Comprehending

ATAR ENGLISH CONCEPT – VOICE

The glossary at the back of your SCSA ATAR English syllabus (found here:  https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/5754/English-Y12-Syllabus-AC-ATAR-GD.pdf) offers a definition of this course concept:

Over the next week or so we will look at VOICES in a wide variety of texts.

VOICES IN TEXTS. Think of the phrase “giving a voice to the voiceless”. Voices in texts gets us to think about writers, directors, poets, bloggers, journalists etc. who may want to speak out on behalf of someone – an individual, a minority group – and present their PERSEPCTIVE.

Today, we'll kick off with this image.

#KiyiyaVuranInsanlik (“Humanity washed ashore”)   This photograph of a toddler’s lifeless body that washed ashore on a prime tourist resort beach in Turkey, after a refugee boat sank, sparked horrified reactions across the world.  “The harrowing image that shows the true tragedy of the refugee crisis,” read a headline in Britain’s Daily Telegraph, while the Guardian said the photo “brought home” the horror of the situation.  “If these extraordinarily powerful images of a dead Syrian child washed up on a beach don’t change Europe’s attitude to refugees, what will?” The Independent said.

TO WHOM IS THE PHOTOGRAPH GIVING A VOICE?

The photograph of the policeman cradling a toddler’s body is extremely shocking and upsetting but the media felt that it needed to be seen.

Can you see how such a CONTROVERSIAL photograph can give a VOICE to the plight of refugees, in particular, the innocent children of families trying to flee war-torn countries?

The photograph was published at a time when EMPATHY for the refugee crisis was lacking across Europe and had a huge impact, conveying the PERSPECTIVE of a refugee and changing attitudes worldwide.

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