Module C
REPRESENTATION
AND TEXT
Module C
• This module requires students to explore
various representations of events,
personalities or situations. They evaluate how
medium of production, textual form,
perspective and choice of language influence
meaning. The study develops students’
understanding of the relationships between
representation and meaning.
• In their responding and composing, students
consider the ways in which conflicting
perspectives on events, personalities or
situations are represented in their prescribed
text and other related texts of their own
choosing. Students analyse and evaluate how
acts of representation, such as the choice of
textual forms, features and language, shape
meaning and influence responses.
• In their responding and composing, students
consider their prescribed text and other texts
which explore the relationships between
individual memory and documented events.
Students analyse and evaluate the interplay of
personal experience, memory and
documented evidence to broaden their
understanding of how history and personal
history are shaped and represented.
Representation and Text
• Language is a complex tool invented by
society. As any artefact it can have beneficial or
detrimental effects. It can be used and abused.
• Language can never achieve pure representation.
It cannot mean by itself – it is determined by
context, intention and collective agreement.
• People often use language to conceal rather than
reveal their real intentions. All attempts to
communicate are subjective and therefore even
well intentioned, informative writings can be
prone to bias or unconscious distortion of truth.
• All texts are deliberately constructed to convey an agenda and
a set of values.
• This means that every composer has a purpose, which is
based on the issues arising from their context and audience.
• To that end, the composer uses conflicting
perspectives/interplay between history and memory as a
vehicle for successfully conveying their purpose to the
audience.
• So, through the representation of events, personalities and
situations (which utilises form, language and structural
devices), the responder is positioned to accept the
perspective that the composer has represented as
valid/credible.
• As a consequence, the composer is able to successfully impart
their values to the audience.
• There is a difference between what a text is about and
its message. The Smithsonian’s September 11 website
is about history but its message (intentionally or not) is
that history is selective and constructed. Birthday
Letters by Ted Hughes portrays some conflicting
perspectives but one of its messages is that perspective
is shaped through and by language. Similarly, The
Justice Game portrays conflict within the formal setting
of the court; however, one message is that the
dominant perspective tends to be the one that is most
effectively represented in the “game”.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Interpretations
Points-of-view
Demonstrations
Accounts of
Versions
Descriptions
Depictions
Constructions
VALUES
EVENTS
CHARACTER
SETTING
THEMES/ISSUES
STYLE/FORM
TECHNIQUES/FEATURES
MEDIUM
PURPOSE
REPRESENTATTION
• Context
• Audience
PURPOSE
• Conflicting
Perspectives
• History and
Memory
VALUES
•Composer’s
agenda
•Perspective
privileged
POSITIONING
OF
RESPONDER
Composer
successfully
conveys their
perspective
Hero or
villain?
• Robertson in The Justice Game comments on
how emotional subjectivity affects an
objective perspective. This is the CONTENT of
the text.
• Yet at the same time, we can see in his writing
that HIS own emotional subjectivity (strong
feelings against the death penalty) affects the
objectivity of The Justice Game. This is the
CONSTRUCTION of the text.
History and Memory
• This Module is really very much like the AOS in
that it requires you to absorb an overall concept
and apply this to both the core text as well as
your related material.
• Remember that HOW means techniques. This is
always true in HSC English. So not only do you
need to work out WHAT the message about the
concept is from your texts but also exactly HOW
this message is conveyed through poetic, literary
and visual techniques.
• What is a perspective? Why do people have
different perspectives and what can cause
them to conflict? How are conflicting
perspectives represented in society?
• What is history? What is memory? What is
the relationship between them? Is one more
valid than the other? How are history and
memory represented in society?
Thesis Ideas…
• “Hughes effectively manipulates the poetic
form to present a unique and evocative
collection of poems that invoke empathy for
his circumstances and reinforces that there is
an agenda behind every perspective.”
• “Discordant opinions ignite conflicting
perspectives and the composer harnesses the
textual form to highlight their perspective as
the most valued of those opinions.”
• “In the construction of a representation of
history, it is individual and collective memory
which conjures an understanding of the
historical figure or event, yet it is historically
accurate details and trivialities which
authenticate such representations.”
• Physical evidence and relevant historical details
are essential in constructing both history and
context as they create direct links to memory.”
• “History can only be recorded retrospectively;
hence, to a degree it relies on memory. The
interplay of history and memory therefore can
result in new understandings of events and
people, ones which are now reshaped and
coloured by individual and collective memories”
Markers’ Comments
• Stronger responses demonstrated a perceptive
understanding of how composers use different
ways to construct meaning and evoke responses
through textual features and details
• Masterful control of language was evident as
these responses developed the thesis through
strategic-topic sentences, a confident and
informed approach to both texts and clear
consideration of the key ideas.
• Many stronger responses demonstrated an
awareness of the constructedness of texts and
how the choice of form and its associated
language features connected with the
composer’s purpose and context.
• Judiciously selected textual evidence was
used to support the evaluation of the form
and its distinctive features.
• Weaker responses focused more on an
exploration of the prescribed text and text of own
choosing through the elective rather than the
focus of the module – the act of representation.
• Weaker responses were largely descriptive and
limited in scope. Some understanding of the act
of representation through form was evident;
however, the treatment of the prescribed text
and the text or texts of own choosing was
superficial and inconsistent.
VALUES
EVENTS
CHARACTER
SETTING
THEMES/ISSUES
STYLE/FORM
TECHNIQUES/FEATURES
MEDIUM
PURPOSE
REPRESENTATTION
• Context
• Audience
PURPOSE
• Conflicting
Perspectives
• History and
Memory
VALUES
•Composer’s
agenda
•Perspective
privileged
POSITIONING
OF
RESPONDER
Composer
successfully
conveys their
perspective
PURPOSE
VALUES
REPRESENTATION
POSITIONING
• WHAT – Thesis Statement re Conflicting Perspectives/
History and Memory?
• HOW – How is it being represented?
(Medium, structure, techniques)
• WHY – Why is it being represented in the manner?
What have you understood?
(Power of language/form, Agenda, Manipulation, Bias,
Values)
A Final Thought..
• Students develop a range of imaginative,
interpretive and analytical compositions that
relate to different forms and media of
representation. These compositions may be
realised in a variety of forms and media.
What could this mean in regards to the
examination question?
GOOD LUCK IS MADE!
• Write
• Get Feedback
• Edit – elaboration, sophistication
• Write some more!