worlds of upheaval essay

intro context

across a range of historical and cultural contexts, literature interrogates how societies survive through the creation and maintenance of narratives of dehumanisation, disruption and unity in equal measure

dolezel mimesis, reproduces existing realities, shed light on human motivations through reframing

north and south intro

elizabeth gaskells 1855 novel, humanist perspective

metropolis intro

1927 expressionist film, role of moral awakening, warning against corruption of machine age in homogenising ideologies

titf intro

2017 agustina bazterrica novel, whether reconciliation is ever possible in worlds defined by stratification

intro concluding sentence

literary texts as mimesis,role of individual and collective voice in challenging dominant ideologies

north and south thesis

importance of awakening of social consciousness, conventions of 19th century social realism, inequalities of industrial revolution, literature as moral instrument

para 1 evidence

1. thornton representative of wider dominant industrial ideology “his is the head that directs it…the hands have been ungrateful enough to turn out” anatomical imagery

2. motif of faces and facelessness metropolis, absence of dialogue, faces as choreography, juxtaposing downturned anonymised mass with theatrical individuised faces of elite

3. “we have all of us one human heart” margaret as mediator accessing idealist paternalism of south and industrial realism of north

4. “from that day forth milton became a brighter place to her…she had found a human connection” reconciliation hinges on proximity rather than abstract principle of injustice

5. physically standing between thornton and mill workers, bridge between labour and capital

6. freders moral awakening after witnessing explosion of machine

metropolis thesis

lang departs from gaskell’s optimism, cinema as political fable, social upheaval as tied to social breakdown, capitalism can act as a false god eroding morality

para 2 evidence

1. personified through freder autocratic ruler, parallels with senor urami, office descriptions “zen like silence” visceral imagery of “skin being flayed” those in power craft metanarratives to maintain authority and worldview

2. weaponisation of robot marias sensuality and inflammatory rhetoric, sharp contrast of lighting, non diegetic sound in dancing sequence makes mis en scene (desire can be leveraged to create sense of otherness, women in weimar)

3. margaret as maternal virginal figure, somewhat idealistic, deliberate depersonalisation of final line “that man” “that woman” upheaval as inherently reformist

4. symmetry of handshake between grot, freder, fredersen, expressionistically exaggerated workers riot, lang’s marxist perspective that upheaval tied to breakdown of social order

titf thesis

in worlds of upheaval, arbitrary divisions between humanity and animality are irreconcilable, sovereign realm of possibilia, extrapolating concerns of hypercapitalistic argentina onto created reality

para 3 evidence

1. detached and clinical marcos opening line “carcass. cut in half. stunner. slaughter line.” fragmented syntax, conscious mental distance as defence against complicity

2. marcos awareness of inequalities, head jasmine deposited on doorstep drives him further into silence

3. staccato rhythm “she hasn’t taken the rope off her neck. she looks at the ground. urinates” reduces her interiority to observable animal behaviour (subverts gaskell and lang redemptive arc, internalisation of systems is norm)

4. oxymoronic final line “she had the human look of a domesticated animal” collapses distinciton between human and commodity shed been interrogating, resolving in faavour of institution (construction of reconciling voice is structurally impossible, system defined by total commodification, determines who is permitted to speak)

conclusion

critical examination of forces which drive continuity and change in worlds of upheaval, worlds converge with and build upon upheaval in their own historical/political realities, resolution of conflict relies on individuals power to resist hegemony