1.1 Charlie Brooker

Question 1

Genre / mode?

Answer 1

Opinion article, satirical, print from the Guardian

Question 2

Audience?

Answer 2

Guardian newspaper readers, Brooker fans, intellectuals, Private Eye readers

Question 3

Purpose?

Answer 3

Express opinions, inform, engage readers, explain reasons for writing, entertain

Question 4

Ambitious vocab for voice? (8)

Answer 4

Scornful, confrontational, satirical, acerbic, wry, strident, sardonic, humorous

Question 5

Brooker is known for…

Answer 5

Black Mirror and general satire

Question 6

Impact on reader?

Answer 6

Forces them to think about carbon footprint and word emissions; criticises readers; educates readers

Question 7

‘Too much talk for one planet: why I’m reducing my word emissions.’ Analysis? (4)

Answer 7

Repeated fricatives; reference to title / climate change activism (‘we only have one planet’); headline- mentions both issues covered; dislocated collocation draws attention and creates shock factor

Question 8

‘I’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of jabber in the world- it’s a vast cloud of blah’ analysis (4)

Answer 8

References online discourse and issues; ‘jabber’ to indicate insignificance; explains reasons why he’s stopped writing; visual imagery to link back to climate change

Question 9

‘I’m aware this is Olympic level navel gazing, but you’re a human being with free will who can stop reading any time. Here, have a full stop, and another. And another.’ Analysis (5)

Answer 9

Unapologetic; knows his audience and preferences; ironic and self aware narcissism; tripling, repeated, sadistic, annoyed; predicts critics, so is self critical

Question 10

‘I’m an elderly man from the age of steam’ analysis (4)

Answer 10

Contraction, informal voice, subverts GCs; familiar collocation, ironic and hyperbolic; begs for sympathy from younger readers; paper age / Industrial Revolution, Brooker as old

Question 11

‘86 outraged columns, 95 despairing blogs, half a million wry tweets and a rib-ticking pass-the-parcel photoshop meme’ analysis (5)

Answer 11

Numerical lexis, illusion of statistics; repeated use of premodifiers to make it clunky and prove his point; familiar collocation, internet lexis; syndetic list; cultural reference

Question 12

‘Whine in the most pompou manner imaginable’ analysis (6)

Answer 12

Deliberate childish register; auditory imagery; superlative / pejorative emphasis; heightened language, educated; noun phrase, relateable tone; tone of contempt