Textual constructions are inevitably imbued with subjectivity of the composer, reflecting an amalgamation of idiosyncratic political biases, motivations and understandings. The composer’s ability to manipulate textual elements, respective of their medium, allows them to represent certain political events, situations or personalities selectively and thereby exhort responders into accepting certain political truths.
Fantastic introduction and Thesis! Links very clearly to the module. Through the study of Auden’s poems, including September 1 1939 and Spain 1937, based on the disparagement of Fascism and totalitarian governments, and Michael Moore’s documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, ethically discrediting the Bush administration, the extent to which composers employ deliberate acts of representation to manipulate responders is articulated.
Only thing I'd like to see here (as well as answering the question more directly when you have one) would be a list of what themes your body paragraphs will deal with. Besides that, fantastic, works wonderfull!Auden’s propaganda poem Spain attempts to instigate political action by deliberately representing the struggle against Fascism as a just and moral cause.
Try to make your first sentence in a paragraph completely separate from your specific texts, more conceptual, just like your Thesis! Written during the Spanish Civil War (1937), Auden, a left wing sympathiser, captures the political climate of his time, notably, the clash between Fascist and Marxist ideologies. Foregrounding inventions of “the counting frame and the cromlech”, symbols of evolution and civilisation, Auden proffers a dense vision of Spain’s “yesterday..the past”, representing history as the outcome of man’s choices. However the repeated refrain “But today the struggle”, an allusion to popular Marxist revolutionary slogans, coalesces with the elegiac tone to manifest a mood of despondence for Spain’s bleak “today” reality, engendered by the destructive influence of Fascism.
Fantastic analysis! In order to garner the moral complicity of his audience, Auden employs a tripartite structure of “yesterday..today...tomorrow”, presenting a utopic “tomorrow..the future”, free from tension and fear, that will only crystallise through political activism. The personification of Spain as it declares “I am your choice, your decision, ..I am Spain” represents Spain’s vulnerable and fragile political situation, positing responsibility upon the circumscribed responder to choose between “the just city”, symbolic for a Republican victory, or the “suicide pact, the romantic Death.”
Excellent. Auden ‘s euphemistic depiction of war, “the necessary murder” , as an essential medium for seminal change affirms the priority of making political commitments above individual and moral discriminations. Thus, through powerful acts of representation, Auden aligns responders with his political agenda.
A fantastic paragraph!! Not much I can fault at all, do remember to link to the more general audience impact though, what do we realise about how composers align responders with their political agendas? Just an ever so slight step away from the text will make this paragraph near perfection.Like Auden in Spain, Moore espouses his political ideology through Fahrenheit 9/11, cinematically implementing analogous means of manipulation to detract from the social integrity of the Bush administration.
Again, try to make a more general comment first, about composers in general. I know this is really tough in an essay like this, especially the way you are approaching it, so by no means consider this mandatory. What you have works extremely well. Exploiting the documentary medium to construct a sense of verisimilitude, Moore presents a distorted left-wing view of the Republican administration’s response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre. From the outset, a satirical montage of Bush “relaxing at camp David..yachting..and being a cowboy in Texas”, accentuated by the statistic that “Bush was on vacation for 42% of the time” positions audiences to accept Moore’s representation of Bush’s presidential ineptitude.
Perfect. Through his collective employment of non-diegetic music overlapping diegetic screams of anguish, Moore, like Auden, evokes pathos to emotionalise audiences in a gripping portrayal of the “largest foreign attack ever on American soil”.
Fantastic blend of your quotes into your explanations, your writing style is excellent. However the abrupt juxtaposition of such an emotive scene in which “3000 people ...were killed” to contextualised close-ups of a “happy, smiling and confident” Bush characterises Bush as a nonchalant facade. Notably, when Bush is first alerted to the terrorist attacks, Moore’s time lapse conveying Bush’s stupefied reaction coupled with the mocking voiceover “what on earth was he thinking”, effectively undermines Bush’s leadership capabilities. Thus Moore’s demagoguery of the Bush administration, paralleling Auden’s diatribe of fascism, showcases how both composers manipulate medium and textual elements to represent political perspectives.
I love that you link back to the prior text here too, works really nicely, another fantastic paragraph!! 
Further demonstrating the composer’s ability to selective shape meaning, Auden in September 1, 1939 represents authoritarian figures as subverting the social contract to complement their ultimate political aims.
This is a little more conceptual than the others (first phrase), as such works even better than your prior introductions. From the outset, Auden’s titular allusion to the invasion of Poland by Hitler and the Nazi Party engenders an ominous atmosphere, substantiating his “uncertain and afraid” attitude towards a “low dishonest decade”. Auden sardonically introduces nationalistic sentiments as “the whole offence..that has driven a culture mad”, representing it as a tool of manipulation exploited by dictatorships to coerce society in politically motivated acts of war. Such critiques are aggrandised through Auden’s metaphorical depiction of Hitler as a “psychopathic God”, which foregrounds the powerlessness of the individual in the face of the totalitarian state. Auden’s use of a double entendre “darkened”, represents society as figuratively “darkened” by the deception and mendacity of the government, thereby consolidating Auden’s scepticism towards the “lie of authority”. Positioning himself as a dissenting voice to “undo the folded lie”, Auden judicially elevates the veracity of his aphorism, declaring “we must love one another or die” to denounce nationalism and thus, foreground the necessity of “universal love”.
We've had no mention of audience in this paragraph yet. This module, it is super important to be relating the techniques to their effect on the responder! Through synthesising the personal and political dimension in his paradoxical assertion that “there is no such thing as the state/ and no one exists alone”, Auden exhorts the responder to show an “affirming flame” and repudiate collective ideologies such as nationalism.
There we go, first mention of the responder there, I'd definitely like to see more audience links in this paragraph. Thus September 1, 1939 exemplifies the unconscious influence of political perspectives on textual representations.
Imbued with similar intentions, Fahrenheit 9/11 constitutes a compelling representation of societal manipulation perpetrated by the Bush administration in the pursuit of political interests. Moore questions the impetus behind the “War on Terror”, presenting the American occupation of Iraq as unjustified and politically motivated. He selectively employs an extended diegesis of the 9/11 attack, omitting visual footage to dissociate the emotions of retribution and anger. Thus, Moore cultivates sympathy within his audience to divert their vindication of the Iraqi war, undermining Auden’s aphorism “to whom evil is done / Do evil in return..” Through a visual montage of the government arbitrarily altering the terror alert level, Moore represents the Bush administration as exploiting the psychological fear of terrorism to coerce society into supporting the “war on terror”, thereby substantiating his simile that “they played us like an organ”. Ultimately, Moore, like Auden, explicates the potential for politically instigated acts to “obsess...private lives” , exemplified by his emotional interview with Lila Lipscomp. Syntagmatically intercutting graphic war-zone footage with close up shots of Lipscomp grieving over the death of her son and formal White House dinners, Moore represents the American government as manipulative and indifferent to the plight of society.
What effect would this have on responders, particularly patriotic Americans? Thus, Moore and Auden, both manipulate medium to construct subjective political truths, enforcing pejorative perceptions of the government.
Great, succinct conclusion.Ultimately, composers utilise texts as didactic vehicles to convey political perspectives and ideals, positioning responders to engage with their political perspectives. Whilst Auden in Spain and September manipulates literary devices to espouse his Marxist values and denounce collectivist ideologies, Moore subverts conventions of the documentary medium, confrontingly alerting audiences to the moral bankruptcy and mendacity of the Bush administration.
I'd like one more sentence here bringing everything together, like, "Thus, it clear how __________." Like a bow on the wrapping paper. 
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Topic: English Advanced Essay Marking (Modules Only) (Read 733034 times)