ENG1H June 2013 Model Answer Question 2
Explain how the headline and picture are effective and how they link to the text. (8 marks)
N.B. this picture is not the one used in the exam – hover over it for what’s different…
‘A ticking timebomb’: Teenage girls’ junk food diet leaves them starved of vitamins
+ get the original article here
The alliteration of the harsh plosive ‘t’ and ‘b’ in the metaphor of a ‘ticking time bomb’ creates an urgent, insistent effect. The danger is hidden, and will come in time, but when it does it will explode with devastating results. This links to the text, where the phrase is repeated, adding more information about the cause: ‘junk food’ is ‘feeding’ it. This is a bomb clearly caused by the ‘junk food diet’ of the headline. The colon separates out the problem – the ‘bomb’ from its cause, where ‘junk food’ is ironically contrasted with the word ‘diet’ which normally implies eating less, or more healthy food. These contradictions continue in the word ‘starved’, which normally conjures up images of malnourished children in less developed countries in famine situations. Ironically it is our over-rich diets of food low in nutrients that is causing the starvation, which links to the idea in the text of being ‘dangerously low’ in minerals and vitamins because they ‘shun’ fruit. This is shown in the picture.
N.B. this picture is not the one used in the exam – hover over it for what’s different…
‘A ticking timebomb’: Teenage girls’ junk food diet leaves them starved of vitamins
+ get the original article here
The alliteration of the harsh plosive ‘t’ and ‘b’ in the metaphor of a ‘ticking time bomb’ creates an urgent, insistent effect. The danger is hidden, and will come in time, but when it does it will explode with devastating results. This links to the text, where the phrase is repeated, adding more information about the cause: ‘junk food’ is ‘feeding’ it. This is a bomb clearly caused by the ‘junk food diet’ of the headline. The colon separates out the problem – the ‘bomb’ from its cause, where ‘junk food’ is ironically contrasted with the word ‘diet’ which normally implies eating less, or more healthy food. These contradictions continue in the word ‘starved’, which normally conjures up images of malnourished children in less developed countries in famine situations. Ironically it is our over-rich diets of food low in nutrients that is causing the starvation, which links to the idea in the text of being ‘dangerously low’ in minerals and vitamins because they ‘shun’ fruit. This is shown in the picture.
The girl has no green matter whatsoever on her plate – though green is suggested in the colour of her top. All she has isa yellow oozing burger almost as big as her head from the low angle shot, and she can barely get her hands around it. This links to the word ‘guzzlers’, colloquial language for greedy eating, which is exactly what is pictured. It’s actually a mystery how she’s going to get her mouth around it, it’s so big. It is almost shaped like a ‘bomb’. Ironically, this girl is by no means ‘skipping’ a meal, showing the wild extremes girls go to, which is what is so dangerous. It is about poor choices. Her eyes are closed, suggesting she is blind to the future consequences, and also that she is really enjoying it. The photo illustrates the comment in the text that teens ‘think nothing of’ eating junk food. She does seem healthy and her skin is ‘glowing’, further illustrating that this problem is one which is invisible now, but will hit later.
This answer is 350 words long, which is just over one side of small handwriting. It could do with a bit more detail on the picture and the ways in which it links to the text. It would score 8 out of 8.