Model representations and Language answers Flashcards
Describe two representations in media content you have studied (2)
- In Chernobyl Legasov is represented as a frustrated nuclear scientist driven to suicide by the Soviet states refusal to accept scientific fact about the nuclear reactor explosion
- In Chernobyl the Soviet state are represented as paranoid about how they are viewed by their own people and their image in the wider world
Explain in detail how language features have been used to create each of these representations (10 marks)
The representation of Legasov as a nuclear scientist frustrated and suicidal because of the government’s failure to accept scientific truth is created by the prop of cassette tapes on which Legasov records his version of the truth.
The code of the tapes suggests the representation of frustration/suicidal thoughts because in these recordings Legasov angrily reveals the truth about Chernobyl, which the state hid.
He then secretes these cassettes in a hiding place at the side of his house, clearly intending not to be alive if they are found by others sympathetic to him in a state which sees Legasov’s knowledge as dangerous.
The close-up camera shots of various props (clock, books, calculator, cat, cigarette) create this representation of Legasov, too.
The code of the clock represents time running out for Legasov as, frustrated and suicidal, he prepares to take his own life 2 years to the day following the explosion at the nuclear reactor, because the state has not accepted his scientific findings.
The prop of the cigarette represents suicidal Legasov’s life ebbing away – he has 13 minutes left until the exact time the reactor blew up 2 years previously – as it burns down to the filter. The frustration is brought out in the irony that he smokes to calm his nerves before suicide , and the fact this code represents cancer – the cause of thousands of Chernobyl deaths.
The representation of the Soviet state as paranoid about their own image is created by camerawork, a high-angle shot from Legasov’s living room of an unlit, unmarked car containing KGB agents spying on him from the street outside.
This code suggests the state are paranoid Legasov may reveal the truth about the nuclear reactor exploding, causing them embarrassment both in the Soviet Union and worldwide. They are therefore careful to prevent him from revealing the truth, should he become frustrated enough to do so.
