Broader Perspectives 2013 07 Compre Answers

COMPREHENSION 2013 BROADER PERSPECTIVES The Identity Issue
COMPREHENSION
CONTENT
NAME CLASS
/35M /15M /50M
LANGUAGE TOTAL
The Great Escape
Comprehension Answers available at www.broaderperspectives.com.sg & www.twitter.com/ThinkTankSG
QUESTIONS ATTACHED
FANTASY,
THE DIET OF
MAINSTREAM
CULTURE
Adapted from On Art, Childhood and Creativity
The only people who hate escapism are jailers, said the essayist and Narnia author C S Lewis.
A generation later, the fantasy writer Michael Moorcock revised the quip: jailers love escapism
its escape they cant stand. Today, in the early years of the 21st century, escapism the act
of withdrawing from the pressures of the real world into fantasy worlds has taken on a scale
and scope quite beyond anything Lewis might have envisioned. I am a writer and critic of fantasy,
and for most of my life I have been an escapist. I played my frst video game on a rubber-keyed
Sinclair ZX Spectrum and have followed the upgrade path through Mega Drive, PlayStation,
Xbox and high-powered gaming PCs that lodged supercomputers inside households across the
developed world. I have watched the symbolic language of fantasy shift from the guilty pleasure of
geeks and outcasts to become the diet of mainstream culture. And I am not alone. Im emblematic
of an entire generation who might, when our history is written, be remembered frst and foremost
for our exodus into digital fantasy. Is this great escape anything more than idle entertainment
designed to keep us happy in Moorcocks jail? Or is there, as Lewis believed, a higher purpose to
our fantastical fights?
Fans of J R R Tolkien line up squarely behind Lewis. Tolkiens Lord of the Rings (1954) took the
fantasy novel previously occupied with moralising childrens stories and created an entire
world in its place. Middle Earth was no metaphor or allegory: it was its own reality, complete with
maps, languages, history and politics a secondary world of fantasy in which readers became
fully immersed, escaping primary reality for as long as they continued reading. Immersion has
since become the mantra of modern escapist fantasy, and the creation of seamless secondary
worlds its mission. We hunger for an escape so complete it borders on oblivion: the total
eradication of self and reality beneath a superimposed fantasy.
Language is a powerful technology for escape, but it is only as powerful as the literacy of the
reader. Not so with cinema. Star Wars marked the arrival of a new kind of blockbuster flm, one
that leveraged the cutting edge of computer technology to make on-screen fantasy ever more
immersive. Then, in 1991, with James Camerons Terminator 2: Judgment Day, computer-
generated imagery (CGI) came into its own, and morphing established a new standard in fantasy
on screen. CGI allowed flmmakers to create fantasy worlds limited only by their imaginations. The
seamless melding of reality and fantasy that CGI delivers has transformed our expectations of
cinema, and fuelled a ravenous appetite for escape. And just when we thought that this appetite
has reached its apex, we witnessed how video games managed to break new ground and
redefne the boundaries of escapism.
The Great Escape
Digital technology allows us to lose ourselves in ever more immersive fantasy
worlds. But what are we feeing from?
1
2
3
1
5
10
15
20
25
30
Adapted from On Art, Childhood and Creativity by Damien Walter,
for the purposes of the A level General Paper
Video games might have seemed an unlikely escapist technology in the early days of Pong and
Pac-Man. It takes a mighty effort of will to see the collection of pixels hovering at the bottom of
the screen in Space Invaders as the last star-fghter of mankind. But the working of Moores Law
which holds that computing power doubles every two years meant that, by the early 1990s,
video games were jockeying with flm to lead the escapism industry. That decade also saw the
frst waves of cyber-utopianism, although the early promise of virtual reality headsets and internet
multi-user domains failed to materialise. Instead, it was our thumbs that did the talking through
the control pads of home games consoles with high-defnition screens. Super Mario Bros, Sonic
the Hedgehog and Lara Croft as Tomb Raider helped to transform video games from childish
obsession to mainstream cultural phenomenon. The truth is, if most people around you live and
breathe escapism, it is hard to have a proper bearing on how far you are veering away from reality
with each passing day.
Today, video-game franchises such as Halo, Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty power an industry
worth an estimated $65 billion globally in 2011. But money is only the tip of the iceberg when it
comes to measuring the impact of gaming on contemporary culture and society at large. The
American video-game designer and researcher Jane McGonigal estimates that there are 500
million virtuoso gamers (people who have spent more than 10,000 hours in game worlds) active
today. She argues that this number will increase threefold over the next decade: around a ffth of
the worlds population will spend as much time in digitally generated worlds as they do in full-time
education. Were embarking on a daring social experiment: the immersion of an entire generation
into digitally generated escapist fantasies of unprecedented depth and complexity. And the most
remarkable aspect of this potential revolution is how little consideration we are giving it.
As the technology of escape continues to accelerate, weve begun to see an eruption of fantasy
into reality. The augmented reality of Google Glass, and the virtual reality of the games headset
Oculus Rift (resurrected by the power of crowd-funding) present the very real possibility that
our digital fantasy worlds might soon be blended with our physical world, enhancing but also
distorting our sense of reality. When we can replace our own refection in the mirror with an image
of digitally perfected beauty, how will we tolerate any return to the real? Perhaps, in the end, we
will fnd ourselves, not desperate to escape into fantasy, but desperate to escape from fantasy. Or
simply unable to tell which is which.
4
5
6
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
85
90
95
100
Some might argue we are already there. In the sci-f visions of the American futurist Ray Kurzweil
and other prophets of post-humanism, we will upload our minds to silicon substrates, there to
be accelerated into super-intelligence and the looming technological singularity. Its a vision of
religious communion now widely parodied as The Rapture of the Nerds. And yet the digital
technologies of today are just the latest in a long progression of tools for the expression of the
imagination. We are escaping, not into other worlds, but into imagination. The question is, what
are we escaping from? Is it reality? (Whatever that is.)
From the perspective of the underclass, material reality is bleak. Youre a survivor of blind
evolution, stranded on a muddy rock under the harsh glare of a nuclear sun. Beyond that is an
infnite universe of inert matter, dust and devastating radiation that is neither for nor against you,
but simply unaware of your existence. There is no God. There is no heaven, or eternal reward.
There is only another shift in the factory, or the call centre, or McDonalds if youre lucky. At
its determinist extreme, materialist philosophy enforces a strikingly rigid and oppressive social
hierarchy.
Faced with your own inferiority in this hierarchy, why wouldnt you plunge into fantasy? Invest your
hopes in the teleporter caprices of reality TV, where faux victory in The X Factor or The Apprentice
can raise you to the neon-lit stratosphere of celebrity. Light up a spliff and switch on your Xbox.
Lose yourself in the colourful pages of comic books. Fulfl your dreams of being beautiful, wealthy,
heroic the centre of a universe built just for you! and ignore the world beyond your bedsit,
in which you are underpaid, unloved and anonymous. But all the while these escapist fantasies
are fed by an industry that seeks merely to commodify our dreams and then sell them back to
us, stripped of meaning, emptied of the true potential of human imagination. We remain in jail,
only dreaming of freedom. The real lesson that poverty teaches is that our society is shaped for
those with power. Yet in this, paradoxically, there might still be some hope for our great escape,
because all escapism takes us to worlds created through an act of imagination. Hour after hour,
we practise what it means to be creators of our own worlds: through the empowered actions of a
heroes such as Luke Skywalker, or The Terminators Sarah Connor; through the creation of our
own heroes in games such as World of Warcraft; or even by exploring our own God-like creativity
in SimCity or Minecraft.
Do our fantasy worlds, then, help us to escape, not from reality, but from our own limitations? Is
it possible that we might bring back from our escapist adventures a renewed sense of our own
power and creative potential as human beings? It is doubtful, because ultimately, there is only
a limit to how long we can escape. Even our vocabularyescapesuggests that we are only
retreating into a realm that we cannot stay indefnitely. We must come to terms in the end with the
fact that when we hit the power off button we have only wasted more time in a virtual world that
could have been better used to help us cope with the real world. Reality will have the fnal verdict,
and all those miserable and powerless people will remain incarcerated in their false hopes of an
unreachable state. Maybe its high time we fnd the courage to wake up from our delusions, break
free from the jails of fantasies, and improve our own reality, whatever that might actually be.
7
8
9
10
THE GREAT ESCAPE 2013 BROADER PERSPECTIVES The Identity Issue
Comprehension Questions
1 Why might the jailers hate escapism (line 1)? [1]
2 How is the author emblematic of an entire generation (line10-11)? Use your own words as
far as possible. [2]
3 What does the author mean by the line Fans of J R R Tolkien line up squarely behind Lewis
(line 15)? [1]

4 According to the author, what kind of escape do people hunger for (line 21)? Use your own
words as far as possible. [2]
5 Why is language as a technology for escape only as powerful as the literacy of the reader
(lines 23-24)? [1]
6 Why did video games seem[ed] an unlikely escapist technology (line 33)? Use your own
7 Explain what the author means by most remarkable aspect (line 53-54). [2]

8 How does augmented reality enhance[ing] but also distort[ing] our sense of reality (lines 58-
59)? [2]
9 What is the signifcance of the authors comment in parenthesis at the end of the paragraph
(line 69)? [2]
10 Why does the author claim that we remain in jail (line 84)? [1]
11 What does the phrase fnal verdict refer to in line 98? [1]
12 Summarise the advantages and disadvantages of the technology of escape (line 55). [8]
Using material from paragraphs 6-7 and 9-10, write your summary in no more than 120 words, not
counting the opening words which are given below. Use your own words as far as possible.
The technology of escape can possibly enhance our sense of reality
13. In the fnal paragraph, Walter writes that when we hit the power off button we have only
wasted more time in a virtual world that could have been better used to help us cope with the
real world. (lines 97-98) How far do you agree with his claim? Is it fair to say that all time spent
in the virtual world is wasted time? In giving your views, explain where and why you agree or
disagree with the author. [10]
Comprehension Answers
1 Why might the jailers hate escapism (line 1)? [1]
Because what jailers do is to keep people in jail, and so they would abhor their prisoners daydreaming
or being mentally free from prison as it would mean that the latter are free/not actually imprisoned.
Or
Any other sensible answer.
2 How is the author emblematic of an entire generation (line10-11)? Use your own words as
far as possible. [2]

Line Lifted Paraphrased
6-9 I played my frst video game on a rubber-
keyed Sinclair ZX Spectrum and have
followed the upgrade path through
Mega Drive, PlayStation, Xbox and high-
powered gaming PCs that lodged
supercomputers inside households
across the developed world.
He is emblematic in that like others in this
time/period, he has spent so much time
(1/2) (inferred) in the virtual world (1/2)
(inferred) through playing video games
since their early beginnings (1/2), all the
way until they became available on high
performing complex machines (1/2).
3 What does the author mean by the line Fans of J R R Tolkien line up squarely behind Lewis
(line 15)? [1]
He means that the fans of J RR Tolkien are of the view that fantasy stories go beyond mere
entertainment and moralising, and are capable of creating entirely different realities that allowed for
the exploration of new meaning and possibility that was entirely engulfng.
4 According to the author, what kind of escape do people hunger for (line 21)? Use your own
21-22 We hunger for an escape so complete
it borders on oblivion: the total
eradication of self and reality beneath a
superimposed fantasy.
People crave / yearn for an escape that is
so total / comprehensive (1/2) that it brings
them to self-forgetfulness (1/2): the whole
annihilation (1/2) of the ego and what is
real / of everything we are and know (1/2)
so that it is replaced by imagination.
5 Why is language as a technology for escape only as powerful as the literacy of the reader
(lines 23-24)? [1]
Because the reader is only able to access and imagine the possibilities of escape conjured up by
words in his or her mind insofar as his or her language profciency allows.
Or
Because if the readers command of language is poor, he or she will not be able to access the escapist
experience as intensely or profoundly as a more profcient reader.
6 Why did video games seem[ed] an unlikely escapist technology (line 33)? Use your own
33-35 Video games might have seemed an
unlikely escapist technology in the early
days of Pong and Pac-Man. It takes a
mighty effort of will to see the collection
of pixels hovering at the bottom of the
screen in Space Invaders as the last star-
fghter of mankind.
They seemed to have a low possibility of
being a means to help people evade reality
because in its inception (1/2), the graphics
of games such as Pong and Pac-Man were
so unsophisticated and simplistic in
representation (1/2) that it would require
a lot of concentration and determination
(1/2) on the part of the player to imagine
and be completely immersed (1/2) in the
virtual world (inferred).
7 Explain what the author means by most remarkable aspect (line 53-54). [2]
The author means to say that the foremost unbelievable (1/2) part (1/2) is the fact that we are not even
giving much thought to this profound change of a whole generation of people being immersed in virtual
reality (1).
8 How does augmented reality enhance[ing] but also distort[ing] our sense of reality (lines 58-
59)? [2]
It enhances our sense of reality by altering images (1/2) such that they look better than reality (1/2) but
it distorts reality by causing us to lose a sense of what is real (1/2) and thus become unable to tolerate
or accept (1/2) what is real as it pales in comparison to the enhanced reality.
9 What is the signifcance of the authors comment in parenthesis at the end of the paragraph
(line 69)? [2]
The comment is to reveal the authors uncertainty (1/2) as to what exactly constitutes reality (1/2)
given the fact that our digital technologies today are so advanced (1/2) that we are able to create
reality based on our imagination (1/2).
Or
The phrase in parenthesis is an interjection (1/2) by the author which reveals his own awareness
of the increased ambiguity (1/2) of what reality means now because of how we are integrating our
experiences with technology / mechanical interfaces (1/2) to make what we imagine as our new
realities (1/2).
10 Why does the author claim that we remain in jail (line 84)? [1]
He claims that we remain trapped / imprisoned (1/2) because instead of being able to experience
freedom through our imagination, the marketplace has taken that out of our hands and turned it into a
product for us to consume that separates us from our own imaginative potential (1/2).
11 What does the phrase fnal verdict refer to in line 98? [1]
It refers to the fact that reality has the ultimate say in our lives / will determine if our lives have been
worthwhile and if we have truly accomplished anything (1/2), and that there is only so long that we
can remain in our fantasies / our fantasies ultimately cannot truly help us break free of our challenges/
struggles/pains/suffering (1/2).
12 Summarise the advantages and disadvantages of the technology of escape (line 55). [8]
Using material from paragraphs 6-7 and 9-10, write your summary in no more than 120 words, not
counting the opening words which are given below. Use your own words as far as possible.
The technology of escape can possibly enhance our sense of reality
56-59 From para 6:
The augmented reality of Google Glass,
and the virtual reality of the games
headset Oculus Rift (resurrected by the
power of crowd-funding) present the very
real possibility that our digital fantasy
worlds might soon be blended with
our physical world, enhancing but also
distorting our sense of reality.
From para 6:
through melding virtual universes with
our real one,
but it can also warp it.
63-65 From para 7:
In the sci-f visions of the American futurist
Ray Kurzweil and other prophets of post-
humanism, we will upload our minds to
silicon substrates,
there to be accelerated into super-
intelligence and the looming
technological singularity.
From para 7:
It might also let us combine our
intelligence
into an omnipotent intelligence of the
future.
77-88 From para 9:
Invest your hopes in the teleporter
caprices of reality TV, where faux victory
in The X Factor or The Apprentice can
raise you to the neon-lit stratosphere of
celebrity. Light up a spliff and switch on
your Xbox. Lose yourself in the colourful
pages of comic books. Fulfl your dreams
of being beautiful, wealthy, heroic
the centre of a universe built just for
you!
and ignore the world beyond your
bedsit,
in which you are underpaid, unloved and
anonymous.
But all the while these escapist fantasies
are fed by an industry that seeks merely to
commodify our dreams
and then sell them back to us,
stripped of meaning,
emptied of the true potential of human
imagination.
Yet in this, paradoxically, there might still
be some hope for our great escape
, because all escapism takes us to
worlds created through
an act of imagination.
Hour after hour, we practise
what it means to be creators of our own
worlds:
From para 9:
It enables us to build a self-centred
world,
where we enjoy being gorgeous, rich,
and victorious,
while forgetting our miserable state of
being forgotten/insignifcant.
However, this escapism is touting our
fantasies
to us in material form
devoid of
the real capabilities of our creativity
Nevertheless, escapism offers
redemption as
it brings us to universes
wrought by our fantasies,
as we continually rehearse
being gods of our universes.
94-100 From para 10:
doubtful, because ultimately, there is
only a limit to how long we can escape.
Even our vocabularyescapesuggests
that we are only retreating into a realm that
we cannot stay indefnitely. We must come
to terms in the end with the fact that when
we hit the power off button we have only
wasted more time in a virtual world
that could have been better used to
help us cope with the real world.
Reality will have the fnal verdict, and all
those miserable and powerless people will
remain incarcerated in their false hopes
of an unreachable state.
From para 10:
But fnally, when escapism ends,
we realise we have squandered time in
fantasies
that could be benefcial in the real one,
by staying in our delusions.
Award full marks for 15-17 key phrases.
13. In the fnal paragraph, Walter writes that when we hit the power off button we have only
wasted more time in a virtual world that could have been better used to help us cope with the
real world. (lines 97-98) How far do you agree with his claim? Is it fair to say that all time spent
in the virtual world is wasted time? In giving your views, explain where and why you agree or
disagree with the author. [10]
This passage is about the authors views on how our advanced technologies in the modern world
have facilitated greater levels of escapism than ever before, and how we need to literally and
metaphorically wake up from our slumber in the virtual world before it is too late. He takes us through
the development of technology and shows us what indulgences in fantasy and imaginations people
partake in, and the various reasons for them. In exploring escapisms possibilities, he questions also
the nature of reality. He recognises how technology has served to enhance it as well as distort it. He
concludes by judging that time spent in the real world is superior to time that is wasted in the virtual
one.
Key arguments/threads of thoughts that students can consider are:
Is time spent in the virtual world really mutually exclusive from time spent in the real world, given that
the virtual world resides in our mind and occupies our mind as well, in the very same way that the real
world does?
Are there skills or lessons to be learnt in the virtual world that can be imported or transferred into the
real one?
Are we not able then to also level similar allegations against people who spend time reading books or
watching movies of fctitious nature, given that they also conjure up in our minds a virtual reality. Are
not most forms of media virtual reality in that sense?
To what extent has virtual reality become part of the life of Singaporeans? How acceptable are we of
this change? Does our fascination with technology and computer tablets from a young age constitute
as escapism into virtual reality?
It might be possible to also posit the realities we are trying to run away (as a nation or even as human
beings existing in a globalised context) from, and how having a technologically advanced society
facilitates escapism but also means that we risk social and political stability in the process when the
needs of the disadvantaged start to become chronic and pronounced problems.

Broader Perspectives 2013 07 Compre Answers

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Broader Perspectives 2013 07 Compre Answers

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

COMPREHENSION 2013 BROADER PERSPECTIVES The Identity Issue

Вам также может понравиться