17)
2
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Genre
This film is essentially a dystopia, and serves as a prophetic warning of the terrible
socio/political tendencies that could turn our contemporary world into the inhumane
jungle that is represented in this futuristic setting. The impact of rampant
technological developments and the obsession with corporate profit and cheap labour
is a central concept that underpins this work; and one that is conveyed on many
layers, through visual cues and juxtaposition of replicants with their supposedly
superior human masters.
Much of the film’s form and content draws on the conventions of film noir and
traditional hard boiled detective genre, with its dark and shadowy cinematography,
the femme fatale and the questionable moral outlook of the hero which has been
extended to include questions of humanity. Deckard is introduced in the usual context
of the seedy yet vital setting of Chinatown with its dark and shadowy locations. Film
noir is an urban genre which responds to the abuses of power in society while
detective genre is concerned with rationality and restoration of order in a world of
corruption. The detective stands alone in this world with his retrospective and his
insight into this chaos. His detachment reflects the detachment of society, yet he
possesses an inherent, albeit questionable, moral code which is both his strength and
his weakness. Deckard epitomises all of these traits at various stages. The debate
about the direction of technology and its potential for unethical use is given
significance through this fusion of film noir and detective fiction which both draw
attention to the ills our society and our value systems.
While the film was acclaimed as “genuinely new” it shares the same interest in its
themes as many sci-fi films with their preoccupation with humans and technology,
man made and the natural.
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Literary Influences
Clearly, the film has drawn significantly on Fritz Lang’s Metropolis; set in the year
2026, in the extraordinary Gothic skyscrapers of a corporate city-state, the Metropolis
of the title. As in Blade Runner, society has been divided into two rigid groups: one of
planners or thinkers, who live high above the earth in luxury, and another of workers
who live underground toiling to sustain the lives of the privileged.
Metropolis- Tower of Babel
Blade Runner
Ridley Scott has also attributed credit to Edward Hopper’s painting Nighthawks for
the visuals of the film,
as well as the proto-cyberpunk short story comic The Long Tomorrow The
storytelling of "The Long Tomorrow" is inspired by film noir and hardboiled crime
fiction, but the story is set in a distant, science fiction future, making it one of the first
true cyberpunk stories. The comic came to the attention of Ridley Scott and was a key
visual reference for Blade Runner.
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POSTMODERN STYLE
The film is a mix of different architectural styles, (gothic, modern, Victorian, futurists) with
its retro-fitted fashions (1940’s, 1950’s, 1960’s, punk, past-futurist), its visual references to
the crime novels of Raymond Chandler (the police station, the fans, smoke and bottle of
whiskey), and its continuation of futuristic spaces, such as those seen in Metropolis (flying to
the Tyrell building).
This mixing of elements from different periods and from different film genres suggests
postmodernist stylistic heterogeneity and plurality. It is a world partly nostalgic for the past
and also nostalgic for the futurism of the past (the past’s futures). There is no forward vision
here, only a dystopia based largely in things we have already seen in different parts of the
world at different times. The odd thing is that these many different times and spaces are
brought together in a multi-cultural Asian/European/Middle Eastern/American time-space.
This is further conveyed by the use of different languages on the street. All of which is
perhaps a comment on the multi-racial, multi-cultural mix of America after globalisation.
Layering of space/time
The layering of space in the city where the street level is ‘underground’, while above street
level is another highway system of hovering highways. Walls as huge screens which loom
over life at street level make it seem somehow small, backward and squalid. The streets are
constantly swept by the beams from surveillance vehicles as they try to encourage people to
migrate to the off-world colonies – presumably colonies in space, and on other planets (Batty
refers to what he has seen in battles on other planets). Note the unclear separation between the
street and the skyscrapers. Although the police station is in a futuristic building, on the inside,
it looks like a scene from a 1950’s movie. Blade Runner, like many post-modern movies,
confronts us with these stylistic anachronisms. 4
Concepts
This film is credited with prefiguring important concerns of the 21st century including
genetic engineering and globalisation. It explores philosophies of religion, the mastery
of genetic engineering and morality. It also delves into the future implications of
technology on the environment and society.5
A recurring theme is the question of humanity; the biological humans are generally
flawed, either morally, physically or emotionally while the replicants exhibit more
passion for life, more empathy and more compassion. In spite of their underclass
status, they appear to be physically and emotionally superior to the humans who
created them. In creating this race, humans have replaced one underclass with
another; humanity has not evolved, it has simply replaced one disempowered and
exploited group with another. 6 Consequently, in this world of the future, humanity
has not evolved at all, it has not learned, it has not changed.
4
o http://www.hku.hk/english/courses2000/2037/bladerunner.htm
wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner
6
Advanced English all text Study Guide, p133.
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COMPARING THE TEXTS
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Discuss the specific use and resonances of the following motifs within the
context of each work
What do these say about the contexts that shaped the works and the values
that are reflected/challenged?
Motifs and allusions
God/man conflict
Birth / Creation
Christ figure
Eyes
Moral /physical decay
Atmosphere of despair
Appearance
Reality
Others…..
Concepts
Nature of humanity
Value of life
Redemption
Loss of Innocence
Alienation
Scientific development and responsibility
Power of the imagination
Others….
 How are these concepts explored in each text?
 What value is given to each concept?
 What is the message about each?
 In what ways is their treatment similar / different?
 What is your response to these concepts?
Values
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What are the values that have shaped each work?
How are they reflected through the textual features?
What has changed? How? Why?
How is this reflected?
What was/what is?
Textual forms and features
Frankenstein
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Blade Runner
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Narrative structure
Narrative perspective
Language
Plot structure
Technological references
Imagery and connotations
Others…….
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Narrative structure
Point of view
Language
Plot structure
Technical reference: visual and language
Imagery and connotations
Others…….
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