Context in Frankenstein vs Blade Runner (1 Viewer)

[adapada]

what exactly is context? i know it's something like what was happening in the world at that time...but how do you link that to each of your texts?

in my assessment coming up i have to explore context, values, and techniques in whatever essay we get...any ideas how to prepare?

 

[brendroid]

Uh...

Okay.

If you were living in a Third World country and had a terrible childhood (parents died, had to defend for siblings, disease) and suddenly emigrated to a country like Australia, America or somewhere in West Europe, how do you think that you would write about your new home in comparison to your old one?

Now, change the scenario a bit and you had a brilliant childhood and lived in Australia, America or somewhere in West Europe and wrote a story of your home country. What would be different to what the person in our first example wrote?

 

[Lolsmith]

What the shit are you talking about brendroid?

Context refers to the time and life of the author of the text. For example, Frankenstein was created by Mary Shelley during the Romantic Movement and hence has a lot of Romantic values within it. American society was fearful of over-urbanisation of the world, during the time Blade Runner was made, and hence you see a homogenous metropolis devoid of natural things.

The point of this module is to observe how context influences how texts are created. If you haven't gone over this in class, your teacher is either terribly shit or you've missed out on a lot. As for preparing for your assessment, make a quote bank of general quotes that can relate to the values of Blade Runner and Frankenstein and pick out specific common values from both.

 

[b00m]

for eg (and i'm putting this in very simple terms) say that Shelley's disapproval of Victor's hubris is a reflection on the works of the scientists of her time (Erasmus Darwin) - some shit like that..

when victor returns to the natural enviornment as a source of the sublime.. a reflection of her Romantic ideals and their embracement of the natural world

Scott's condemnation of man's exploitation of nature.. parallel to the great ecological degradation taking place at his time
etc etc etc

i'm sure you can construct some better sentences

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edit: looks like i took 5 mins to type up this post.. a reflection of my procrastinative nature

 

[bored of sc]

Context is a broad term in English which refers to the personal, historical, social, political, religious, ideological and cultural conditions that influence the meanings of a text (emphasis should be on the word meanings as a text has multiple meanings due to the different contexts of the responders).

Context is not limited to the life and times of the composer but it also encompasses the context of the responder i.e. the values and beliefs the reader brings to a text and the context of the society of the responder i.e. mainstream values, worldviews and paradigms.

Context is an extremely important concept. Knowledge of the context of the composer can help the reader gain a better understand of the text.

Some equations I created for this unit are shown below (yes, I love maths):

(a) Personal context of composer (values, perspectives) + Historical, social, cultural, political, religious influences (contexts, values) = Context of text

(b) Context of text + Content (plot, characters etc) + Construction (techniques) = TEXT

(c) Responder's context (values, perspectives) + Reading/Analysing Text = Meaning

You could easily convert this to a flow-chart if that would make more sense to you.

 

[freakingout2013]

Here's the context of FR/BR

FRANKENSTEIN
• CONTEXT
o The CONTEXT of the time was ROMANTICISM and GOTHICISM
• ROMANTICISM is about the power of imagination and the call of self-expression. Imagination was seen as a powerful, liberating, active force that went beyond the ordinary in order to see the world afresh.
Part of it was seeing nature as a force that could heal humanity, or evelvate mankind to a higher plane of existance - industrialisation and urbanisation were considered repressive.
• GOTHICISM was a way of rebelling against the "Age of Reason" that the 18th century had become. It uses settings that are harsh and often derelict.
Part of it is confronting the majesty of nature - in Frankenstein, harsh, bleak Arctic landscapes are often seen, acting as a metaphor for how both Victor and the Creature feel.
Both the Creature and the creator become representative of the Gothic outsider - alienated, outcast from society - Victor by his own hands, the Creature because of his appearance.
Revenge becomes a large theme in Frankenstein, and it is a common concern in Gothic literature. Both creature and creator become driven by it, and vengeance becomes the only form of salvation for them. The desire for retribution makes them almost doppelgangers of one another, another common theme in gothicism. Victor highlights this duality: "I consider the being... my own vampire, my own spirit let loose from the grave,"

BLADERUNNER
• CONTEXT
o Science
• Technology
• It was in this time that the nuclear accident on 3 mile island occured, and space exploration really began. The neutron bomb was invented and books were released about the harms of DDT. People were beginning to fear science a little and its advancement. We also began to think about how far we could advance, and the book "Do androids dream of electric sheep" was released - this is the book that Bladerunner is based on.
• Scientific advancement
• This was the time of test tube babies and artificial limbs. Humanity was questioning how far we could develop - could we, in fact, create sentient robots?
o Corporate greed
• There was a lot of corporate greed in the time of Bladerunner, and modernisation was occurring. MTV was born, and Wall Street was the centre of the world. People were growing concerned as to corporate's impact on nature, and so the EPA was passed to ensure clean air.