MJC ZENITH May 2018

ZENITH May 2018 General Paper @ Meridian JC Page 1 of 34 ZENITH 2018 Welcome to ZENITH’s first issue for 201 8! We b ring you an exciting spread of the essays written by your seniors. A big thank you to all the students who have contributed good essays, reviews, poems and other assorted pieces of work. You have indeed demonstrated what good writing is, and your breadth of knowledge displayed also underscores the importance of a consistent reading habit. All the best for the Mid-Year Exams! You are most welcome to send feedback an d suggestions in enhancing future issues of ZENITH. Editorial Team ___________________ Mr Max Cheong Ms Vanessa Tan Ms Geraldine Sim

ZENITH May 2018 General Paper @ Meridian JC Page 2 of 34 …in ZENITH Essay Selection 1. ‘Any adaptation of a novel for film, television, or the theatre is never as effective as the original.’ Discuss. (2016 A lvls Q1) 2. Considering the money involved, should developing countries be allowed to host major sporting events? (2016 A lvls Q4) 3. Considering the money involved, should developing countries be allowed to host major sporting events? (2016 A lvls Q4) 4. ‘Human need, rather than profit, should always be the main concern of scientific research.’ Discuss. (2016 A lvls Q5) 5. ‘Countries experiencing conflict should be left to sort out their own problems.’ How far do you agree? (2016 A lvls Q6) 6. How far has modern technology made it unnecessary for individuals to possess mathematical skills? (2016 A lvls Q7) 7. Is competition always desirable? (2016 A lvls Q11) 8. ‘No cause is ever worth dying for.’ Discuss. (2015 A lvls Q4) 9. How far should firms be allowed to limit their workers’ ri ghts when profits are at stake? (2014 A lvls Q2) 10. Examine the extent to which expenditure on arms and the armed forces is justifiable in the modern world. (2014 A lvls Q11) 11. Assess the impact of the digital age on free speech. (MJCJ2MYE17Q9) 12. ‘There is enough food for all in the world today.’ To what extent is this true? (MJCJ2MBT16Q9) 13. Should rules always be obeyed? (MJCJ1MYE16Q12) 14. Discuss the view that playing video games is a waste of time. (MJCJ1PE16Q12) 3 5 8 10 12 14 16 17 19 22 24 26 28 31

ZENITH May 2018 General Paper @ Meridian JC Page 3 of 34 ZENITH Essay Selection Editor’s advice to students: While you may find the examples and points in these essays useful in answering other questions, please be judicious in using such information in a manner that is relevant to the POC of the question you are answering. ‘Any adaptation of a novel for film, television, or the theatre is never as effective as the original.’ Discuss. (2016 A lvls Q1) What do the movies Forrest Gump , Interview with the Vampire and The Shining have in common? All three were movie adaptations of novels, and much loathed by their original authors for mangling their creations. Similarly, forums abound with bad reviews from angry, die -hard fans of the original novel, who will claim that the said adaptation has ‘butchered’ the original content and has not done it justice, sometimes even when the movie or television adaptation is commercially successful. We may be quick to dismiss such grievances, but could it be possible that these fans are perhaps stating an undeniable truth about such adaptations? Will they really never be as effective as the source material they are based on? Despite the merits film and television adaptations appear to have, they will more often than not fall short. Firstly, adaptations will never match up to the novels they are based on because novels possess exclusive literary features and devices which adaptations cannot convey. When employed, they help readers to better appreciate, interpret and analyse written work. As they are, by principle, meant to be read to be understood, they inherently cannot be portrayed properly on screen. Any attempts to adapt them into another medium will either hinder their effectiveness or, worse still, be rendered completely nonsensical. For example, the novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is unique in a literary sense that the entire narrative is confined within the protagonist’s mind, much more than the ordinary first-person novel, with great detail placed on cogn itive thought processes and linkages. A live -action adaptation made on this principle will never be as effective in bringing this out, due to the sheer complexity in doing so, and also how boring such a premise would be in live - action due to the narrow, co nfined perspective. This was precisely why any attempted adaptations of it never followed through, alongside Salinger’s personal reservations after a botched film adaptation of another story of his which further reinforces this point. Similarly, in the case of the novel Even Cowgirls Get The Blues by Tom Robbins , the film adaptation flopped miserably because it was unable to properly adapt the novel’s stylistic features of loopy run -on thoughts, philosophical musings, bizarre extended metaphors, and meta -references that were hilarious and dreamlike on text. The novel was meant to be similar to a conversation between Robbins and the reader, where he could burrow into his peculiar ideas at length while the readers could meander back and forth through them, loo king for sense with Rob bins helpfully explaining what ‘ the author ’ is attempting. However, the film adaptation ended up turning it into more like a drunken, overbearing monologue, stripped of much of the explorative depth and colourful language. These exam ples go to show the complexity of literary features and devices, and how adaptations cannot match up because by principle it is not possible to properly deliver and reinterpret them, despite how crucial they are in the appreciation of the story. Thus, adaptations cannot be as effective as the novels they are based on because they are unable to convey the same depth brought about exclusively by literary features and devices. Furthermore, adaptations cannot be as effective as the original as the creative license of the former betrays the original essence of the established narrative. Creative license is often, if not always, necessary in adaptations to either make some distinction from the source material, lest they become redundant, or to make

ZENITH May 2018 General Paper @ Meridian JC Page 4 of 34 up for things that cannot be transferred to a live -action medium. However, creative license in principle results in deviation between the adaptation and the true essence of the novel, which affects the experience and enjoyment. For example, the film adaptation of the no vel Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, which was essentially about Greek mythology blending into the modern world, was relatively successful at the box office, but there was a large critical consensus that the creative license of the adaptation with regards to the plot made the film ‘largely inaccurate’, resulting in a largely different experience that was met with mixed receptivity. As for the case of the film adaptation of The Seeker: The Dark is Rising, a fantasy novel, creative license had a more no ticeably destructive effect on the film’s success, as it had altered many key elements of the setting, characters and plot, which made the experience of watching it pale in comparison to reading the highly successful novel it was based on. These in