Hi!
Im currently just going over my compare and contrast and I was wondering if someone could look at it. Im not really confident in it at all (i'll prolly get like 7 for a, 7 for b or around there) so I was wondering if anyone could give me some tips and tricks for it.
This is one I did for M22
The world contains approximately 8 billion people, these people have vastly different experiences, specifically childhood ones. This concept is communicated in the two texts which will be explored today. Text 1 is an excerpt from The Conservationist which is written by renowned South African Nadine Gordimer. The excerpt follows a group of children that has discovered a nest of bird’s eggs. In contrast, text 2 is a video titled “Remember Childhood?” which is directed by “Me and Mango”. In the text, the filmmaker is seen spending a day picking cherries with his family. The genre of both of these texts are a slice-of-life with the main purpose being to entertain and inform the audience about the author’s lives. Additionally, the target audience for both of these texts are teenagers and young adults aged 13-18. Overall, this essay aims to compare and contrast how Nadine Gordimer and the film maker from “Me and Mango” utilise different literary devices and cinematic techniques in order to explore the experience of childhood.
Firstly, in the excerpt from The Conservationist, Nadine Gordimer effectively utilises visual imagery and metaphors in order to portray the experience of childhood through the use of the children interacting with the environment and people around them. The use of the visual imagery is seen in the sentences “He asks a question of the cross-legged one and there are giggles. He points down at the eggs but does not touch them, and asks again. The children don't understand the language. He goes on talking with many gestures.” In the sentences, the children are seen interacting with the farmer positively despite their language barrier. This portrays the experience of childhood as it examines how the children interact with the people around them and shows their trusting nature. This affects the audience by making them feel a sense of warmth and trust as well. It also prompts the audience to think and reflect upon their own childhood experiences and how they might have experienced this similar sense of warmth as well, thereby forming an emotional connection. Similarly, the portrayal of childhood experiences through the lens of childhood innocence is also seen in the video “Remember Childhood?” in the timestamp “1:26-1:36” where the filmmaker's child is seen walking around and interacting with the cherry farm accompanied with the sound of sparkles. In the timestamp, the film maker's daughter’s experience of childhood is seen through the use of the non-diegetic sound which are the sparkles. The sparkles communicate the magical feeling that his daughter experiences when she goes cherry-picking for the first time. This affects the audience by making them feel a sense of adoration at the child’s naivety while also prompting them to think about the last time they felt it as well. This can lead the audience to start actively improving their own mental health in order to chase the simple happiness they once had as a child.
Furthermore, the film maker in “Me and Mango” depicts the experience of a privileged childhood using a close-up shot. This is seen in the timestamp “2:12-2:15” where the child’s happy expression is caught on camera while cherry picking. This affects the audience by making them feel amused when looking at the child's positive cherry picking experience. This can lead them to prompt about their own childhood experiences and may cause them to try and seek out activities such as cherry picking to relive their childhood once again. In contrast, Nadine Gordimer’s use of metaphor in The Conversationist portrays the experience of childhood through the impoverished environment the children grow up in. This is seen in the sentence “The eggs are arranged like marbles," The use of metaphor is seen in the sentence when the arrangement of the eggs is compared to the arrangement of marbles. The metaphor contributes to painting a picture of the children’s current impoverished environment and how they must rely on eggs as marbles. This affects the audience by making them feel sympathetic for the children. This allows them to consider the wealth disparities that are currently affecting millions of children in the world and how this is a real reality for many children. This may cause them to donate to NGOs or charities which support children in poverty.
In conclusion, Nadine Gordimer and the film maker in “Me and Mango” have effectively portrayed the experience of childhood, specifically through an innocent lens. This is seen in The Conservationist when Nadine Gordimer portrays the children and how they interact with their environment positively despite their economic status mainly due to their innocence using visual imagery. Likewise, Remember Childhood also portrays childhood innocence through diegetic sound when portraying the film maker’s child’s interacting with their environment through their experience with picking cherries. However, in The Conservationist, the children are written as impoverished which affects the portrayal of their childhood. This is done through metaphor where the eggs they find are compared to marbles. On the other hand, in Remember Childhood, the film maker's child is seen happily picking strawberries in a close-up shot. Overall, these two different childhood experiences depict the wealth disparities that are currently occurring in the world. If nothing is done, more and more children will be robbed of their childhood.