Ender's Game and the Matrix - Comparative Essay Practise & Essay Scaffold - Science Fiction
“In a comparative study of texts we see that the connections between texts are realised through the different textual forms used by each composer.”
How accurate is this statement for the pair of texts you have studied in this unit? In your answer you may like to discuss some or all of the following: form, structure, language features, context, information & ideas.
When texts are considered together, responders realise that texts are connected through their similar themes and ideas displayed in their textual forms. Texts are allegories of human existence which simultaneously examining contextual ideas. This is seen the two texts, the Wachowski brothers’ film The Matrix (1999) and Orson Scott Card’s novel Ender’s game (1985), through their mutual form of the science-fiction genre. These two texts allow the responder to gain new understanding of the values of the contextual times in which the text was composed.
The use of defamiliarisation is a key concept in the science-fiction genre, where the composers create a futuristic world which is alien to the responder, yet drawing parallels to the context of the text. This causes the responder to evaluate their own world in light of the new ideas suggested through the text. In The Matrix, the Wachowski brothers critique the value of technology, in the context of computer advancements in the late 20th century to early 21st century. Defamiliarisation is seen early in the film through the subversion of the Warner Brothers logo, showing the well known symbol in the electronic green used to display the scrolling green numbers of the coding of the matrix. The use of this colour alludes to the direction of the film, and also increases our feeling of alienation. This feeling of discomfort and alienation is highlighted in the film, with Morpheus emphasising Neo’s discomfort and uneasiness with the world around him by comparing it to a “splinter in the mind.” This discomfort with surroundings is acutely felt by Ender from Card’s
How accurate is this statement for the pair of texts you have studied in this unit? In your answer you may like to discuss some or all of the following: form, structure, language features, context, information & ideas.
When texts are considered together, responders realise that texts are connected through their similar themes and ideas displayed in their textual forms. Texts are allegories of human existence which simultaneously examining contextual ideas. This is seen the two texts, the Wachowski brothers’ film The Matrix (1999) and Orson Scott Card’s novel Ender’s game (1985), through their mutual form of the science-fiction genre. These two texts allow the responder to gain new understanding of the values of the contextual times in which the text was composed.
The use of defamiliarisation is a key concept in the science-fiction genre, where the composers create a futuristic world which is alien to the responder, yet drawing parallels to the context of the text. This causes the responder to evaluate their own world in light of the new ideas suggested through the text. In The Matrix, the Wachowski brothers critique the value of technology, in the context of computer advancements in the late 20th century to early 21st century. Defamiliarisation is seen early in the film through the subversion of the Warner Brothers logo, showing the well known symbol in the electronic green used to display the scrolling green numbers of the coding of the matrix. The use of this colour alludes to the direction of the film, and also increases our feeling of alienation. This feeling of discomfort and alienation is highlighted in the film, with Morpheus emphasising Neo’s discomfort and uneasiness with the world around him by comparing it to a “splinter in the mind.” This discomfort with surroundings is acutely felt by Ender from Card’s