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* understand the term genre and the conventions of
different genres and sub-genres and narratives.
novel/film - fantasy - adventure - the quest narrative
* understand the term intertextuality and the ways
all stories are in some way dependent on other stories;
they use similar characters and plotlines (narratives)
and/or make specific references to other texts (myths,
famous stories). Sometimes this is used to echo ideas
from other stories, at other times it is unintentional
and simply reveal the way we often live out set narratives
that have been a part of our culture - it is a way of
seeing ourselves and our relationship to the outside
(and inner) world.
* be able to identify central themes and ideas in the
text and the values they endorse and criticise.
* understand that texts are constructs and representations
and are shaped by the various literary, filmic techniques
and selection of detail. Be able to identify key filmic
techniques such as camera angles, colour, symbolism,
music.
* Pinpoint features of characterisation and setting.
Features of the narrative:
The Quest
The Hero
Innocent, naive, pure hero & brave, courageous
hero
Love story as sub-plot
Motif of transformation
Good and evil; darkness and light - forces of dark
do not die, always present waiting for time
The Ring; Humans easily corrupted by power
Allegory and fantasy; adventure
Setting in unidentified past in fantasy world where
magic and sorcery exist; constant struggle between good
and evil; a rural world (pre-Industrial Revolution)
that is threatened by forces that wish to denude the
Earth of its natural setting. Though there are no machines
or technology involved ( this is left to science fiction
and its similar theme of ruining the Earth) it is a
critique of Industrialisation and the loss of the simple
rural life.
Good and Evil - throughout history many have constructed
the notion that the world is torn between these outside
forces as if there is something inherent in the universe
that is in battle. This is not necessarily true but
a construct, a view of the world that has gained currency
over time.
The American mythologist Joseph Campbell added that
humans respond instinctively to an archetypal storyline,
which he called The Hero's Journey.
An individual is called on a quest, meets a mentor
and various allies on the road, fights enemies before
confronting the ultimate evil, goes through a symbolic
death and resurrection, and eventually brings back the
'elixir' to save the tribe. (George Lucas consciously
adopted Campbell's outline for Star Wars)
The psychologist, Carl Jung, raised the notion that
certain images may be wired into the human brain, causing
us to respond favourably whenever we encounter them.
His theory of archetypes, says that characters such
as the earth mother, the foxy trickster, the dark menace
and the heroic warrior, w hich all appear in myth and
literature are embedded in 'racial unconscious' shared
by all humans.
Science Fiction Unit
Novel study - Oral
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Novels by Terry Pratchett
Novels by Ursula Le Guin - The Dispossessed
Poems 'The Horses' by Edwin Muir
Science Fiction Film
- Blade Runner
- AI
- Minority Report
- Vanilla Sky
Non Fiction
Documentary
Why have stories? Beginnings and
functions
First stories of 'once upon a time' involved a tale
strung together of bits and pieces of experience, linking
past happenings with present ones and casting both into
a dream of possibilities.
Stories seemed to make sense of time, of history, of
their lives.
Magical power of narratives - shaman or sages told
stories which provided symbolic solutions to contradictions
that couldn't be explained or proved.
Stories address psychic as well as physical suffering.
The pain of loss and confusion, of loved ones passing
away, called out for stories.
They have been an escape - mainly from death. Stories
invented to fill the gaping hole within us, to assuage
our fear and dread, to try and give us answers to the
unanswerable questions of existence: Who are we? Where
did we come from? Where are we going?
Lord of the Rings
Intertexts
Aragorn like King Arthur and Moses has his royal birth
hidden. The story of his broken sword is like the great
hero, Sigurd, of northern Europe.
Fordo becomes great - Ugly Duckling motif. Goes on
quest and discovers bravery, strength, determination
and patience. Sam, Pippin and Merry all change. Transformation.
Go into underground - Orpheus must face three-headed
dog, Cerberus, to rescue his lover, Eurydice; also Odysseus,
Aeneid, and even Jesus is shut in a cave behind great
rock. Also Luke Skywalker and Harry Potter descends
into cave to meet Voldemort.
The mythologist, Joseph Campbell states that underground
journeys are the trademark of heroes. To step into a
cave is to dare to look at the dark parts of one's mind
and soul. The darkness hides what is unknown - not only
within the cave, but within one's self. It is not just
the terror of monsters but the fight against your own
fears and doubts. (Even Aragorn and Gandalf)
The story's most important intertext is Beowulf. Famous
poem written in Old English during the eighth century.
Set in Scandinavia and in an age of war between the
Danes, Swedes and a tribe called the Geats (southern
Sweden). Most of poem centres on the fights between
Beowulf and three creatures.
The Geat warrior, Beowulf, offers to fight the monster,
Grendel, and mortally wounds him. The next day while
all are celebrating the monster's mother comes for revenge.
Beowulf fights her, pursues her to the bottom of a foul
pond and kills her.
Many years later when Beowulf is king a fire-breathing
dragon threatens his realm. The dragon wants revenge
as someone has stolen a golden cup from his treasure.
Beowulf kills dragon but dies from wound her receives.
Assignment Lord of the Rings
Students are to present a display file that explores
the following aspects of the film:
- main themes
- intertextuality; research on influences and the types
of narratives that inform Lord of the Rings
- fantasy as a genre: discuss the features of Lord
of the Rings that make it a fantasy
- characters
Date Due: 14 March
Essay (in class)
Lord of the Rings is not just a adventure story
but is concerned with many important issues that are
relevant in today's world.
The Lord of the Rings is a story about power, temptation,
sacrifice, betrayal, love, redemption and heroism. It
shows the human desire to find union and communion with
the world around us and to be willing to fight against
the powers that threaten freedom and the sanctity of
life. It can be seen as a nostalgic yearning for a more
simple rural past, a time beofere the Industrial Revolution
when people live in harmong with Nature. The very forces
of evil represent in many ways the forces of industrialisation
with its echoes of satanic mills, slave labour and poor
conditions and most importantly the loss of the ordinary
person's connection with the natural rhythms of the
Earth ( read about Industrial Revolution and the poetry
of William Blake, in contrast to pastoral lyrics of
earlier poets and Wordsworth).
Intertextuality
Intertextuality refers to the way our reading of other
texts inform our reading of one specific text. Sometimes
intertexts are made explicit through references and
allusions, at other times it is the actual genre or
well known narratives that set up our expectations.
Intertextuality is the concept that all texts (literature,
film, advertisements, etc) are not the works of individuals
or genius but are derived from all those narratives
(stories) that have existed in cultures over thousands
of years. They are stories that are 'out there' that
get told in different ways when writers create narratives.
Many of these are unconscious borrowings - think of
all those stories that have the same story line as fairytales.
'The Ugly Duckling' is the story of an ordinary character
who transforms into a beauty or 'Cinderella' whose beauty
is at last recognised, 'Pygmalion' who has the potential
for great beauty but needs a 'make-over' for this this
to be realised. All are narratives of transformation
or metamorphosis, where a character changes into something
different to what they were before.
Critics argue over how many narratives there are, but
it come down to quite a small number with endless slight
deviations. See later for some of the types of narratives.
Intertextuality is also related to how we 'read' texts
in the light of other texts we know. This gets a bit
tricky as different people will have different reading
and viewing experiences as well as bringing something
personal to each text. We have certain expectations
when we read a text of a particular genre and usually
get the desired ending though sometimes texts do subvert
conventions by having different endings. In a love story
we expect the boy and girl to get together and be happy,
maybe for ever, and there is also marriage. In older
stories most love stories ended with a marriage. In
a fantasy story we expect magical things to happen,
characters to have supernatural powers and accept these
though we may not believe in them.
Intertextuality also relates to texts that make specific
references or allusions to other texts. These allusions
are used to create echoes of other stories, usually
ones with similar ideas to form a subtext, informing
the text with the stories that have gone before. They
often reinforce the themes and issues.
In the Lord of the Rings:
- all the guys go on a quest to save the world
- there is a love interest between the beautiful
girl (Arwen) and the handsome hero (Aragorn).
- the heroic group must face terrible obstacles;
monsters, enemies, fears
- must travel beneath the earth and face fears and
live dangers
- one or more are tempted by the dark powers (temptation)
- one or more tempted by great power (greed)
- a close ally betrays his friend and put all into
danger (betrayal)
- there is a clear division between good and evil
- must leave their home and venture to unknown lands
in order to save 'home'
- a 'recognition' scene where one who has gone in
disguise is revealed to be a saviour or king
- a magical ring
- a magical mirror
- one who has fallen redeems himself (redemption)
- wise leader who has died returns in spirit to
help guide
- hero must separate from friends to achieve the
quest on his own
- women look beautiful and do not go on the quest
- forces of good are associated with light, beauty
and natural surroundings while the evil are dark, ugly
and inhabit the infernal regions
- all characters are transformed by their experiences
* Quest narrative: - hero sets out on a quest to find
him(her?)self, 'meaning to life', truth. Many stories
are quests to find something of great importance. Sometimes
it is an object; a treasure or place, but most entail
finding something about the character that will make
them a better person. A spiritual quest, a quest to
find who we really are, in most cases a narrative of
self-discovery. Think of all those teen films that are
about a character coming to know themselves, others
and the world in new way.
The American mythologist Joseph Campbell added that
humans respond instinctively to an archetypal storyline,
which he called The Hero's Journey.
An individual is called on a quest, meets a mentor
and various allies on the road, fights enemies before
confronting the ultimate evil, goes through a symbolic
death and resurrection, and eventually brings back the
'elixir' to save the tribe. (George Lucas consciously
adopted Campbell's outline for Star Wars)
* Self discovery narrative
- character confronts a series of obstacles; outward
conflict with others or inner conflict and discovery
a new dimension to self
There are thousands of love stories
* Romance narrative
- love will conquer all
- boy and girl fall in love; must face obstacles to
be together
- love at first sight - love triangle
The following narrative might just be another form
of the quest narrative:
* Triumphalist narrative
- brave guy triumphing over misfortune by sheer force
and will
- individual conquering Nature or malevolent forces
- human spirit triumphs over adversity
* Redemption narrative
- individual sets out to rid themselves of their past
and find peace and forgiveness for their previous deeds
Year 9 English Research
Find out about the following famous archetypal stories
Ulysses Orpheus Adam & Eve
Cinderella/Pygmalion, Beauty & the Beast, The Ugly
Duckling
1001 Arabian Nights - Scheherazade
Arthurian Legend - Lancelot, Parsifal (The Holy Grail),
Sir Gawain & the Green Knight
Narcissus
Ovid's stories of Metamorphosis
Tristan & Isolde
Faust
Dante Alighieri - The Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio,
Paradise)
Beowulf
Themes
The main themes in The Lord of the Rings are concerned
with unbridled power. It shows that power corrupts and
that very few people can be given great power without
misusing it and becoming tyrants and monsters. The film
starts at a point where the power of the ring has already
caused great suffering: Middle Earth is on the brink
of war and many have been killed already as the dark
forces attempt to gain control of the ring. Unlimited
power is shown to make monsters out of individuals as
they continually seek to gain further power and need
to dominate others, making all subservient to their
wishes. This is the danger of power as most cannot curb
their greed if they have absolute power.
In many ways this represents nations that hav e had
absolute rulers throughout history, but also is evidenced
on a smaller scale where any power tend to make people
tyrannical, arrogant and unwilling to tolerate others.
This is also related to political corruption where the
will of the people is subverted and politicians work
for their own vested interests.
In The Lord of the Rings the most humble, naive and
innocent character, Frodo, is given the task to take
the ring to Mt Doom to destroy it as he is less susceptible
to fall under its power. Even Gandalf, a just and noble
wizard, knows that the power of the ring would corrupt
him and insists that Frodo be the ring bearer. Aragorn
is the only one who seems to be able to resist the power
and from the beginning he has been constructed as a
man who has shunned status, prestige and power as he
knows that his ancestors were unable to resist the power
and had been responsible for not destroying the ring.
He is aware of the weakness that might be within him
and has the willpower to remain anonymous, a mere ranger
when he is heir to the throne of Gondor and possessing
great physical powers. Boromir on the otherhand cannot
resist and attempts to steal the ring though he is essentially
a good man. He does repent and dies in defence of Frodo
having redeemed himself in the end.
The film is also concerned with Nature, constructing
it as a place of beauty and harmony. Those who live
in harmony with Nature such as the Elves are seen as
enlightened creatures who are gentle and good, and use
Nature to help them live. In contrast the dark powers
destroy Nature, using the inventions and tools of mankind
to subdue it and create in its place a wasteland. On
the orders of Sauron, Saruman has the ancient forest
destroyed so that mines could be created and armies
formed. The original book was seen as an early pro-environmental
statement while Tolkien no doubt looks back nostagically
on the simple rural life of the English countryside
before the Industrial revolution and the development
of huge impersonal cities. The Shire is his ideal: an
idyllic setting for ordinary good people to live untainted
lives, while the forces of Sauron represents those forces,
like those of Industrial Revolution, that destroyed
this way of life.
The film does explore the theme of good and evil, but
it never examines its complex nature, but presents it
in the sterotypical opposition of one force being totally
good and representing higher ideals while the other
represents all that destroys human life and dignity.
One side is demonic with powers of sorcery that are
used to corrupt and destroy; they are dark figures and
ugly, and inhabit night landscapes and hidden places
beneath the earth. The good forces are in light of day,
inhabit natural settings and are generally, white Anglo-Saxons.
The only women are beautiful, possessing some power
but also willing to be caring and giving. The dark powers
seem to procreate through unnatural means.
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