Reflection 3

I am proud of finding a connection between something I am passionate about (Theatre) and my own culture. I feel like I came into the process with a pessimistic attitude, thinking there would not be a significant connection between theatre and my culture. I was extremely pleased to learn the contrary, that even if in small doses, theatre was being used in Pakistan to spread positive messages and inspire social change. Even though a lot of my research didn’t end up in my final essay, the variety of research allowed me to expand my knowledge both historically and on current theatre troupes dedicated to social change. Part of my methodology that worked for me was separating all the articles I had on social change in Pakistan into separate tables and breaking them up into common themes of “What was the change”, “Why is it important”, “What effect did it have”. This allowed me to extract the details I needed from the articles and helped create a structure for my analysis. If I were to redo the EE I would love to focus on theatre around the world and in areas like Pakistan where I thought it was not prominent.

Intertextuality Questions

  • How does intertextuality contribute to meaning within texts? 

Intertextuality is fundamental to the understanding for almost all texts. All forms of texts rely on the reader previously existing knowledge as a way to appeal to a reader. Though texts can still be understood to some level without the intertextual knowledge, to fully understand the text intertextual knowledge is vital

  • What is gained and lost through the use of intertextuality?

The nature of intertextuality is that since outside knowledge is required to gain an understanding of the text, people without that knowledge can be excluded. Especially if the text is satirical, the true meaning of the text can be lost. All choices made by a writer are deliberate and through the use of intertextuality  you gain a deeper understanding of the text

Reflection 2:

I have found a variety of sources detailing different aspects of my research question. Though most of the resources were more focused on the history of theatre in Pakistan rather than how theatre was used as a tool for social change. I will need to focus on what my research question is asking and omit other information that is not relevant. My EE was veering closer to history and not enough on my subject of choice. Due to this I will select sources more carefully focusing on the use of theatre while adding the element of the history when relevant. I have further developed my understanding of not only my topic but also background information to shape my overall understanding. I have gained a deeper insight into my passion and my culture. Where before I was not sure how strong the connection was, I am now more educated in both realms of theatre and how it has influenced my culture and history.

Summer Reading

Over the summer I read George R.R Martin’s ‘A Game of Thrones’ as well as Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaids Tale’.

The two books are very different with different genres and also the themes being dealt with in the book. One thing that I found interesting was that the structure of both books, neither book follows the structure of a typical novel. Game of Thrones instead of following a single main character, switches characters every chapter, this conveys to the audience that there isn’t anything particularly special about any character and no character is safe. If a character dies the game of thrones will continue because it is not reliant on just one character.

The Handmaid’s Tale  on the other hand follows a single narrator, Offred. Though it still is not a typical structure. Offred sways in between the past and present based on what the character feels like focusing on at the time. The inclusion on the Night section also allows a deeper dive into Offred’s mind as she is all only in those sections.

Skip to toolbar