How does John Misto use the power of the ‘Distinctively Visual’ to convey his message? In contrast to one related text.

(NEED TO HAVE A THESIS STATEMENT ON THE SYLLABUS THAT INTRODUCES THE TOPIC IN FOCUS WHICH IS EXPERIENCE THROUGH LANGUAGE) The way we perceive the world is constantly being challenged and altered because of our subjective views of texts that we read. John Misto’s provocative play “The Shoe-Horn Sonata (1996) and Mark Herman’s film “The Boy in Striped Pyjamas” (2008) explores hope, survival, injustice and friendship. These issues are shaped by techniques such as stage directions, camera angles, parodied humour, visual, lighting and audio. (NEED TO ELABORATE MORE ON THE SYLLABUS – ELABORATE ON THE THEMES AND KEY IDEAS THROUGHOUT EACH TEXT)

Misto explores the theme of injustice committed against the British women as a constant reminder to the audience of their inflicted pain and suffering. “They burned our diaries/ Every last one.”The visual imagery of the thin starving women indicate a clear message to the audience through Misto’s portrayal of the prisoners dressed in rags juxtaposed to the filthy environment they were imprisoned in (DONT RETELL THE STORY, WHAT DOES IT DO IN TERMS OF IMPACT TO THE READER). This scene is reinforced by dim lighting on the empty set to create a foreboding atmosphere and draw attention to Bridie as she enters the set to engage with the audience. Misto depicts acts of injustice towards the women inflicted by the British and Australian government through their ignorance, ‘keep smiling’ to ensure the suffering of the women was forgotten. The irony emphasises the lack of sympathy and appreciation shown towards the women. The forces which push an individual to strive for justice within the political community are also evident in Mark Herman’s graphical film, “The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas.”

Injustice is portrayed through the dominance of the Germans in World War II. The representation of injustice is visualized through the juxtaposition of their humanity and numbers. “It’s just a number; everyone gets given a different number”. Through the use of dialogue injustice is viewed and as a result new friendships form. Herman engages the audience in Hitler’s method of striping their humanity by assigning each individual numbers instead of their names, highlighting his aggression towards the Jews. This scene highlights the imagery of Bruno’s adventure to seek answers about “the farmers” on the other side of the fence, as “strange” indicates their innocence while being unable to distinguish their perceptions of the Jews. The high angle shot of the German boy “Bruno” during the dialogue represents his dominance in contrast to the Jewish boy “Shmuel” with low angle shot to further

highlight his insignificance. A wide angle shot engages the audience of the barricaded wired fence between them, symbolising the different worlds and environments these boys hail from. Bruno’s environment is highlighted with bright lighting and vivid atmosphere expressed through the flowers and the river whereas Shmuel’s environment engages the concept of a prison with dim lighting to further demonstrate his bleak future. In “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas”, we witness the protagonist Shmuel befriending an outsider whereas in John Misto’s play we witness the heartache and struggle of the two victims Sheila and Bridie who had met in the shipwreck.

Interpersonal relationships were built during the Prisoner Of War camps, these helped many women through the hardship ensuring their eventual survival. The use of stage directions and bright lighting helps portray a flashback where the audience are aware of the past event taking place which emphasising the strain in their relationship after the war. The stage direction ‘Shelia takes the shoe-horn out of the drawer and throws it on the bed’ acts as a metaphor of their relationship, with the tension in the atmosphere Sheila still kept it after their post war experiences to prove to Bridie how strong her affection is towards her. The subtle direction ‘squeezes Shelia’s hand and tries to smile gently’ grabs the audience’s attention to the reconciliation between the two has begun, despite the tension at the beginning of the play. Misto had interpreted the underlying experiences both the women had post war of their reconciliation, whereas Herman also engages this concept between the prohibited friendship of the boys during the war.

Friendships often are hidden in the shadows away from the media's attention. “The Boy in Striped Pyjamas” engages the risky friendship of Bruno and Shmuel. “We're meant to be enemies. Did you know that?” The rhetorical question engages Bruno’s perspective in reference to the segregation of the Jews and Germans. The middle angle shot of Bruno acknowledges the equality whilst abiding (WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY ABIDING? – MAKE THIS A BIT MORE CLEAR) the prohibited friendship, also hoping that they could still remain as friends. Herman encourages the endurance of their friendship through the experiences of the war, equally similar to Shoe Horn Sonata with the use of symbolic objects to develop empathy towards the victims.

Hope is intangible although is visualized through symbolic objects. Symbolism of the Shoe-horn is evident many times throughout the play as an act of survival. Bridie and Shelia’s comradeship is symbolised by the Shoe-horn as Bridie uses it to keep Sheila awake and from drowning. Misto uses this object as their will to live. “Tap tap tap”, the repetition is created through the diegetic sound of the

shoe horn and also emphasizing their isolation and abandonment. “As they drifted through the ocean the two women begun to sing the hymn ‘Jerusalem”. The biblical allusion of hope and strength engages the audience’s religious perspective of the world and concentrates on any faith they may believe within.

In conclusion the two texts use distinctively visual (DON’T USE DISTINCTIVELY VISUAL – USE ANOTHER TERM) techniques to convey the graphical experiences the protagonists had experienced, which led to trauma and awful memories. Misto and Herman vividly expressed the emotions through different mediums of text with different techniques which allow the composers to construct different insight to social values which changed the perspectives of audiences towards the political injustice system and discrimination of victims in the war. Both governments convey mortal dominance, similarity to different methods, whereas John Misto commemorated bravery of the women through a play to give public recognition of the women in the WWII whereas Mark Herman concluded the massacre of the many Jewish women and men to portray the German’s horrid mentality throughout WWII.