Frontline: Telling the Truth (1 Viewer)

[caramel1]

Hi guys, I was given this question and just thought I'd see if any of you have any ideas / notes you'd be willing to share? Thanks, any help is greatly appreciated.


It is difficult to know where the truth lies. Discuss how the Frontline series explores some important issues related to "Telling the Truth"

- You must refer closely to the three sequences viewed. You may, as well, refer to the "Frontline" series as a whole.

- You must make close reference to the text referring to the ideas, and the techniques used to explore these ideas

 

[sikeveo]

Hey, what episodes are you comfortable with using? It's advisable to know 6, but use 3 for an essay along with 2 supplementaries. Im guessing where is says sequences it means 3 scenes each from different episodes.

 

[caramel1]

Thanks for the reply... It is an in class assessment. We haven't been given the episodes but it is out of the 6, excluding "A Night of Nights".

I am just interested in any examples anyone's used for similar questions and what techniques are used in relation to "telling the truth". For example; irony, parody, ridicule etc... and of course how they are used to convey the truth.

 

[sikeveo]

http://community.boredofstudies.org/showthread.php?t=73757

That may help for the basics. View the episodes a couple of times so you can notice the little things that affect the meaning and representation. Here are some techniques of satire:

• • Anti-Climax – the descent from a high level of expectation about something/someone to a lower level which is less impressive and important.
• • Black Humour – a style of language which is used to make what is horrible, wicked and threatening seem funny without making it good. It is ‘sick’ humour because it employs the grotesque to fantastically distort characters or situations.
• • Caricature – a technique which uses exaggeration to simplify characterisation. Its effect is to reduce a character to one basic principle of motivation.
• • Exaggeration – the changing of a real situation by establishing ridiculously extreme conditions. It is the simplest and most common way of achieving satiric distortion or absurdity.
• • Irony – a device where the satirist says one thing, but the true and intended meaning is the opposite.
• • Juxtaposition – the placing of two things that do not harmonise beside each other so that they are seen as ridiculous.
• • Parody – an imitation of something serious by copying its form or structure for the purpose of ridiculing it or sending it up. Parody works on the basis that the responder recognises the original structure and listens and watches it carefully for changes to the original.
• • Pastiche – a patchwork of phrases, images, motifs and episodes borrowed from other works, pieced together to form a new work. It can also be used to parody or imitate another’s work.
• • Sarcasm – a form of humour that aims to undermine and hurt the target at which it is directed by deliberately focusing attention on a fault or weakness.
• • Understatement – the opposite of exaggeration because it represents something with less em phasis to achieve a greater impact.
• • Verisimilitude – the appearance of truth.

These are some of the techniques of satire used in Frontline.