Change Bruce Dawe
Change can be confronting and because of this we often try to resist it. However, we need change and we must accept it, for without change we cannot grow. This confrontation of change, resistance and final acceptance of change can be seen in the texts, ” Drifters”, ” And a good Friday was held by all” by Bruce Dawe and 10 Things I hate about you” by Gil Junger. All three of these texts examine the process of change and the attitudes towards change. These texts all share simular audiences of ambitious individuals striving for a better future. Drifters” and ” A Good Friday was held by all” both use the techniques of imagery, Diction, Metaphors, Juxtaposition, Repititition, Alliteration and Biblical Allusion to represent the concept change. Gil Junger uses film techniques such as sound, lighting, camera angles, camera shots and costuming in the film “10 Things I hate about you”. In the text Drifters by Bruce Dawe we are shown different attitudes towards change in a nostalgic and bittersweet tone. Drifters” is a poem that represents a family who move place to place, as the father needs to move by the demand of his job. The children are growing up to learn that there is no other way of life and realise that their roaming lives will never change. The family become frustrated with their lives and wish to settle down and have a peaceful future. The family’s inability to settle down is shown in the two metaphors “green tomatoes” in line 4 and the “bottling set wasn’t unpacked from Grovedale” in line 7.
The green tomatoes represent the family’s untimely move because of their lack of food and money and the bottling set that wasn’t unpacked indicates that the family only stayed in the area for a short time. Another great poem written by Bruce Dawe is “And a Good Friday was held by all”. In this dramatic dialogue Bruce Dawe narrates the story of the crucifixion from the perspective of a Roman soldier, who is required by his military superiors to do the physical labour of crucifying the prisoners.
In this poem good change is explored, as the soldier who is responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ changes his perspective on the situation. The soldier finds himself feeling reverent towards Jesus and his Followers, he finds his victim peaceful, noble and sacrificial towards the coming resurrection. The Soldiers reluctant feelings towards the resurrection is shown in the technique of Allusion, “Well this Nazarene/didn’t make it any easier/not really like the ones/who kick up a fuss so you can/do your block and take it out on them”.
These events are a reference to Jesus’s Pacifism against violence and war and his divine nature. In this quote the soldier is finding an excuse to continue with the resurrection and follow his orders as Jesus’s nonviolent response to his execution makes the dirty job all the more difficult. In the text, a simile is used in line 4, “Like a diver just leaving the spring board”. This technique emphasises the idea of a diver spreading his arms, evoking images of Christ embracing humanity. This quote relates to change as the soldier sees Jesus as a sacrificial figure dying for mankind.
My chosen related text examines the process of change and attitudes towards change in a positive and good way. 10 Things I hate about you” by Gil Junger explores the formula of a smart, driven, opinionated, strong women “tamed by love”. This film is a high school modern day adaption of Shakespeare’s play “The Taming of the Shrew”. At the start movie the protagonist of the film Kat Stratford is not popular, people do not want to be around her and she is repeatedly kicked out of her English class.
The highlights of Kats heinous and shrewish behaviour is shown through her constant temperamental attitude towards her bad reputation. Change is shown significantly throughout the film as towards the end of the film Kat has transformed in to a completely different person. Kat doesn’t have anymore outbursts in class; she isn’t sent to the guidance office, has less run In’s with her sister Bianca and she becomes accepted by her peers. Her transformation is the result of affection as Kat is tamed by love. At the start of the film, we first see Kat, blaring Joan Jetts “Bad Reputation” from her cars sound system.
We know straight away that Kat doesn’t give a dam about her bad reputation. The film technique of sound and music is used to emphasise her personality and reputation without her In the film a medium close up of Kats face is shown when she reads her poem in class. This scene shows a completely different view of Kat than was previously presented in the film. Change is shown in this part of the film when Kat confesses her love and lets her emotions flow in tears while she reads her poem in front of the entire class.
The Kat presented in the previous scenes of the film never would have allowed herself to be seen in such a vulnerable way; her previous attitude was tough, distant and more masculine. The medium close up of Kats face while she reads the poem enables us to see how her facial expressions change and her feminine side appear to allow herself to express her emotions. It seemed as though it took a man to make her into a woman, because these decidedly feminine emotions are not seen before Kat begins dating Patrick.
