RUBRIC

In this elective, students explore and evaluate textual representations of the experiences of individuals
and communities seeking unity, certainty, solace, justice or restoration in periods of significant social
and political change and upheaval. They analyse how texts represent the predicaments, aspirations,
motivations and ideas of individuals and groups in periods of upheaval and reflect on the potential of
texts to activate change in attitudes, perspectives and social circumstances.

Students consider how texts representing worlds of social and political change may challenge literary
conventions and traditional societal values. They critically evaluate how texts represent shifting
values, contexts and attitudes, and reconsider their own values and assumptions in relation to these
representations. In their responding and composing, they explore, analyse, experiment with and
critically evaluate their prescribed texts and other appropriate texts. They write their own imaginative
compositions that represent the relationship between the individual and society in times of upheaval. In
this elective, students are required to study at least three of the prescribed texts (including at least two
extended print texts) as well as other texts of their own choosing. At least two related texts must be
studied. Texts can be drawn from a range of times, contexts and media and should explore the
individual and society in times of upheaval.

Worlds of Upheaval
Frankenstein: individual vs society in an age of transition; role of technology; class distinction; inclusion
and exclusion; the political turbulence arising from the social inequity
Metropolis: impact of industrialisation; gender roles; class differences; the political turbulence arising
from the social inequity; rise of capitalism : confronting a mono
Waiting for Godot: negative impact of capitalism; social inequity and marginalisation of the “other”
Class inequality to uprising/ clashing social values

Define Weimar capitalism and scientific management systems

Idea Scene Analysis (shot, camera angle, lighting, sound, editing, camera
movement)

Social uprising due to https://youtu.be/ High angle shot of the masses of workers marching together in the
inequality 5BBnMCAIuQg?t=253 underground city, body language includes their heads bowed down
symbolising their oppression/ subservient nature. the scenes of the
workers transitions into a midshot of the upper class citizens in the
“Club of the sons.” These scenes are juxtaposed as while the
underground city has gloomy low key lighting the club is brightly lit.
 Freder hallucinates that the machine that just exploded next to the
https://youtu.be/ workers is a temple of Moloch, a pagan god that requires human
5BBnMCAIuQg?t=986 sacrifice, that is consuming the workers. This demonstrates how the
workers are dehumanised and viewed as disposable tools for
enterprise. The music is dramatic and foreboding, demonstrating the
devastating nature of this accident and the lack of care for human life
that led up to it.

Freder takes on the role of the oversized clock, a salient feature that
demonstrates how humans are devalued in favour of values of
https://youtu.be/ productivity and capitalist efficiency. Smoke highlights the unfit
5BBnMCAIuQg?t=2011 working conditions. Humans themselves become machine-like and
regimented in the interests of capitalist production.

The flood in the undercity, Biblical allusion

Hands reaching to Maria with all the children, she is portrayed as a
saviour
https://youtu.be/
5BBnMCAIuQg?t=6893

Gender oppression/ how https://youtu.be/ Long shot of Maria entering the garden with all the children clinging
gender is examined in 5BBnMCAIuQg?t=613 to her. Maria is dressed in bright clothing which is contrasted with the
world of upheaval dark clothing of the children, highlighting how she is a metaphorical
saviour. Biblical Imagery likens her to Jesus the shepherd. The light
creates a halo effect making her an angelic figure.

https://youtu.be/
5BBnMCAIuQg?t=2523

https://youtu.be/
5BBnMCAIuQg?t=3079 Robotic Maria symbolises the misogynist view of women as either
chaste/ pure/ virtuous or promiscuous/ depraved (the virgin/whore
https://youtu.be/ dichotomy of Judaeo-Christian ideology) Robot maria in the dance
5BBnMCAIuQg?t=5482 scene appears and is initially bathed in light. However when she lifts
her arms and her figure/body is revealed she is backlit, casting her
figure into the darkness (symbolising that female promiscuity is
thraetening to social order/ the female body when when as a sexual
object “corrupts” the mids of men seen in the montage of closeup
 shots of all the men’s oggling eyes surreally merged together)

Robot Maria is lifted up on a seven headed beast, inj a religious

allusion to the whore of Babylon from the book of Revelations

https://youtu.be/
5BBnMCAIuQg?t=5635 (real) Maria says “Head and hands want to join together but they
don’t have the heart to do it… Oh mediator show them the way to
https://youtu.be/Sx- each other,” which embodies how women are placed in the role of
vMdGqL3A?t=8733 upholders of the social order/ Mid shot of Freder, dressed in white
Head and hands need a clothing which contrasts the dark apparel of his father and the
mediator. The mediator worker, branching the gap between the two characters through his
between head and hands own arms as an act of mediation
must be the heart!

Manifestation of
Paragraph:

How is social upheaval represented in your prescribed text?

Fritz Lang’s 1927 film Metropolis demonstrates how violent upheaval may emerge as a result of growing
awareness of class inequality but the film offers a solution in the form of a compromise between
capitalist values of efficiency and religious values of compassion and idealism.

Lang draws upon the anxieties emerging socioeconomic instability of increasingly-industrialised The
Weimer Republic in post WW1 Germany to create his dystopian society Metropolis to

German expressionism: (puts it in the realm of speculative/ dystopian as opposed to a realist depiction)
a stylised world utilised to highlight the tension in emotions/ experiences of the different classes/
different moralities of individuals. This is achieved through the chiascuro that embodies the conflicting
moral paradigms between the idealistic and compassionate Freder and Maria, and the cruel self-
centered Rotwang and Joh Frederson

Science fiction and German expressionism in film-making. Gothic/noir style. Futuristic sets. Highlighting
the potential dangers of technology.
Lang utilises German Expressionism and manipulates art deco, film noir, chiascuro and gothic
accompanied with specific film techniques including camera angles to deal with this tension.

Speculating

Robotic Maria- emblematic of the evils of technology

Surrealistic
Play of dark and light; disturbing world

1)High angle shot of the masses of workers marching together in the underground city, body language
includes their heads bowed down symbolising their oppression/ subservient nature. the scenes of the
workers transitions into a midshot of the upper class citizens in the “Club of the sons.” These scenes are
juxtaposed as while the underground city has gloomy low key lighting the club is brightly lit.

2)Freder hallucinates that the machine that just exploded next to the workers is a temple of Moloch, a
pagan god that requires human sacrifice, that is consuming the workers. This demonstrates how the
workers are dehumanised and viewed as disposable tools for enterprise. The music is dramatic and
foreboding, demonstrating the devastating nature of this accident and the lack of care for human life
that led up to it.

3)Freder takes on the role of the oversized clock, a salient feature that demonstrates how humans are
devalued in favour of values of productivity and capitalist efficiency. Smoke highlights the unfit working
conditions. Humans themselves become machine-like and regimented in the interests of capitalist
production.

4)The flood in the undercity, Biblical allusion

Hands reaching to Maria with all the children, she is portrayed as a saviour

5) head and the heart

The Weimar Republic in Germany in the inter-war period was characterised by economic and political
instability, inflation and unemployment and a scarred national psyche in the aftermath of the German
loss in WWI. Lang comments on technological innovation, ‘scientific management’ practices, which were
growing in popularity and espoused by industrialists such as Henry Ford, the increased sexualisation of
his time, and class struggles related to the economic instability of the Weimar Republic.

A dystopia German expressionist mode

Enhanced industrialism and growing economic divide

Solution through moral and religious (compassion unity/ understanding)

How is the relationship between individual and society in a period of social change depicted in your
text?

How is class inequality depicted as an outcome of social upheaval in your text?

Table

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BBnMCAIuQg

CONTEXT

Metropolis was produced in 1927 and reflects the values of the Weimar Republic in Germany: economic
instability, rising capitalism, class division, modernisation, industrialisation and technology, education
for the masses. It presents a powerful exploration of the repression of individuality through control but
also explores the possibility of rebellion as a way of attaining freedom. However, the film ultimately
posits a reformist model as a solution to social upheaval, in the form of the compromise between
capitalism and the religious values of compassion, feeling, and unity, as expressed in “The mediator
between head and hands must be the heart!”

The Weimar Republic in Germany in the inter-war period was characterised by economic and political
instability, inflation and unemployment and a scarred national psyche in the aftermath of the German
loss in WWI. Lang comments on technological innovation, ‘scientific management’ practices, which were
growing in popularity and espoused by industrialists such as Henry Ford, the increased sexualisation of
his time, and class struggles related to the economic instability of the Weimar Republic.

Worlds of Upheaval Practice Questions

Contextual values dictate

German expressionism, representation of the psche/ rejects verisim/ : Weimar though and
consciousness, emasculation of germany due to vertical social hierarchies

tensions

1. "The upheaval of our world and the upheaval of our consciousness are one and the same." (Carl Jung)
To what extent does this statement align with your understanding of Worlds of Upheaval? Refer to two
prescribed texts and two related texts of your own choosing.

2. "I believe the power of literature is stronger than the power of tyranny." (Ma Jian)

Assess how the form of your text has influenced constructions of literary worlds facing upheaval. Refer
to two prescribed texts and two related texts of your own choosing.

3. From change emerges upheaval. From upheaval emerges change.

How does this statement reflect your understanding of the social, political and scientific developments
represented in the literary worlds of your study? Refer to two prescribed texts and two related texts of
your own choosing.

4."All good literature rests primarily on insight." (George Henry Lewes)

How do two prescribed texts and two related texts of your own choosing provide insight into literary
worlds experiencing social and political upheaval?

5. Tension is at the heart of upheaval

To what extent has conflict contributed to the worlds of upheaval in two of your prescribed texts and
two related texts of your own choosing?

6. "A mind stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions." (Oliver Wendell
Holmes Jr.)

To what extent has your study of Worlds of Upheaval provoked changes in thought, attitude and/or
perspective? Refer to two prescribed texts and two related texts of your own choosing.

7. "It is a grand thing to rise in the world. The ambition to do so is the very salt of the earth. It is the
parent of all enterprise and the cause of all improvement." (Anthony Trollope)

To what extent have the actions of individuals and communities represented in worlds of upheaval
activated change?

8. Upheaval may come in many forms but it is essentially about tensions between the future and the
past. To what extent have the texts that you’ve studied affirmed this statement?

9. Great composers are inspired to document the struggles, hopes, and despair of their world so we may
better understand human motivation. To what extent have the texts that you have studied affirmed this
statement?

10. “Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.’ - Victor Frankenstein,
Frankenstein.

Critically evaluate how your texts represent the experiences and reactions of individuals responding to
worlds of upheaval.
11. How do the texts in this Elective create interest in the experiences of individuals and communities
seeking unity, certainty, solace, justice or restoration in periods of significant social and political change
and upheaval?

12. How do the texts in this Elective highlight the predicaments, aspirations, motivations and ideas of
individuals and groups in periods of upheaval?

13. How successful are texts in activating change in attitudes, perspectives and social circumstances?

Discuss, with reference to two prescribed texts and two related texts of your own choosing.

14. “Texts representing worlds of social and political change may challenge literary conventions and
traditional societal values”.

How is this challenge reflected in two prescribed texts and two related texts of your own choosing?

15. When composers construct texts that interrogate contextual values, we are positioned to consider
the complexity of the world.

Discuss this statement in light of the elective that you have studied.