integrate: All stories have a curious and even dangerous power. They are manifestations of truth — yours and mine. And truth is all at once the most wonderful yet terrifying thing in the world, which makes it nearly impossible to handle. It is such a great responsibility that it’s best not to tell a story at all unless you know you can do it right. You must be very careful, or without knowing it you can change the world.” ― Vera Nazarian, Dreams of the Compass Rose into:War. Corruption. Death. This is our society today. This is the corrupt state of our degrading world. All around the globe there are wars, death, tyrannical leaders and political dramas. But I guarantee you almost everyone will have their own view on war. Composers often use their narratives to their advantage by portraying their personal opinions and views on certain topics. This grants their narratives the ability to inspire an individual's opinions and viewpoints. Next slide The amount of narratives written on war is immense. Out of all of them, one that I found to have a great influence on my perspective on war was written by John McCrae in the spring of 1915, “In Flanders Fields”. The poem was centralised around the motif of poppies, which is universally known as a symbol of patriotic remembrance for the death and agony arising from wartime expeditions. Point at the first line. The very first line introduces the key symbol of the poppy and also demonstrates the literal truth that the natural world continues to produce new life, no matter the circumstances. The flowers themselves, then, are the poem's first hint that life and death are intimately connected and perhaps even inseparable. The juxtaposing image of the "crosses" and the “poppies” reinforces this notion of life and death allowing the composer to optimistically express how after the death in war, life will flourish. This gives readers a deeper understanding of the sardonic worldview that war is a necessity as an equaliser of corruption and peace in the natural world and hence creates a connection between life and death. In the same stanza, (POINT TO THE BOARD) the speaker’s repetition of "row on row" creates the sense that the graves here are endless, just like the flowers. This clashes with the previous lines as even though life will flourish afterwards, death will always have a greater impact on individuals. Here the composer expresses how the result of war is a bloodbath, and hence paradoxically expresses his personal condemnation of war arising from corruption and anarchy. Next slide Often composers expediently use their narratives to compel readers to empathise with an unknown or unfamiliar perspective.Ben Affleck’s “Argo” (2012) does exactly this by manipulating audiences to develop an antagonistic view on Iranians through attributing their theocratic social structure to being a catalyst to corruption and oppression in their country. However, he also attributes their oppression as a vehicle to alienate outsiders and cultivate a stronger sense of community among civilians. Next slide When we first watched this scene we all noticed the burning flag. But what is even more interesting is the way it is positioned. We can see here that the Iranian who is holding the flag is positioned in a place of more power as they are above the flag. Here, Affleck portrays the Iranians as violent, irrational and threatening in nature, as they are burning the flag. In fact Iranians are depicted as uncivilised and dangerous people in the rest of the film as well. Throughout the film we as the audience are influenced to have pessimistic views on Iran. Next slide A few minutes in, the composer emphasises the barbaric nature of the Iranians. Affleck shows how the Iranians’ barbarism and the corruption of their authoritarian leader adversely affects its nation. The anger in the Iranian’s face is shown thoroughly to express their true thoughts on the Americans, and to show how the distrust of outsiders and fear of acting out of line is the result of a tyrannical ruler. This further reinforces Affleck's personal opinions on war, and highlights his hatred towards Iran. Next slide All of you here have been impacted, even if it was in the slightest way, by this speech. This is the power of literature. Specifically the power of narratives. It has the scary ability to manipulate our thoughts and our world. And throughout our lives, narratives have made us the people we are today. Thank you for listening.