Embedded Files
1.1 ARTICLE : Charlie Brooker: 'Too much talk for one planet: why I'm reducing my word emissions.'
1.1 ARTICLE : Charlie Brooker: 'Too much talk for one planet: why I'm reducing my word emissions.'
STARTER:
STARTER:
As a working theory, what if our communication excess became a pollutant?
How would society regulate “word emissions”?
Could we carbon-cap our talking?
1.1 - Add to your annotations
1.1 - Add to your annotations
Audience, purpose and mode
Audience: Guardian readers, fans of Brooker, broadsheet newspaper readers, those with an interest in satire, ‘intelligent general readers’ and readers of Private Eye magazine.
Purpose: to express an opinion and inform; to amuse, to satirise conventions and use of social/other media such as TV and print and ‘green issues’, to engage readers with the reasons for writing (for an audience), and in the writing process.
Mode: online newspaper article. Generic conventions are reflected in the headline/ sub-heading structure giving a concise overview of the article.
Points for analysis and discussion
Closely analyse, discuss and evaluate the text and consider the effects of literary or linguistic choices.
What is the overall tone of the piece? How is this achieved?
What is the intention of the text? How do you know? How successful is it in achieving this?
What is the context in which this text was written? How have the contexts influenced the writer? How has the text been crafted or shaped to meet the expectations of the supposed audience?
What does the writer intend to tell us about themselves? How do they create a sense of their persona in the text?
How are his views on ‘acceptable’ levels of engagement from readers and criticism in the online arena portrayed? How does he suggest his experience contrasts with female writers in similar spaces?
In what ways does Brooker convey his views on the value of communication online? How does he reflect on the online nature of modern journalism?
How does he convey the writing process and how articles or opinion pieces are received?
Some points of interest might include:
Brooker’s voice: confrontational, wry, sardonic tone.
Reflections on Brooker’s comments on other modes and modality (multimodal) texts, and how newspapers have changed.
Inter-textual references to other media: Private Eye and social media (eg Twitter, online versions of newspapers in print) and himself as an author; his relationship with his editor and perceptions of his audience.
The following techniques are evident in this text:
Use of irony and sarcasm.
A cohesive, linear structure, with digressions; the run of the argument/opinion revealed through (for example) humour, pointed phrasing and direct address to the reader.
Tone and register: elements of spoken language features are seemingly used (or rather conveyed) through the mixture of colloquial and formal register.
The use of punctuation within paragraphs and parentheses to offer asides. Discourse: how the whole text reflects on the (pervasive?) use of social media.
This text gives opportunities for students to reflect on a variety of terms and concepts. Some examples might include:
Use of semantics in relation to types of media and the language of green issues and the green debate; (social) media as pollution, eg ‘yet another factory ... pumping carbon dioxide into a toxic sky’.
Use of neologisms, eg ‘wordstorm’, and lexis of social media and IT, eg ‘Photoshop’, ‘meme’.
Use of repetition for comedic effect, to address the audience and shape the article, eg ‘Here, have a full stop. And another. And another.’, ‘events and noise, events and noise’.
Use of hyperbole for comic effect, eg ‘elderly man from the age of steam’, ‘sitting grumpily in a spaceship ... wearing a stovepipe hat’.
His skill in engaging with and addressing ‘his’ audience, eg ‘...stop reading anytime...’... ‘there are exits all over the building..’ and ‘...typing words into their computers...like I’m doing now’ and this mirroring over the article’s structure
Use of the imperative, eg his final challenge and dismissal of the audience in three words, ‘now get out’
CHALLENGE
Brooker is identified as a satirist and broadcaster. Explore recent, and less recent, examples of satire in print and on television. Topics and examples that explore agreed subject matter can be drawn from current affairs. Research and report back on examples of your favourites, writing brief evaluations on why you think they are effective.
Using the information found in the research task as a point of comparison, consider lexical choices and pragmatic devices used to discuss how Brooker presents himself to his audience -checking definitions of and applying appropriate terminology.
In reference to the provenance of the article, Brooker refers at one point to being ‘...all set to write to their letters page to whine in the most pompous manner imaginable.’ Exploring suitable examples of letters published in Private Eye as additional background work. Reproduce Brooker’s imaginary letter to the editor (coursework skill).
Convert the article into a screenplay, rewriting the text into a suitable format for presentation to camera. You could perform your pieces as individuals or divide the script between pairs or small groups.
MODEL PARAGRAPH:
MODEL PARAGRAPH:
Writing in The Guardian in 2013, at a time when Twitter and 24-hour news cycles were accelerating the culture of instant reaction, Charlie Brooker frames his frustration with overcommunication through an extended metaphor that equates words with pollution, presenting “word emissions” as though they were “carbon dioxide” pumped into a “toxic sky.” By borrowing the lexis of environmental catastrophe, he amplifies what might otherwise be dismissed as a minor irritation into an urgent social problem, suggesting that unchecked commentary clogs up the cultural atmosphere as dangerously as greenhouse gases choke the physical one. The insistent repetition of “events and noise, events and noise” mimics the relentless rhythm of online commentary, while colloquial phrasing such as “if you could be arsed with it” creates a sardonic, conversational voice typical of Brooker’s satirical persona in broadcast and print. Importantly, his self-deprecating admission that he has “contributed to the problem” bolsters his ethos: he positions himself not as a detached scold but as a complicit participant trying to model restraint. In combining humour, hyperbole, and social critique, Brooker entertains his readership while also forcing them to acknowledge the numbing absurdity of perpetual digital chatter.
CREATIVE TASK:
CREATIVE TASK:
Mini-Black Mirror Pitch
Invent a Black Mirror–style episode inspired by “Too Much Talk.” For example, a future where people must pay per word, or where silence is taxed.
You must pitch your episode idea to the rest of the class, who will vote on which 'Black Mirror' pitch is the most successful.
1.2 FEATURE ARTICLE: IAN BIRRELLL
Links and connections
Make connections across texts, drawing comparisons with and contrasts to other texts:
To what extent are the generic conventions similar to Birrell’s article in the anthology? Are the audiences seen as similar -as a type of ‘broadsheet’ newspaper audience, for example?
How do the articles contrast in tone and register, but both reflect upon contemporary issues? How do they contrast (and compare) in overall structure? To what extent do they differ in the internal structuring of paragraphs and overall address to the reader? Are these considerations influenced by subject matter as much as by the author’s approach? How might Birrell treat Brooker’s subject matter, and vice versa?
CHALLENGE
Find external sources/references to similar feature- and opinion-led articles and publications drawn from a variety of print and online versions of the same newspapers (Guardian, The Independent, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The FT etc.) Other useful comparisons could be drawn from satirical-based sources (Private Eye magazine, both in print and online) and general publications that focus on current affairs, eg The Economist, The New Statesman, Newsweek.
1.2 - Add to your annotations
1.2 - Add to your annotations
Audience, purpose and mode
Audience: readers of the I newspaper (The Independent online); followers and fans of Birrell; followers and fans of African music/culture and so are aware of Birrell as a writer in this sphere, and/or followers of Birrell’s work as a journalist and campaigner; those with an interest in current affairs; those with an interest in identity, sexuality and/or disability issues; ‘intelligent general readers’.
Purpose: to express an opinion and inform/raise an issue.
Mode: newspaper article published online.
Points for analysis and discussion
Closely analyse, discuss and evaluate the text and consider the effects of literary or linguistic choices.
Some points of interest might include:
Birrell’s reflective tone marked by a sense of muted celebration of gay marriage in the context of disabled people’s rights, status or recognition in wider society.
How the article is set out and retains graphological conventions of newspaper articles in print, but is an online text.
How Birrell balances the article’s structure, marked with the headline and subheadings, through to expressing his views on the ‘milestone in the bumpy march towards tolerance ...’ in short paragraphs broken by the single line ‘These are people with disabilities ...’which deepens the tone of the article as well as reflecting on the opening points.
How facts are woven into the line of argument and are mixed with opinions that serve to support the reasoning succinctly eg ‘almost two-thirds of those who develop a disability...You can multiply all these damning statistics ... Just imagine the rightful outcry ...’.
The following techniques are evident in this text: Use of the third person plural form giving a sense of a detached voice that functions in some ways similar to a typical generic opinion piece via references to the writer, eg ‘They were clearing up the confetti ... Within my lifetime ...’
Rhetorical questioning framed as an open question that is then answered, eg ‘So why is this happening ...? One reason is ...’
Sentence structures of varying length with a balance of positive and negative formal tones to get his point across and to ‘signpost’ the issues in the rest of the article, eg ‘We should rejoice at the speed...mocked and used...have taken their place’.
Discourse structure: how the whole text functions to reflect a sense of relief and regret, or celebration tinged with sadness.
This text gives opportunities for students to reflect on a variety of terms and concepts.
Some examples might include:
Semantic fields and word collocations of marriage and celebration, balanced with a lexis drawn from scepticism and regret, eg ‘confetti, nursing hangovers ... honeymoons ... traditional kiss ...’ and ‘problems remain ...’, ‘self-congratulatory talk of tolerance ...’ and ‘stuck in the shadows of society’.
Post- and pre-modified noun phrases that relate to the theme and mood of the piece, with (arguably) an underlying agenda being expressed in terms couched in a mixture of fact and opinion, but presented as factual eg ‘problems remain ...’
Use of alliteration for effect – mood, tone – and to build a picture of typical attitudes, eg ‘befuddled British embarrassment at best’.
Use of conjunctions and connective clauses with a lexis drawn from concepts around politics, society and individuals, or groups or ‘communities’ which relate to perceived public perception of people’s ‘usefulness’ and ‘place’ in society.
Phraseology that is by turns disapproving and supportive, eg ‘Not only ... but almost two-thirds’, ’multiply all these damning statistics ... for people with learning difficulties’, ’It is great to see ... but, with more spending cuts looming ...’
When discussing the effects of literary or linguistic choices, consider questions such as:
How is the overall tone of the article achieved? Is the article positive towards society’s attitudes in general? How can you tell?
What are the features which characterise this text as an article? Is it purely an opinion piece?
What is the intention of the text? How do you know? How successful is it in achieving this?
What does the writer intend to tell us about themselves? Do they create a sense of their personality in the text, or is it removed or distant?
What is the context in which this text was written? How much has this context influenced the writer?
Links and connections
Try to make connections across texts, drawing comparisons with and contrasts to other texts:
Are the generic conventions similar to Brooker’s article? If so, to what extent? Can we regard the supposed audiences as similar, perhaps as a type of broadsheet newspaper audience?
How do the articles compare or contrast in tone and register? Both reflect, and reflect upon, contemporary issues, but is the subject matter more -or less- important to the audience?
Do the articles contrast in tone only, or do the writers choose to address the issues using language suitable to the content?
External sources could be drawn across a wide range of issues that relate to Birrell’s focus but differ widely in style and approach. Examples might be drawn from texts that approach the subject matter from different angles, and as such could be argued to have a very different purpose as well as audience, eg text NHS text type below and other leaflets/pamphlets distributed via hospital clinics and GP surgeries. Other examples could include articles that are closer to, or in contrast with, Birrell’s assumed purpose and from similar forms of media, eg articles below.
Creative Coursework Preparation:
Creative Coursework Preparation:
Write the text for a formal speech to be given to an audience of business leaders and MPs at a conference. The content is up to you but choose to write in the voice of Birrell or Brooker. You could, for example, attempt to persuade leaders to join in with a campaign to improve conditions for the an under represented group, or Disney to review policy and allow access for the disabled. Perhaps you could write a Brooker speech on the dangers of celebrity worship.
The speech should be around 800 words long.
HOMEWORK : Complete the task above and write a 400 word commentary on your speech, analysing the techniques you used, why you used them and why/how they would be effective, given the audience.
COMPARISON
COMPARISON
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