The Impact of Discovery May Be Far Reaching and Transformative

SAMPLE ESSAY BODY PARAGRAPH – AREA OF STUDY ‘DISCOVERY’

Q – THE IMPACT OF DISCOVERY MAY BE FAR REACHING AND TRANSFORMATIVE. DISCUSS.

The tension inherent in the dialectic nature of discovery challenges and transforms an individual’s perspective of truth, producing broader change in one’s worldview.

The process of discovery encompasses the questioning of pre-established truths and paradigms, catalysing change in perspective of the nature truth itself which consequently acts as a lens colouring our perception of broader society.

Through his documenting of Frank Hurley’s photographic work in “Frank Hurley: The Man Who Made History”, director Simon Nasht leads the viewer to realise the arbitrary nature of truth as the postmodern context allows historical truth to be questioned when confronted with the composite nature of Hurley’s photographic representations.

The process of discovery is initiated from the opening depiction of Hurley’s work on Shakleton’s expedition to Antarctica as assumptions of absolute truth are questioned, with the repetitive dissolving of one image into another reflecting Hurley’s own editing process but also becoming symbolic of the postmodern blurring of boundaries regarding absolute truth. The dialectic nature of the process of discovery is furthered as interviewed experts such as Steve Martin contemplate Hurley’s “dalliance with the truth”, and the director positions the audience to accept the composite images, therefore transforming their perspective to accept the duplicity of truth they embody.

The necessity of questioning what one considers to be truth in order to discover is manifest in Hurley’s own struggle to transform his work “into the oldest myth of the hero’s journey”. The paradigm of this genre shifts as “the reality of machine guns, mud and mustard gas came…” in World War One, creating