Category: SL English (lang)

Novelist Australian Richard Flanagan latest interview with the Guardian talks about his new novel “The Living Sea of Waking Dreams.” The book was released in September of 2020, in the midst of the global covid-19 pandemic, which immediately succeeded large fires that had already damaged morale throughout the nation. Flanagan’s book serves to bring hope and boost morale during the time the world is in crisis, serving as a beacon of hope when many people may be feeling down.

The Guardian is also using the interview as a marketing device as they want their audience to feel hopeful, as people don’t like hearing only negative news. By providing a source of hope, the Guardian becomes affiliated with positive news, which means people are likely to continue browsing their website or reading their papers.

What is this play about? Is it staggeringly inarticulate?

The play criticises the oppression of the working class in the United States of America which is an indictment of Capitalism. The characters of Moss, Sully etc. etc. are symbols of the American working class and are shown to be mistreated by the Rich guy.  This oppression leads to desperation which ultimately causes the “working class” (moss, sully etc.) to commit acts of fraud and steal the better leads, perhaps alluding to how many convicted criminals commit crimes due to their situation rather than their personality.

Also: How is the movie different? To what extent?

The poem Medusa by Carol Ann Duffy has interestingly used escalation in order to create a tense atmosphere that shows the threat of her powers as well as the extent to which her thoughts are breaking down.

The first stanza has sibilance on the words “hissed”, “spat”, and “scalp” which help emphasize how her thoughts are taking over and the “sss” sound evokes the image of a snake which symbolizes lies, deceit, and evil.

The

How has Carol Ann Duffy rewritten/transformed a known text or story? How can her versions have the same characters, but be “about” something different?

I think that the reason Carol Ann Duffy has rewritten Little Red Riding hood is to contrast the lively kid’s story with a much darker meaning, particularly of toxic relationships. The general premise of the story features similar characters in order to allude to the original story; however, the storyline is tweaked in particular points which create logical breaks from what the reader is expecting. This not only conveys the underlying message, but it also forces the reader to pay attention to the story as they are now aware of moments where the story strays from the original.

 

Interestingly, the book doesn’t fully make Mario fall into the cliché of having the protagonist give up everything in his life in order to achieve success. Mario instead manages to balance the two loves of his life and even though his romantic love doesn’t work out Mario is still left with his passion for literature; this perhaps indicates that passions are a means of long term happiness whereas romance may be more spur-of-the-moment and short term as they don’t always work out.

What choices have been made to be “good TV”?

I think generally “Good TV” represents programs that draw the audience into the story and are able to create a strong relationship between the characters and the audience in a manner that the vicissitudes that affect the characters evoke strong emotions from the audience as well. In “When Cupid is A Prying Journalist Response” the audience is emotionally connected to the stories of both the interviewer and the entrepreneur and as the tension builds as the relationship with the exes seem to be getting stronger, the audience also feels the rising tension and is emotionally conflicted as they don’t mean ill towards the characters’ current love interest. The ending is a satisfying conclusion which, though not surprising, still feels exhilarating as the tension that has been built throughout the episode finally gets released with the ending.

What would you have done differently? Why?

I think I would have chosen to build up the tension and leave the audience with a cliffhanger where they are unsure how the characters end up, in order to retain some of the audience for the next episode where I would conclude with a happy ending. I feel like this approach would be more beneficial in generating revenue.

The essays are all written by very different people (obviously). The shows are all directed and adapted by the same person (John Carney). Once you’ve seen multiple episodes, how confident would you be about identifying John Carney’s influence on the material?

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How do this series —and Aunt Julia & the Scriptwriter — deal with the transformation of reality into “art”?

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1) Mario Vargas Llosa tells the story is obviously older than the “Marito” who is living it . . . how would you describe the tone? what is the attitude of the narrator to the young man he was?

The narration is done in a non-emotional manner. Mario from the future doesn’t appear to be too concerned about giving his own opinions and it seems more as if the story is a recollection which doesn’t. I would say that his attitude could be described as indifferent.

2) if every other chapter, basically, represents one of Pedro Camacho’s serials — if they didn’t happen, in other words, what is the point of spending so much time on these characters/events/conflicts?

Every other chapter shows the devolution of Pedro Camacho’s writing capabilities. The reader sees the slow transition through which Camacho’s stories slowly lose their zeal; the reader is shown the confusion and inconsistencies between serials. Another noticeable difference is the level of violent crime increases as the chapters continue and this is perhaps a reference to Camacho slowly losing his mind.

3) If a story is basically, “one time, in one place, something happened” then it’s not really literature —it’s journalism or history or maybe even just gossip. Literature is usually thought to express something timeless —something true in a bigger sense. What might this novel be saying about life?

The story delves into abstract concepts such as love and ethics. The novel has a timeless quality as the concepts of “forbidden love” have been observed from centuries ago as we know of stories such as Romeo and Juliet. This brings a timeless sense to the story as the underlying concepts don’t rely heavily on contextual elements from our time period and the larger — deeper parts of the story will be able to be told in the future and have the same meaning on people.

Mario Vargas Llosa explores how the ideas of reality and imagination re in a state of tension throughout the novel.

Llosa explores this through the recurring use of screenplays on alternating chapters. In chapter 1 we are introduced to the book’s protagonist: Mario/Marito and his life in Peru; however, the next chapter is seeming unrelated as it is about the life of a wealthy doctor.

It is revealed to the reader that the alternating chapters are actually screenplays written by Marito and Pedro Camacho. This is foreshadowed as the audience notices parallels between the screenplays and the “real” storyline. On page 135 Marito calls Pedro an “intellectual” sarcastically regarding the fact that Camacho “doesn’t read” in order to remain uninfluenced by other authors. This is one of many moments where the audience sees Mario break out of the bubble and realize that Pedro Camacho is not some God and that he too has his shortcomings.

Explain the stylistic features that indicate the author’s intentions (outline, purpose, context, etc.)

In the Kobe Bryant advertisements, Kobe plays the bully figure who interrogates the famous celebrities in the seminar. The ad uses absurdist humor by making Kobe critique how “unsuccessful” the celebrities (Kanye, Richard Branson, etc.) are. This is absurd as the celebrities would be considered to be highly successful by the majority of people watching the ads.

The purpose of the ad appears to be to cater to the highly illogical sense of humor found on the upper echelons of digital media establishments such as Reddit. The ad chooses to prioritize being unique over being relevant in order to ensure that it stays in the viewers’ heads.