How has the form of your studied texts enhanced your understanding of conflicting

perspectives?

Composers utilize conflicting perspectives within a text in order to represent a
certain subject matter with the intention of eliciting a desired reaction from
responders. This representation may be enhanced by textual form - used to guide
responders in discerning textual meaning. Indeed, Ted Hughes use of the
confessional poetry form in the anthology Birthday Letters exhibits the purposeful
use of conflicting perspectives, as whilst Hughes ascendant voice defines the poetry,
he represents conflicting viewpoints of his relationship with Sylvia Plath. In the
poems Your Paris and Red, responders must hence consider Hughes poetry as
encompassing dual purposes of public self-defence, and personal catharsis.
Comparatively, Paul Haggis in the film Crash depicts the intersecting lives of Los
Angeles citizens who are affected by conflicting racial perspectives, challenging
responders to reconsider their own acceptance of societal stereotypes. Ultimately,
both texts reflect the use of conflicting perspectives across a spectrum of textual
forms in order to heightening responders understanding according to a composers
intentions.

Hughes cathartic and defensive use of conflicting perspectives is facilitated by the
confessional poetry form, as in the poem Your Paris, Hughes is able to attempt to
reconcile the inexorable differences between himself and Plath. Hughess
representation of a conflict in perspective over the city of Paris between himself and
Plath serves as a synecdochical representation of their broader differences, with this
conflict emphasised by apostrophic end-stopped lines at the start of the poem,
Your Paris, I thought, was American. I wanted to humor you, reflecting Hughes
personal contempt for Plaths touristic perspective of Paris. Moreover, Hughes use
of personal pronouns accentuates his own dominant perspective of Paris as war-
damaged, which serves as an objective correlative representation of his experience
of Plaths mental illness, as he read each bullet scar With an eerie familiar
feeling. The extended bullet metaphor throughout Hughes poetry thus serves as a
mechanism of public defense, as he claims to have been damaged by Plaths actions,
such as in The Shot. This representation using the confessional poetry form thus
accentuates Hughes use of conflicting perspectives to depict the dynamics of his
relationship with Sylvia Plath.

Hughess confessional use of conflicting perspectives is furthered in the poem Red,
whereby Hughes seeks to cathartically explore the diametrically opposed facets of
his relationship with Plath. Hughes employs the titular colour red as a motif
throughout the poem, symbolically representing his own internal conflict over his
relationship with Plath between romance and trauma. Hughes own internalised
conflict is further represented through his use of low modality, questioning Plaths
colour, or personality, being if not red, then white. This representation of Plaths
own mental illness is evidently a facet of Hughes public defence, as he represents
her inner instability as a factor in her death. Hughes use of an accusatory tone
you revelled in red, affirms through his ascendant voice that it is his perspective
that Plath is solely responsible for her own death, as he represents her as


psychologically attached to forms of trauma. This representation of Plath thus
demonstrates the use of conflicting perspectives as a purposeful mechanism for
composers as Hughes defends his actions, and achieves personal catharsis.

The use of conflicting perspectives to achieve a certain purpose is affirmed in the
film Crash, whereby Haggis use of the filmic form emphasises conflicting racial
perspectives within contemporary society. Haggis depiction of a car accident in the
opening scene of the film serves as a synecdoche for wider societal racism, with
alternating camera shots between the Asian driver, and Mexican accentuating
their racist perspectives. Further, Haggis use of a parallel narrative structure
through screen cuts between the plots of each of the characters accentuates their
unity, as all are dualistic victims and perpetrators of racism. Indeed, a scene
transition to a low camera angle of a white womans legs over the Hispanic character
Daniel - a locksmith, emphasises her racial perspective as being dominant within
society over his submissive perspective a dynamic supported by racial stereotypes
which characterise him as a gangbanger. However, Haggis contrasts these
perspectives with a conflicting scene of Daniel with his daughter, affirming the use of
conflicting perspectives as a mechanism for composers to engage responders in a
meaningful representation.

Haggis depiction of racism through conflicting perspectives in Crash further serves
to challenge responders to reconsider their own acceptance of societal stereotypes.
Haggis use of irony in the parallel narrative structure promotes this re-evaluation, as
the conflicting perspectives of a racist officer and an African-American woman are
forcibly resolved through his symbolic rescue of her from a car accident. Similarly,
Haggis characterises police officer Hanson, an idealist in juxtaposition to the
perspectives of his racist colleagues, however ironically, it is Hanson who, in a
climactic scene, accidentally shoots an innocent African-American man, reflecting
Haggis use of conflicting perspectives to undermine responders expectations,
challenging their expectations within wider society. Furthermore, Haggis self
reflexively presents a conflicting perspective to racism within the film industry, as an
African American film executive rejects requests to make his actors speak more
black they are dumb ones. Thus, the value of conflicting perspectives in Haggis
film is reflected in his effectiveness of provoking responders to reconsider their own
racial perspectives.

In the use of conflicting perspectives as a mechanism to achieve a purpose,
composers may utilize form to enhance their depiction of a certain subject matter
which is intended to manipulate the opinions of responders. This mechanism is
reflected in Hughes representations of Plath in Birthday Letters, or Haggis
representations of racism in Crash. In this manner, whilst both reflect the ability of
composers to use conflicting perspectives for a personal purpose, Haggis Crash
further reveals the value of conflicting perspectives in altering societal opinions by
representing the experience of racist and bigoted perspectives.