TRANSCRIPT:

Fiction, philosophy, and music are three text forms included in my visual representation. Whilst each vastly different from the other, they often overlap when it comes to political allegory or meaning. The three texts used in the visual representation are Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, The Communist Manifesto, and the album No Need to Argue, by the Cranberries. Each of these texts are related in the sense that they have some sort of political undertone or direct messaging, speaking on injustice, violence, and oppressive systems. They all draw on similar themes, having massive influence on the world around us, and presenting opportunities for education concerning social issues. The largest, most salient image on the top left of the page, perfectly utilises contrast, with the dove representing peace and the bomb representing war. The salience created by colour, size, and positioning of the image makes it feel as though it is the main part of the visual representation. This is proven to be true as every other image on the page is in some way representative of peace or conflict. The top right image of a Nazi poster containing an Aryan man uses symbolism in the form of the swastika, making it easy to recognise what type of poster it is. The man, standing high boasting his chest, as well as the swastika in the background, are presented as lighter than the rest of the image, this is an effective way of drawing attention to the main points of a poster. The man's gaze leads to the book Fahrenheit 451, a novel about a government that weaponises book-burning to oppress its people. This is relevant as book-burning was commonplace in Nazi germany. The stark red and orange on the Fahrenheit 451 cover stands out against the white and black background, drawing the viewer's eyes to the fire and title. Underneath the novel cover is an image of communist revolutionary, Vladimir Lenin, addressing a large crowd. The eyes of the crowd create vector, as we are drawn to Lenin. Lenin is holding his hand out, directing the viewer to the next image, The Communist Manifesto. This is representative of the inspiration Lenin took from Marx's works in his foundation of Soviet Russia. The large title text of the manifesto draws the viewer's attention and allows them to clearly understand what the text is. Directly next to Marx, contrasting significantly with the dull red and white cover of the manifesto, is a poster representing revolution. The guns of the rebels are pointing up towards a commonly used socialist symbol, the rose. The rose represents the promise of a better life under a socialist government. The placement of this image is relevant, considering the great impacts of Marx's communist manifesto in terms of revolution and the development of socialist ideology. In the bottom right corner of the visual representation is the album cover of the Cranberries album, "No Need to Argue". The band members are framed by an empty white room, and are all wearing dark colours in order to create salience. This album contains one of the band's most famous songs, Zombie. Zombie is written about the harm inflicted upon innocents in the fight for Irish independence. Lead singer, Dolores O'Riordan is staring to her right, where I have placed a segment of a poster from the Irish Republican Army, who are the perpetrators of the killings she talks about in her song. The included segment of the poster simply reads, "Resistance". The full poster sends a message to Britain, stating that "There can never be peace in Ireland until the foreign, oppressive British presence is removed, leaving all the Irish people as a unit to control their own affairs and determine their own destinies. as a sovereign people, free in mind and body, separate and distinct physically, culturally, and economically." Together, all the images form a cohesive representation of the power of words, and can be linked directly back to the main theme of peace and war. I've alluded to this by making the images form a partial frame surrounding the image of the dove and bomb, as well as by using images with similar colours and meaningful positioning.