NCEA 3.7 – Significant Connections – Dystopia

Establishing the setting in an important step in any text as it defines to us the reader what the world is like around the characters. This step is even more critical for the genre of dystopia where the world and society that are created provide to us so many ideas and details that express many different aspects of a world that are made up and that is flawed. Seldomly however is there ever a dedicated section of the book that purely describes the setting which is why authors often convey there setting using many different techniques. One of these being the language they use. What they choose us to see, what language, the characters speak or in film, what music is played. This helps the author to effectively convey the troubles within these societies and therefore give us a warning and what we should pay attention to in our own society.


Stephen Speilberg’s film Minority report is a clear example of langue being used effectively to build the dystopian setting. It is rich in the small details that we often miss in the first viewing that give us a greater insight into the world that is being established around us. As many other dystopias, Minority report would appear to be a Utopia or a perfect world. And thanks to the main feature of the film, precrime, it is also a world that can predict murder and therefore eliminates it from society creating a perfect world, right? Some of the initial features that make Minority report seem like a utopia is what we purely see on the screen. The public buildings are smooth, white and perfectly clean giving the place a sanitised look with no imperfection. Stephen Speilberg leads us builds the setting of a society that has the wealth, time and care that is more capable to look after itself and its citizens. As the film progresses we see how the setting changes to a world that resembles a dystopia, shown by features such as camera angles, film processing, and the choice in music, which undermine the utopia we once saw. A great example of this is the spider scene. Here we are set in an apartment block and for the first time, we see dirty crumbling walls, characters that appear homeless and troubled and rats running around all showing elements of decay. We then see the total invasion of privacy the state has over its citizens when we get a birds-eye view of everyone in the apartment and even when characters go through to different rooms the camera follows showing there is no escape from the eye of the state. The music played in the background creates an atmosphere on tension when the tremolo cellos are played at dissonance with each other and the synthy unearthly sub-bass. Also the spacey sound with a large surprising low self filter and been boosted around the higher frequencies further express an element of unnaturalness and makes it undesirable to us the audience. The police wear so much technology that is covering almost all of there bodies which indicates even they are having there humanity stripped from them and are instead more of a tool than a person. Minority report uses these different language techniques to show us the different ways the state suppresses the individuals. All these features build the dark, decaying dystopia setting which we will see is very common throughout this genre. Minority report warns us what could happen if we allow technology to progress without the people in charge to care not for our privacy and personal lives.

Like Minority report, Gorge Orwell’s novel Nineteen eighty-four builds a dystopian setting by the language that is used within the novel but uses differing techniques. In Orwell’s novel, their is a new language Newspeak which is beginning to phase out traditional English as we know it. Newspeak is essentially a language created by the state that is being stripped of many words, or as one of Newspeaks producers Syme puts it, “We’re cutting language down to the bone” by “destroying words, hundreds of them a day“. Orwell further goes on to show us the power a state can have by altering the language and therefore controlling what we think. Syme even admits it to the protagonist Winston that “the whole Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought” which as Obrien says “Thoughtcrime will become literally impossible because there will be no words to express it”. Obrien continues saying that “Mental training undergone in childhood and grouping itself with Newspeak words, crimestop, black-white and doublethink makes him unwilling and unable to think too deeply on any subject whatsoever”. Orwell uses newspeak to illustrate a society that is unable to conceptualise an idea due to the language that is used. It shows that newspeak as a tool to control and suppress the individual which shows us a society where the state is literarily controlling the thoughts that can and will be created in the heads of its citizens. This in turn also strips the humanity which in contrast Minority report used the excessive use of technology to achieve this. Nineteen eighty-four uses language as a method to suppress the individuals rarther than showing there suppression like in Minority report, however similar to Minority report, the individuals are suppressed in similar ways. Both societies strip the individuality from their citizens and freedom of choice for totalitarian control. Nineteen eighty-four warns us what could happen if we give a state to much control.

The novel A Clockwork Orange is a builds a dystopian setting in some very similar ways to Nineteen eighty-four but conveys to the reader a different warning. Like in Nineteeneghty four, it is set in England and there is a new language inside A Clockwork Orange, Nadsat. Unlike Newspeak, Nadsat is a slang language that contains many words that are Russian and Slavic derivatives, such as the word “Nadsat” itself which means teen. Or Droog translates to “друг” which means friend. Given the novel was written in the 1960-70s which at the time the west feared the communism take over, the fact that there is a language with Russian influence suggests that this new society has either learned to coexists with the people of the USSR or like in Orwell’s vision, communism has spread to the rest of the world. This by itself would terrify the readers of the time. Also given throughout the novel we only really see the younger population use this language hints to the reader that there is some form of separation between the younger and older population. “appy polly loggy” when read is an extreme exaggeration version of apology (which is exactly what it means) which gives a mocking sound to the word. This would make sense as never once do you see Alex apologise to any of his droogs which could show us that apologizing is shown as a form of weakness for at least the teens in this society.
Is it better for a man to have chosen evil than to have good imposed upon him is the idea Anthony tries to tackle when Alex goes through the Ludovico technique which aim is to make it impossible for Alex to commit violence again. This however just Alex to go into a deep spiral of depression as it also removes his love for classical music and is unable to defend himself. Ludwig, short for Ludovico, is also the first name of Beethoven who e composers some of the music Alex loves. This is ironic given that the Ludivico technique is destroying Alex’s love for Beethovens(and other classical) music. Alex this leads him to try and commit suicide which shows to us that “Goodness is something chosen. When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man.”. The Ludovico technique like Newspeak in Orwell’s novel is just a way to control the citizen’s thoughts and make them unable to process ones that the state does not wish for them to process. This then strips the humanity from Alex as he is unable to choose what is right and wrong and instead just merely exists. A Clockwork Orange warns us what may happen if the choice between good and bad is removed from us.

Blade Runner 2049 is a film that is rich in many elements such as symbolism that builds a vivid dark dystopian world. Like in Minority report the music used in the film alone paints a clear picture of a dystopian world. The opening music for the film is composed of many amounts of synth layers and even the strings sound synthy as well. This clearly indicates aspects that this world may be largely synthetic or large amounts of destruction to the environment as no natural instruments are present. Destruction of the past we once knew and how alien and different the society is going to be despite only being 20 seconds into the opening scene. Of course, when watching the film we see that this exactly the case that a large amount of the population is synthetically made people. Like in Minority report we feel alienated by the sounds we hear with the swelling and random oscillating unnatural synths further build on this effect. The destruction of the environment is also evident in the later scenes such as the dirty polluted air and the many grey fields bland fields all showing elements of decay. Decay is also evident in many dystopias such as Nineteen eighty-four Winston smith [..] slipped quickly through the glass doors of victory mansions though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering with him” where gritty dust is the sign of decay here.
But perhaps a large connection between the texts is symbolism and Blade runner 2049 goes with this trend. Like in Minority report which uses broken glass birds eyeshot to show the destruction of privacy or Nineteen eighty-four where the religious buildings have been turned to museums/public buildings, the film uses many Egyptian like symbols. Firstly The Tyrell/Wallace building is a huge pyramid that dwarfs all other buildings in the region and its interiors are made of some orange or yellow stone with long corridors that resemble Egyptian pyramids. Its also worth noting that this is where the replicants are made and stored. When viewing Wallance its clear he thinks of himself as a king or a Pharaoh who has done humanity a great favour by providing them with free slave labour. Wallace also talks a lot about the stars which could be viewed as a connection between this Egyptian theme where they believed that the pharaohs could talk to the gods and once they died they went to the stars to join them. Also, slaves built the pyramids for the pharaohs much as the replicants have built the world for the powerful humans such as Wallace. This nicely symbolises the imbalance of power between the replicants and the true-born powerful humans which is evident throughout this society and is effective at getting across the setting. Also, Wallace being blind (or impaired vision at least) is symbolism for not being able to properly see and understand the treasure of human life which seems to be what most other (born) humans we see struggle to grasp as well. Bladerunner 2049 warns us of the dilemma that may to come if we ever have humans such as replicants and what rights they should have and why we shouldn’t have 1 corporation controlling so much.

These 4 texts are rich in the way they use language to create a vivid setting of a world that does not exist and go further to paint the author’s idea of a warning to the reader what could be to come. They try to make us pay attention to society and not be driven by beliefs or thoughts that are not our own. However, it is very easy to then to dismiss these warnings thinking “That could never happen”. But I ask, like Newspeak, is the English language somehow limiting our thoughts. Orwell once said, “If thought corrupts language, then language corrupts thoughts“. I would say words such as “love” which are so overused that they have their true meaning so distorted, that what is difference between saying “I love you” and “I love your dress”. Does this then limit our thoughts on what true love is? Is this the reason why we can’t truly explain how we feel for the one we truly love? What if there are many more examples like this that make it impossible for us to explain new concepts because we don’t have words that explain it? As Orwell said “The greatest enemy of clear language is insincerity“.

3.4 Writing Folio: Dystopia Introduction

Organised chaos.
Now that’s an oxymoron. If you took the time you will find that most things around this spinning rock is an oxymoron. Take Lieutenant Loche for example in his perfect, pre-fitted uniform while he strokes his synthetic, polymerised blond hair. His aesthetics make him naturally surreal. And that’s not even starting with his synthesized thoughts that destroy his reasoning as chief commander. Cheif commander, now that’s a joke of a title. Loche may be commanding us around like little worker ants while he stands soaked in that feeling of power. Yet he is not even a pawn to the chess masters that sit in some luxury pod sipping on some ancient, earth-made champagne. Loche is merely a disposable cell that lives to die. But then again, so am I.
Organised chaos. That’s what life is like during your stay at the docks the great Mare cities where everyone in their constant rush to finish as many quotas as possible. Sparks fly and hammers swing while the work gets done. Me, I’m a mechanical Engineer, focused on renovating the fusion drives of the Luna battleship the Collidis. Three hundred and ninety-eight meters of the greatest engineering humanity has ever done. That’s what it once was fifty-three years ago. Now it better fits the description of a rust bucket which underpaid engineers, like me, are trying to resurrect from a junkyard. Why they even want to resuscitate a hunk of metal like this, well I don’t fucking know! For some suicide war with the Martians, protection against pirates or some secret mission the Luna Federation is playing at. All while the orchestral cacophony of hammers and the grinding of metal screams as I am alone in my thoughts.
Dread hits me faster than the feeling of anti-gravity drugs as I notice Lieutenant Loche stride towards to me eyes fixed on his destination. “Ash” his abnormally deep voice carries over the commotion with a sweeping effect. “You’re done for the rotation“, “Sir, I’m gonna get this last one done” where I notice the synthetic tissue that surrounds his unfused left wrist which I know is one of the reminders of the great plagues. “You’re done for the day“, he says in a slower, deeper acidic tone. Annoyed, I stand up and pack my Pads and holo tools into my case while Loche swipes me a slip which appears on the digital com around my wrist. “You are to report to the Deullum’s office in Mare Procellarum, level 28 in 63 tempus’s” reading what I have already been given. “Yes sir” I stand barley in form. Between the Vacdoor and myself, I swipe my wrist at the identity port and the heavy door responds by sliding into the ceiling. Behind me, worker ants continue to drip sweat over the ancient warships that dwarf the oversized space.
A few tempus’s later I enter the main atrium of Mare Tranquillitatis where my eyes glance up at those immense metallic beams which hold up a hundred metres of Lunain bedrock above our skulls. I suppose the main atrium must be about a football field wide and many more long, from what my guess of what the capacity of a football field used to be. Its all guesses after all.
Around me and the swarms of bodies advertisements and news run with care on the screens that shine from the walls. Want to become a necessity? Become an ice miner todayMartian Gunship fires upon abandoned Venus station! Then the latest news of excitement comes on screen. Want to live forever or want a new body? We have beaten death, We have taken Gods throne. Stor your mind in a Sensus. Small but unmissable text at the bottom of the screen reads Protogen inc. I dismiss the news knowing the cost that comes with getting a sensus is nothing short of a small fortune.
I suppose if you had the money and wanted an extra hundred years, why wouldn’t you get it? I reach the locus station where I find the pods leaving to Mare Procellarum. Please strap in as we will be experiencing up to 2g’s of acceleration during this journey. Have a nice trip! The forceful but elegant female voice runs. Some dismiss the voice which people do all the time especially if they have taken bone density drugs. For a clone defect like me, it would just break my body into lots of painful pieces. The sound of magnetic fields forming as we accelerate away. A few tempus’s later we surface to Luna rock while flocks of ships of various sizes enter and disembark from the docks. The blue lights from distant drives are visible glittering in the distance. My eyes catch Earth and for a second I thought I see green patches of grass and vast forests. But that’s an imagination of an Earth that no longer exists. An Earth that is dead.

NCEA 3.4 Writing Portfolio: Satire Advertisement

Hello, my name is Pete, head engineer at our new company called Charta. Complex made simple.
We wanted to rethink the conventional devices. Instead of phones, iPad and computers we wanted to create something truly extraordinary. Our goal was to remove the common issues these devices had such as size, hefty weight and lousy battery life and we are proud to say we have done this through our truly unique and innovative design. This is a product no company like Apple have even dreamed of making before. A product that is made possible because of its simplistic complexity.

But don’t let simplicity put you off, we haven’t compromised the durability of the device and in fact, its the new change in design makes it impervious to those high drops that those normal devices have as its new 100% shatter-free system allows you to carry it around with you worry-free, Letting you bring it further and farther.
Worried about display space? Don’t be. As it measures a mere 21 by 29.7cm making sure you never run out of your creative range. And to maximise you in this productive state we have removed all those pesky notifications that may interrupt with your work. Instead, we give you a purely real feel experience with revolutionary glitch-free hardware never putting you and your ideas first.
Never again will you feel your heavy “phone” in your pocket as it weighs less than 10mls of water through the ultra-light superior materials that we refine down to the atomic level. And forget ever having to help those old grandparents again with google again, as we have removed all those information stealing companies and made your privacy more private than ever before.
Its elegant and beautiful design gives it a unique profile that makes it impossibly, but perfectly thin. We call it Paper-thin. Paper-thin allows you to feel a device like never before and when you pack it away you don’t even know its there.
We have also listened to your requests instead of charging you $199 for an E-pen you can simply use your favourite pen or pencil. And when your pencil hits the surface, words and images appear with your every stroke making you in total control. From shopping lists to assignments, to stellar art piece, this has all been made possible. All done because of this ingenious scratch-free display. No charging ports because this device will never need one. Battery life will never be your problem ever again. This device relies on a whole new system that we call real-time.
All made possible by scouting the globe to find the finest materials possible.
But we also wanted to reduce our environmental impact so instead of using harmful polymers and hydrocarbons we use the super substance called pulp, 100% natural from nature itself.
All of this comes at an affordable price of $599.
Welcome to Charta’s new innovative product.
Welcome to paper.

NCEA 2.4 Writing Portfolio Option 2: Being There

There they stand. Tall and proud overlooking all that happens in their young growing world, unorganized by the human mind. The dwindling winter sun weakly struggles on its daily journey, delivering all its the sun-soaked light to the vast valleys that live hidden by the old protectors. They are worn and carved with collections of scars from the unforgiving, ruthless elements. But their knees are unbuckled; courage unbroken as they stand with linked arms, enduring. They rise and reach stabbing through the patchy carpet of cotton that effortless float around their peaks.
They are the mighty mountains.
Their earthy bases are dressed in the tangled bush where short rivers of ominous fog loom around their edges. For they stand as the stadium of what you are about to see. They are the shields from the wind, Dams that hold the ocean and the walls that prevent us humans from our reconstructing nature. 

It is peaceful.

Listen to it. A delicate breeze lightly tickles the trees as collectively their tops sway inhaling and exhaling. Distant crickets are the choir of clicks, contributing to the making of a distant song, while dampened rounded stones clink beneath each footstep. This is the harmony of nature.
We stand surrounded by a moss ridden community, where the trees sag under the weight of a thousand droplets. Impassable undergrowth, so fiercely thick, that the ground remains obscured as you inhale the soggy air. Golden tussocks soak in the rare sunshine while beads of dew giving them sparkles.

Wind pushes the frosty air into our faces as the sight of cold slate fills the view. Not a drop breaks its surface. Two tree packed islands rest in the middle, both evident of hacks and cracks. Both conceal there little paradise from our greedy eyes. Steep hills that haven’t yet grown into mountains are the cup that contains this scene. They are Cloaked from shore to summit and the lake mirrors this perfectly.

How could we forget? The cut in the middle of this picture, where the hills slowly separate barely touching at the bottom. Its a rigid parabola that frame the distant mountains we see ahead. Big brothers of the hills rise to much greater heights, past where the trees surrender to the barren rock. Your eyes trace the mountains sharp edges to the pinnacles laden with icing sugar. Up above are white streaks in the rich blue sky.

BOOM!
The distant rumbling of an avalanche, echos with strength as vibrations rattle landscape.
Bird’s wings fluctuate adding to the cacophony of the decending snow as dissipates into the distance
Silence.
Quietly whispering, the delicate breeze sighs as if relieved.
Black streaks varying in width with a fresh pile of shattered rocks take their first breath. This is a not act destruction but rather nature resculpting the land. From vibrant birds that sing in the canopy of trees, to the Weka that scavenges and scuffle in the dirt in search for nourishment. Or the seemingly silent fish and eels that slither and slip between the stringy underwater forest in the lightless depths.
But what about the uninvited guests, rats and stoats. Scrambling and charging.
Climbing and leaping.
In and out of their dirty dens.
On their relentless chase in the for their next victim.
They kill.
Sounds of scuffling and clawing.
Cries from their victims are silent.
But they didn’t bring themselves here.

There the mountains stand. They stand side by side pointing their snowy daggers to the sky as a sign of respect. In places these humble noble warriors bunch together shouldering one another, in others, they scatter. Many secrets are hidden within the mountains protected in layers of time. Enduring the many battles they have faced and the vigorous wars that prolongs. Marked and scarred.
Worn but not torn, they hold strong.
And they will hold to the very end.

Reading Logs

Donnie Darko – Richard Kelly

Movie

The Film Donnie Darko is filled with many ideas that can lead us to get lost down the rabbit burrow. One of these ideas is that; “destruction is a form of creation“. The idea that a destructive act can create something is a paradox. The dictionary definition of destruction is “the action or process of causing so much damage to something that it no longer exists or cannot be repaired.“. The logic here supports the idea that there is no ‘creation’ in destruction; However, the film puts forward its challenge to this idea. The example of this in the film is when Donnie must travel back in time and let himself die. In doing this the tangent universe is destroyed but the outcome, or the creation, is that he has restored the stable universe. Thereby Destruction is a form of creation.
I would say that we are a result of destruction as 6 billion years ago there was a star that was running into the end of its life. This supermassive star composed of mostly Hydrogen and Helium went supernova after it ran out of fuel. The star would of collapsed in on its self and the force generated from billions of billion tons of matter falling towards the centre caused its to rip itself to shreds. It can no longer be repaired. But from that event led to the creation of another star and a set of planets. One of these planets managed to (as far as we know it has only happened once) create organisms that replicate themselves. Beings that give meaning to things that probably have no meaning. Beings that give meaning to destruction.

One thing numerous texts have in common is a plot. To me, and to many others, the plot is what the text has been painting from the beginning. Donnie Darko is At the climax of the film, uses a plot feature is known as Deux ex Machina to resolve the fact that the Tangent universe is falling apart. This feature is used to get solve a problem that seems impossible is solved in an unexpected way.”Deus ex machina…What did you say? What the fuck did you just say?  Our saviour.” This technique to many critics is a poor way to resolve the problem as its ‘easy’; However Deux ex Machina (God from the machine) in Donnie Darko case is the “God” of the universe trying correct the unstable universe back the stable one. This God gives Donnie the magical powers in time travel and seeing the future. Donnie becomes the saviour of the universe and Frank being the messenger from Roberta Sparrow’s book “A Theory of time travel”. although it is Donnie whos saves the universe it is the God (Deux ex Machina) that actually saves the universe because it is He that gives Donnie this power and although to us Donnie seems like the most unlikely person to fix the problem, God knows (because He sees things we cannot) that he will. This shows that Deux ex Machina can be more than just a plot feature.
Deus ex machina feature is used in many other texts and has been effective. In the Shakespearian play Macbeth, the lead character Macbeth has been told by the unearthly with that he can not be killed by anyone human born. At this point the witches have only told the truth; However, in the final fight, Macduff claims that he was “Untimely ripped” at birth and then kills. Deux ex Machina in this instance proves that the Witches had been playing with Macbeth the whole time which was suggested in early scenes. Deus ex machina, in this case, is being abused by the witches for the knowledge they have about the future.

Fate or free will. Control or controlled. Has your life been written or are you writing it now? It’s an age-old question that arguably no one knows. But that doesn’t stop people from trying. The Film mellowly presents this the first few minutes of the film by the lyric line “Fate up against your will” in the song killing moon. The idea is further amplified in the conversation between Donnie and his science teacher. “If God Controlled time, then the time is pre-decided “. Donnie suggests that we are in a universe controlled by fate. Everything has been that has happened or will happen has already been pre-decided and that no act is random. However, the film continues to contradict itself when the tangent universe is created because and when Donnie says “Deus ex machina…What did you say? What the fuck did you just say?  Our saviour.” This is the suggestion that is God from the machine. In other words, there is a being over watching what is occurring. He sent Frank the messenger to allow Donnie to save the Universe. But if everything is predecided then why didn’t this God prevent it from happening. In my opinion, the film’s genius is by not giving us a straight answer whether free will or fate exists. Because how could we possibly prove one or the other exists. It’s a concept that may be almost impossible for humans to understand. I would say its best to live life without concern for whichever exists. Its not ideal to be someone like Romeo from Romeo and Juliet who goes from surrendering himself to one only for it to lead to his destruction. “He hath the steerage of my course direct my sail.” to “I defy you stars.”. Its best just to live in the moment whitch ever it may be. Or whether it is something else because we just wonder this earth and once again give meaning to things that probably mean anything.

The Fault in our Stars – John Green

Book

A striking feature of Augustus Waters in John Greens novel The Fault in our Stars is the way he deals with Cancer and lives his life. “I’m on a roller coaster that only goes up“, Augustus who has survived cancer (and lost a leg in the processes), knows that there is a possibility that his cancer could come back at any given day. Throughout the novel whenever Augustus feels nervous or is need of extra courage he pulls out a cigarette out his packet and puts it between his lips. However, not once does he light it. “You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don’t give it the power to do its killing.” The Cigarette symbolism for the power Augtus has over cancer. Cigarettes are known to be carcinogenic and Augustus has one between his lips as he knows it could come back at any time. But he doesn’t let this fact control his life and he doesn’t give it the power to kill him as he exercises, eats healthy and does everything he can to not let it come back. This is the same as him not lighting the flame. The act also gives himself confidence as seen when he’s nervous or uncomfortable in a situation. It reminds him of what he has overcome and what he continues to battle and how that present moment is not as tough as what he has or will face in the future. “I’m on a roller coaster that only goes up” is Augusts simply saying that his life is on the way up from now on and he has been through his worst. It also expresses his positive, quirky nature
Eventually, at books end, he does indeed die, but in some ways, he didn’t let cancer fully kill him. You see prior before cancer took his presence away from the world, he lived like anyone else and didn’t let the daunting fact that he cancer stop him. He will live on in his friends and family memories and all the people he shaped in the processes of his life. Because we are all going to die at some point and if we worry about this fact for the rest of our lives then we will get nothing done and be shaded by fear. At the end of it its who we affected and what we did to the world that we leave behind. Although Augustus may have not of lived as long as most this didn’t stop him from doing what he could to shape the people in the world. And in one angle of things, this is what matters. The effect we have on others. The mark we leave behind. So why make it a bad one?

About Time – Richard Curtis

Movie

Richard Curtis film About time shows us the importance and significance of each event in our life. This is achieved by Tims ability to go back to any moment in his life. To many, this superpower stretches our imaginations in the possibilities and where it could lead; however, as Tim grows with this power we follow a different perspective on the matter. Near the end, Tim decides to almost never travel back in time. “Live as if there are no second chances.”. Through his experiences, Tim finds that the best way to live his life is like everyone else if he can help it. Even if he makes a mistake in work or loses a court case (he’s a lawyer). This is because he has found that although it may feel bad at the time you gain something that you wouldn’t get otherwise. Experience. Changing it may lead to a better outcome but it also shuts many doors you may never open. You learn how to move on and where that may lead you like finding a passion or meeting your new best friend. Tim realises that the most he can gain is by simply living life as a normal person with the success, failures and everything in-between as they are what expose who we really are. We all experience horrible feelings that at the time we wish we could take back, but it is these horrible times that lead to other times that we would want to live over and over again. In my own life, I have failed at many things. I have failed tests and been a crapy runner. But I like to think that these failures have made me into who I am today. I have been shaped by all my successes and failures because we as normal humans cant travel back. Tim realises that the most he can gain is by simply living life normally whitch leads to his last lesson. “I try to live every day as if I’ve come back to this one day to enjoy it.” whitch is as simple as it sounds. Tim advises us to live to enjoy each day whether its good or bad and to notice all the little things that would otherwise be unnoticed because they are what count. These little things add up and can become bigger than some of the things we may consider to be a “major problem”. If someone with the power to go back in time tells us that the best way to live life is to walk through day by day and live with whatever happens, and to look out for the little nuggets of goodness then we should take something away from that.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky

Book

Stephen Cbboskys novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower explores the power of friendship and its effects on trauma and events so horrible that your mind has suppressed. Charlie, the main character of the novel, is a troubled, shy boy who has been through a lot through his life including the recent loss of his best friend through suicide and the death of his aunt. He also witnessed a date rape but was to shy to speak up. Because of this, he kept to himself and lived in his bubble of pain. Through his first year of high school, Charlie makes two friends who accept him, Inclusive funny Patrick and beautiful caring Sam. After a party, they go for a fun car ride rarther late at night where they go through a tunnel and Sam and Patrick are dancing “And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.“. Charlie at that moment felt infinite because for the first time he felt accepted by people who liked him and he could let go of all the negative baggage he had been carrying around by himself. He was free. The tunnel is symbolism for the emotional rollercoaster that Charlie experiences through the novel for when times get tough in relation to the saying “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel” whitch leads to the last point. Near the end of the novel, Charlie reveals his true feelings for Sam where they then become intimate with each other. This brings back Charlies suppressed memory of when he was once molested by his aunt. “The sound was thick. And she was doing what Sam was doing.” This is Charlie once again being plunged back into the darkness of trauma where he ends up going to a mental hospital. But through the support of his friends and family, he grew past it. The book illustrates the importance of friendships and how just adding a few people who care about you, into your life can change you. They also peel away the layers of you that no one else has seen and help carry you when times are tough. We, humans, are made to be loved by others and we need human connection in our day to day life. They help us and shape us. For some there is not a lot better than coming home from work and seeing your best friend.

Why Not – Tessa Duder, Glyn Strange (eds)

Short Story

This short story by Tessa Duder and Glyn Strange (edited) shows the fragility of memories and how photos are a way to preserve them. This is by metaphor when she describes the losing memories to the wind. “Lost to the wind“. The metaphor wind is used to describe times nature as a constant force that “blows” memories away, And the further they get blown away, the harder they are to pick up again. This idea is further developed by the text by using metaphor and symbolism of time by an hourglass. “Memories as they fall away like sand in an hourglass“. The hourglass is symbolism for time and our memories are each grain of sand. The idea that the sand in an hourglass is a representation of our memories further suggest their impermanency. This is because as time passes the sand falls to the bottom of our glass. These grains of sand that fall are now too aged to properly to remember.
The idea of taking a photograph to preserve memories comes in when another metaphor is used. “Unless someone Sticks their hand out to catch it” This is a metaphor that you can catch the memory that is being blown away, by the wind, by time. The “Catch” is taking a photograph. The word use of catch also gives the idea that the world is throwing memories, experiences are being thrown to us all the time and its up to us which ones we decide to keep. Furthermore, it shows that a photo on its own doesn’t mean a lot. But rarther what the photo means is the why photos are important. This is done by patronizing the photo on his phone. “A few tiny pixels on my phone” whitch shows that a photo is its own is just a few pixels and that they are tiny. But this occurs at the end and we know after we have read it that its the memories of the moment where the photo was taken that give the photo real meaning. This shows that photos are not a way to save memories but memory triggers because they bring us back to moment through the site and allow us to relive them in our imaginations.

The Hate You Give (THUG) – Angie Thomas

Book
The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas deals with the touchy subject and reality of racism and poverty by many key events that happen throughout the book. The first idea is power the media has of manipulating facts against “black” people. Early on in the story a “black” teen gets shot and killed by a police officer after being pulled up on the side of the road.”Black” people were furious with this outrage but the media uncover dirt on the teen’s name because he was selling drugs.“He was a drug dealer.” It hurts to say that. “And possibly a gang member.” The media uses this information to its fullest extent undermining his name giving the police officer for selling drugs.“The drug dealer. That’s how they see him. It doesn’t matter that he’s suspected of doing it. “Drug dealer” is louder than “suspected” ever will be.” Labelling him a drug dealer shadows the “Suspected” term as we automatically stereotype a drug dealer to being the “Bad guy”. the media doesn’t include in their articles that the Teens mum had a rare disease where the medication for it comes at a high price and living in the poor getto was his only option for the medicine. Now although this doesn’t make up for the fact that he sells drugs it does give a bit of back story into why and would allow people to empathize with him. This shows the medias total control of what harsh phrases they can put in to gain attention and what facts they can leave out if it doesn’t further support there opinion. This is one side to the racism of that area.

2.4 Writing Portfolio – Genre Investigation – The Book Thief


“Heres a small fact, you are going to die”. This is the only certain fact we humans know. But we don’t know when. We as humans live in a shade of fear by death. We want to live a long prosperous life and death is the bullet that we are continually trying to dodge. We as humans view death as a monster. However, Markus Zusak’s novel The Book Thief uses the character Death to lead us to challenge these preconceptions. Zusak goes further showing us that we are the monsters that we write in our books and watch on our screens. Its surrealness of Death that exposes this.


Magical Realism is written and presented as realism to shine familiar light upon the reader so the text is convincing; However, it is undermined by the fact that it contains an unearthly element whitch takes it outside of our world. “what happens when a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something too strange to believe“. The convergence of these two elements allows the reader to view the magical element in the world we know. Authors do this to make us rethink the reality of our society. This is because they place the magical element close alongside the overall meaning of the book so that the magical element that is too strange to believe forces us to see aspects of society that we have not seen before. It makes us see new colours. Markus Zusak’s novel The Book Theif uses the character Death to steer us in the direction that we are what we make other things out to be, including the bad things. Especially the bad things.


One of the applications of Magical Realism in Markus Zusak’s novel The Book Theif, is the challenge upon the reader’s preconceptions of death. Death as a character grows on us to be an honest character. After all, what does he have to hide. “I am not violent. I am not malicious. I am a result”. Death highlights the point that he is not violent whitch leads us to think, given that most deaths in WWII were from acts of violence, that he is not the reason for any death. He is not killing them because he is a result of our actions. Therefore this shifts the responsibility off deaths shoulders and onto ours. He sheds the light onto the page’s history such as the Holocaust and pushes the idea that these events were just a tragedy. They were not done by an almighty being. They were done by us.


Knowing we are going to die converged with the uncertainty of when our death is that gives Death power over our lives. So when we are faced with a character who is Death we naturally feel uncomfortable by his power; However, as Zusak leads through the pages we find that Death is not almighty powerful as we think. As aforementioned death is a result of our actions and Death is just doing his job. “Minute after minute, shower after shower…Please believe me when I tell you that I picked up each soul that day as if it was newly born“. This is regarding the mass number of Jews being gassed and ‘almighty’ Death who is sympathizing over their souls. Death treating their souls as newborn children also suggests that he is taking their souls reluctantly. He not only has to take their souls unwilling but he also has to stand by and watch all these people die. Death is contained in a crippling position. He doesn’t possess the power to stop what he sees. He doesn’t have the capability to take our souls away from us. He’s there to clean the mess. A mess created by monsters.

Please believe me when I tell you that I picked up each soul that day as if it was newly born” Death sympathizing with souls also creates a compelling effect of empathy from the reader because if Death cares for the souls of something that’s not him, because he’s not human, then shouldn’t we as humans care? After all who would possibly want to take their newborn child away from this world? Perhaps this shows “Even Death has a heart“.
When we imagine a character playing Death we would often think of the black cloaks, skull replaced for a face. It would be betrayed in our society as a sinister character. But Zusak defies this. He leads us down a different road when the character Death confronts the reader. “You really want to know what I truly look like?… Find yourself a mirror while I continue”. Death lays on us that we see him every day. That he is a part of us. This is accomplished when he asks us to find a mirror and to find a mirror we must look at it. When we look into a mirror we see the light, our colours being reflected back to us. Death says the colours that we would see in the mirror are the ones of death. Death has seen and will see, every person who has ever lived, die. He is the most reliable source we have. Death doesn’t have a skull for a face. He doesn’t wear black robes because humans are the face of death.

There is Death… On the surface: Unflappable, Unwavering. Below: Unnerved, untied and undone.” As each page is unfolded Death reveals his fears more and more. He unfolds the curtains that hides a monster. The extensive alliteration of the prefix un in draws our attention to his message he has only been hinting at. The message is that the things he has seen have put him on his knees. The ‘Almighty’ Death has been “undone” by our actions as humans. His final remark holds this. “I am haunted by humans” is Deaths final line that leaves us to grasp Zusak’s ideas of existence as humans. That although we write all these books with evil characters that we assume could not possibly exist in our world, they are actually a reflection of what humans can be like. The curtain does not hide a green beast. It hides a human face.

We as readers, after reading The Book Thief, now see the illusion that has been embedded in society. We are not running from a bullet shot by the universe. We are running from the bullet that us humans have shot. But we shouldn’t be scared by this bullet. We shouldn’t be scared of the monsters. Death will happen to us inevitably but its all the years and memory we live and create in the meantime that truly matters.

NCEA 1.8 – Significant Connections. Ambition

Ambition is one of the very things that make us human. It gives us our desires, our reasons to work. But ambition comes on many forms and colours. Everyones ambition also has different driving forces and varying people that help influence them, for better or worse and can have a effect whether they succeed with the ambition.

Gattaca is a film that betrays one of the most powerful and well known shade of ambition. The film is set in a future where advance genetic modification on humans is present where the genetically modified ones are more accepted into society and are known as valid while the un modified ones are less accepted and are known as In-valids. The main character Vincent is a Invaild but has the ambition to go to space as a astronaught which something that is looked upon as impossible for a Invaild. Even his dad tells him to “think more realistically“. But Vincents ambition doesn’t change course and his main drive is that he’s more than his genes and his friend Jerome helps him along the way.  One example is in the climax of the film when Jerome (who can not walk) has to climb the helix stairs in order to preserve Vincent identity. The stair shaped as a helix provides much significance as the both Vincents hunger for his ambition and Jermoes help. our genes, and our genes are individual parts of our DNA, and DNA is in the shape of helix. And Jerome here climbing the stairs is embodying what Vincents had to do all of his life, the desperation for wanting to conquor his genetics trying to make to make it to the top of the stairs before someone finds his real identity. This pure dedication to his dream is why Vincent and Jerome succeed in their ambition.

 Macbeth has a very different shade of ambition as Macbeth drive and Influences of his ambition is very different than the one from Gattaca . The ambition that Macbeth betrays throughout the play is to be king but in the beginning has no desire to become king and even the witches come upon him and give him the prophecies Macbeth presents ”If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me Without my stir.”  which is Macbeth saying that if it’s his destiny to become king, it will come to him naturally without his doing which clearly says his ambition is not to be king. But when Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth about the witches prophecies she becomes obsessed in the idea of Macbeth becoming king and convinces him to pursue this and how he should go about getting to king “Look like th’ innocent flower,But be the serpent under ’t” .Macbeth’s ultimate influence to act on his ambition is fueled actually more by Lady Macbeth than Macbeth himself as Macbeth at multiple points during the play wanted to back down from from becoming king for multiple reasons but as soon as Lady Macbeth arrives he once again follows this Ambition. Even when Macbeth begins to back pedal before the murder of Duncan Lady Macbeth says this passage .  “What beast was’t, then,That made you break this enterprise to me?” which is talking about how he is a coward and he’s broken his promise, Macbeth feels guilty and then accepts to go ahead. Lady Macbeth then once again convinces Macbeth to proceed with this ambition. . This leads Macbeth down a dangerous path. Because this ambition is mostly influenced and driven by Lady Macbeth, his heart is not with it causing him to spiral out of control and leads to his downfall.


Harry Potter and the order of the Pheonix shares many dark properties in the story like Macbeth but the colour of the ambition is completely diffrent. Harrys ambition is to teach himself and his friends how to defend them selves against the dark arts as their new teacher refuses to believe the dark lord is back and believes is just a show. Harry and his friends brake many rules and take incredible risks in doing so. “If she refuses to teach us then we need someone who will” which is said by one of Harrys dearest friends Hermione who shows her surrport for Harry while hes unsure whether its the right thing to do and infers that he should teach them as he is one withe the experience and someone they will follow. This gives Harry the confidence to go up start teaching the others. But one the main drives that makes Harry want to improve the others magic abilities is because he knows how powerfull the dark lord is and he knows that he be coming for him soon so it is important that the others know how to defend them selves. This is proven at the begging of the film when he and his host brother are attacked by a pair of dementors and he managers to get rid of them but they do harm to the brother. Although the host brother is not a magican is does occur to him that he can not defend all of his friends by himself and to protect the ones he loves he must teach them what he knows. And although while they do get caught this does not deter Harry or his freinds and because he’s not just doing this for himself but for others as well the colour of his ambition is completely different than Macbeths and his drive for this ambition shines brighter than Macbeths which is why he succseeds in his ambition.


Emment in the book Nyxia main drive and influencing factors come from his family and friends which proves to be one of the most powerful ambitions there is. The book is about 10 teens who that have been chosen by “Babel” to go a newly discovered planet and perform some tasks and in return the will get paid millions. However the twist is that only a certain number of people can go. Winners get paid. Losers get a participation small sum. “You get in there and fight, Emmett. Be worthy. Not in their eyes, but in yours…When they knock you down, and they will, don’t you quit on me. ” His dad is one of Emmets main surrporters and influences on his ambition and is the one who makes him fight the hardest. His dad says this when his odds for succeeding are small. But this encouragement from someone who he cares about is the thing that keeps him going. “I am, Money won’t fix that”.This is said by one of his dearest Kaya who explains to Emmet that she is not here for the money but to explore the new planet. This changes Emmets whole perspective on the competition. Before most of his concern like most of the competitors was the money but Kaya changes this and instead he begins facing each challenge with a new pride and he is able to take much more of the pain in each of the challenges as he’s doing this for a much more deeper purpose which is to do this for his whole family and he begins to stick to his morals. Before he used to think that to survive in this competition you “Face the black hole and be destroyed” or “be the black hole and be the destroyer.”. The black hole here is reference to what some of the other characters are like, something that must take from others and leave a destructive path behind them, as black holes often do causes chaos and do take from other objects. But he realises that he can be more than this and he is not what Babel shapes him into. This is why although on the brink of failing he still manages to successes because of some of the people that were most close to him changing his ambition from a grey to a rainbow of colours.

The texts above show us how our ambition is not our alone ours, and although we our the ones that must work towards it our ambition is not always souly ours to claim as many other people and /or things come and help us shape and paint our ambition. These people or things can both bring the better in our ambition, like Kaya influence of Emmet, or it can bring out the worst in us , like Lady Macbeths manipulation like status on Macbeth. But this shouldn’t be something that should detour you from outside forces on your ambition because even in the likes of Macbeth it makes our ambition more rich in colour and often much strongly than it was once before which may be the difference from achieving your ambition or not.