Speeches and used-by dates? (1 Viewer)

[cigi_k]

The 2003 HSC Speeches question was: Compose and argument for or against the topic: “That every text has its use-by date”.

I'm having difficulty figuring out which are universal and which speeches are limited in their oration to their specific context. HELP!

Which speeches have a used-by date and why?

 

[Born Dancer]

i have been having trouble with this question too. generally speaking, the older more patriarchal speeches tend to be the ones that have a used by date.

However: the question asks about speeches recpetion in defferent contexts. we live in a postmodern context right? and one of the theories of pomo is that "the author is dead" - meaning different texts change meaning in different contexts- hence suggesting that they never have a used by date.

if you are going to talk about how modern day responders interpret the speech, i would suggest that you aregue that texts dont have a use by date.

On the other hand the relavence of a text lies in the relevenace of its underlying values and attitudes. if you have a look at these in each speech you should be able to find which ones are no longer relavent.

hope that wasnt too confusing!!!!! pm me if you have any questions about it

 

[Sarah_Lou]

many speeches have similar underlying themes, regardless of their context. eg socrates and margaret atwood both shar the underlying theme of challenging their society's traditional constructs, socrates as a philosopher, and atwood as a feminist/postmodernist.
therefore you can argue that, even though each text is shaped by its culture and the ideals of the time it was composed, many texts both old a new share fundamental ideals - aka similar values and attitudes.

 

[sambo_rambo]

I did that question and took the line that all of the speeches have universal-type values that are relevant to a contemporary audience. Although some of the techniques and the audiences definitely change, the values of each speech are often relevant to a contemporary context. E.g. freedom of speech in socrates is a value that it still relevant to modern society shown McAleese's discussion of it in a completly different context.
Hope that helps