Module A: practice essay

[david.ko3]

Hi all!
I have an assessment coming up this thursday and I am starting my drafts so late. I know that it will be bad but please read over mine and give me feedback. Thanks so much! I appreciate every single help!!
Draft 1)
Discuss the resonances and dissonances in the two texts

The resonances and dissonances can be observed throughout the textual conversation of the two texts. By comparing common and disparate issues, it allows an easier understanding of the parent text via the contemporary text. This can be clearly seen in the two texts, Shakespeare’s King Richard III (RIII) and Pacino’s Looking for Richard (LFR). By the two texts, the audience is able to discover the similarities and differences of the two text which leads into the better understanding. The resonances and dissonances allows the reader to compare the two texts exploring themes and values that are covered in in their respective text.
The values of both RIII and LFR collides with each other surrounding the subject matter of gender. Shakespeare was adopting the Renaissance style of literature which was mainly focused on religious view, which influenced Shakespeare of having a different view point on women than the contemporary society. This is revealed where Richard has a conversation with Clarence in act 1 where he says to Clarence, “tis she that tempers him into extremity’ Richard refers to Queen Elizabeth, the wife of the sick king, Edward IV as a bewitched person, influenced by the society at the time. He uses dramatic irony and tone to portray women’s image at the time. Richard informs Clarence that the country is corrupted since Queen Elizabeth is taking control instead of the sick king. The Elizabethan audience is able to make connection with Richard as they were both from the Renaissance era and shares their perspective on gender. However, Pacino took a different approach to adapting the concept of gender that is displayed in RIII. Pacino, from the late 20th century America, was living in a secular society, making him not able to connect to Shakespeare’s values and ideas. In the film, Pacino uses quick camera movements to show the argument with the actors surrounding the idea of characterisation of Queen Elizabeth. The actor for Queen Elizabeth, Penelope Allen stated that allowing Queen Elizabeth to hold more power will amplify Richard’s action in the play. This portrays that the values of Elizabethan era has changed to the post-modern way of adapting the perspective of gender. This allows the contemporary audience to appreciate Pacino as he allowed a better connection to Shakespeare through the collision of ideas. The dissonance between RIII and LFR can be seen throughout the comparative study surrounding the ideas about gender.
By the comparative of two text, few resonances and dissonances can be discovered in both text surrounding the physical identity of Richard in Shakespeare’s era, the monarchy was run by the Tudor House, who took down the House of York, the era when Richard ran the country. Shakespeare has deformed Richard completely to portray that he is the vice and the Machiavel as seen in the play. In the play in Act one, Queen Elizabeth says, “Lump of foul deformity” and, “a poisonous bunchback’d toad.” To Richard. She uses metaphor and animalistic imagery to display how Richard to be portrayed as the villain and the vice as he is throughout the RIII. Also this amplified the Tudor Myth as Stephen Greenblatt says that Richard was portrayed as “monster of evil, a creature with moral viciousness has vividly stamped on the twisted body.” This allows the Tudor audience to connect to the Tudor myth as deformity of Richard is highlighted throughout the play. Similarly, this can be seen in Pacino, the man. Even though Pacino is not presented as a vice or a Machiavel, similarities can be observed in his personality. At the scene where police asks Pacino for a permit, Pacino replies with, “What I need a per-? Why do I need a permit?’ this shows the gruff nature of Pacino where the cameraman uses a middle shot to capture his facial expressions and the gestures. This allows the modern audience to connect with Richard through Pacino as the two men share a similar physical identity. This can be seen as the alignment of the two men in their respective texts. Therefore both resonance and dissonances can be observed in both texts by their nature of physical identity.
The concept of power exactly mirrors in the two texts. In Shakespeare’s era, heavily affected by Niccolo Machiavelli’s “The Prince”, Machiavellian character was a very popular character to put inside the play. This is seen in the opening soliloquy of the play. Richard says to the audience that “Since I cannot prove a lover, I am determined to prove a villain.” Immediately, Richard is revealed as a Machiavellian and confronts the audience that he is a villain. Shakespeare uses Machiavellian characterisation to portray Richard as a villain affected by the Tudor myth. Power is a universal theme that can be still seen in the modern day society. Pacino acknowledges this and incorporated this to his own production. He says to his directors that “I want to be king, it is that simple.” Pacino uses a medium shot and a doppelganger effect to portray that what Richard was trying to do is very simple, climb to the throne. This allows the contemporary audience to connect with Richard by the production, as Pacino explains what Richard was attempting in the play. This can be seen as mirroring as the two texts share the same ideas throughout their respective texts. The resonances in the two texts allow an easier understanding surrounding the universal theme of power.
Both texts RIII and LFR focuses on the same protagonist of Richard however both resonances and dissonance can be observed in the two texts. By the resonances and dissonances, the audience is able to make a clear judgement allowing a better evaluation. Throughout the concepts of power, physical identity and gender, the resonances and dissonances is seen based on their respective context at the time.

I'll probably give 12/20.

[jamonwindeyer]

Hey David! A few comments that you might find helpful:

- Try to define a Thesis for your essay that groups your ideas together. You've covered gender, identity and power - How might you group them into one UMBRELLA idea that covers them all? You raise that idea (EG - nature of humanity) in your Thesis and then extrapolate on the specific themes in your paragraphs.

- Be less character focused. It should never be, "Richard did this." It should be, "Shakespeare represented this." It's all about the composer and the techniques they used! Equally, characters cannot use techniques!

- Always link to what is being conveyed thematically. Everything is done for a reason. For example, In the film, Pacino uses quick camera movements to show the argument with the actors surrounding the idea of characterisation of Queen Elizabeth... Why is this done? What does it show the audience? You have a technique, but why is it used? What does it reveal about gender that is similar/different to Shakespeare's original work? Equally, no quotes without techniques, ever!

I think you do a great job incorporating context! Also nice work drawing links between the texts (though you could do this more frequently/more meaningfully in spots, I feel). Just work on the depth of analysis I feel, avoid retelling the story and tell us why the composer made their decisions

[Albus]

Hey David, i tried to edit as best i could but it's probably not that much better. 

Resonances and dissonances can be observed throughout the textual conversation of the two texts and allow for a greater insight into the nature of humanity (ty Jamon). By comparing common and disparate issues, it allows a greater understanding of the parent text through analysis of the contemporary text. This can be clearly seen in, Shakespeare’s 1597 Historical tragedy King Richard III (RIII) and Al Pacino’s 1996 postmodern docu drama Looking for Richard (LFR). Through a comparative study, a responder is able to uncover the resonances and dissonances present, therefore allowing them to glean a greater appreciation of the timeless nature of themes and values such as gender, identity and power and their adoption across time.

There is an extreme collision of values surrounding the topic of Gender that stems largely from the disparate contexts but both give valuable insight into the nature of humanity. Shakespeare adopted the Renaissance style of literature which took a providental view of life, this greatly affected Shakespeares values towards women in his writing, a set of values a far cry from that of a modern day contemporary western view . This is revealed in dialouge between Richard and Clarence in act 1 where he says to Clarence, “tis she that tempers him into extremity’ Richard refers to Queen Elizabeth, the wife of the sickly king, Edward IV as a bewitched person, influenced by the society at the time - i don't understand what this is trying to say - sorry. He uses dramatic irony and tone to portray women’s image at the time. Richard informs Clarence that the country is corrupt since Queen Elizabeth is taking control instead of the sick king. The Elizabethan audience is able to make connection with Richard as they were also from the Elizabethan era and would likely share his perspective on gender. However, the context of 20th century secular america called for a different approach in the way gender is explored, this change in context called for a reframing of content. In the film, Pacino uses quick camera cuts and edits to show the argument with the actors surrounding the characterisation of Queen Elizabeth. The actress who played Queen Elizabeth, Penelope Allen stated that allowing Queen Elizabeth to hold more power will amplify Richard’s action in the play. This portrays that the values present in the Elizabethan era have changed greatly in comparison to the post-modern method of adapting the perspective of gender. This allows the contemporary audience to appreciate Pacino as he allowed a better connection to Shakespeare through the collision of ideas. The dissonance between RIII and LFR can be seen throughout the comparative study surrounding the idea of gender and plays a part in the exploration of humanity and how it has changed throughout disparate contexts.

Through the comparative study of the two texts, many resonances and dissonances can be discovered surrounding the physical identity and portrayal of Richard. In Shakespeare’s era, the tudor monarch was in power, having usurped the house of York following the death of Richard in 1485. They attempted to propagate the 'Tudor Myth' through state censorship of the arts, mediating all of the Bard's historical work, presenting the 15th century, including the Wars of the Roses, in England as a dark age of anarchy and bloodshed - therefore legitimising themselves as the rightful rulers. Shakespeare exagerated Richard's deformity to portray that he is the vice and the Machiavel as seen in the play. In Act one of the play, Queen Elizabeth declares that Richard is, “a lump of foul deformity” and, “a poisonous bunchback’d toad.” He uses metaphor and zoomorphism to display how Richard is the true example of a metaphysical eviI. This was one such example of a manufactured scene to play into the Tudor Myth as Stephen Greenblatt says "Richard was portrayed as a monster of evil, a creature with moral viciousness that was vividly stamped on his twisted body.” This allowed the then contempary audience to connect to the Tudor myth as deformity of Richard is highlighted throughout the play. Tudor england was steeped in the idea of religious providentialism The belief that God controls all events. Therefore, the exaggeration of Richard’s deformity was his way of communicating to his audience of Richard’s metaphysical evil – as his physical deformity would have been the omnipotent God’s form of punishment. Similarly, this can be seen in Pacino, the man. Even though Pacino is not presented as a vice or a Machiavel, similarities can be observed in his personality. In the scene where police ask Pacino for a permit, Pacino replies with, “What I need a per-? Why do I need a permit?’ this shows the gruff nature of Pacino where the cameraman uses a middle shot to capture his facial expressions and the gestures. This allows the modern audience to connect with Richard through Pacino as the two men share a similar physical identity. I'm not sure what exactly you are trying to say, i would of discussed the fact that there was less emphasis on the deformity and greater emphasis on his political intrigue in LFR. This would have been done to elicit a similar effect on the reader in a different context (we can't identify with the idea that a physical deformity means you are evil like the people of the time would have done. However we can identify with a conniving politically possessed machiaveli .) This can be seen as the alignment of the two men in their respective texts. Therefore both resonance and dissonances can be observed in both texts by their nature of physical identity.

The concept of power is mirrored in the two texts. Shakespeare’s era was heavily affected by Niccolo Machiavelli’s “The Prince”, Machiavellian characters were a popular choice among playwrights as they were a good method of exploring the nature of humanity through allegory. This is seen in the opening soliloquy of the play. Richard says to the audience that “Since I cannot prove a lover, I am determined to prove a villain.” Immediately, Richard is revealed as a Machiavellian and confronts the audience that he is a villain. Shakespeare uses Machiavellian characterisation to portray Richard as a villain which was undoubtedly affected by the Tudor myth. Power is a universal theme that can be still seen in the modern day society. Pacino acknowledges this and therefore explores power thoroughly through Looking for Richard. He says to his producers that “I want to be king, it is that simple.” Pacino uses a medium shot and a doppelganger effect to portray that what Richard was trying to do is very simple, climb to the throne. This allows the contemporary audience to connect with Richard through the reimagined production. Pacino synthesises for a modern audience exactly what Richard was attempting in the play. This can be seen as mirroring as the two texts resonate the same ideas throughout in regards to the universal theme of power and it's key place in the nature of humanity.

Both texts RIII and LFR focus on the same protagonist of Richard but portrayed slight differently for disparate contexts, therefore both resonances and dissonances can be observed in the two texts and this allows for greater textual conversation. Through these resonances and dissonances, the audience is able to make a clear judgement allowing for a better personal evaluation on the nature of humanity through the lens of of power, physical identity and gender.