Referring to the Outside World in Texts Using Allusions

Today we started class by going over questions and information about our intertextuality essays. The class looked at one email in particular regarding a question about the topic of a student’s essay. The student in question asked if their essay should focus more on how key points were taken from a text to make it into a movie, or if they should focus how in the film the text was made more family friendly. The final conclusion was he should write about both, and we took at his thesis that combined the two subjects.

The class then got into the lesson of the day that introduced Allusions to the class. An allusion is a reference to something outside the text such as historical events, nonfiction, or fiction. Furthermore, an allusion can have either a positive or negative tone. A negative or critical allusion for example can be used when trying to mock something and create satire. On the opposite hand, positive allusions are called homages. This is when something is referenced but in way that shows that the person who created the film or book has some kind of appreciation for what they’re referring to. For example, Ready Player One has a lot of allusions to 80s culture but that's because the author respects and has a certain appreciation for it.

To further explain the concept, the class looked at several examples of allusion in film clips. First, we looked at Stranger Things that has a lot of references to 80s films like E.T and Alien. These might help to develop that 80s feel they wanted. Other than that we saw the opening clip to 2001 A Space Odyssey where we see planets moving, revealing an eclipse, to very dramatic music. In later works, this has been referenced a lot because it became iconic.

Lastly, it’s beneficial to include allusions for two main reasons. The first is they can help reinforce a theme Secondly, it’s satisfying and enjoyable to the audience. When the audience understands the reference, it's like a “reward” to the audience and it keeps interest. In the future, reginixing these in texts could help us understand what they were trying to convey better in the text.

In the world we probably all know things that have been alluded to so much that everyone eventually gets it. We even allude to things in everyday conversation without even realizing it. We use this skill and see it more often than we think, so it’s best to understand allusions better and break them down to know what we’re saying.