Martin, Matthiessen & Painter (2010: 293):
Inter-modally then both the images and verbal text position readers to look back from a safe distance on what went on. The early affect (happily, happy, felt… at peace) invites us to empathise positively with the people on the beach. But then we are repositioned to back off, historically, to oversee the tragedy and its glorious redemption as the events of the day unfold. The overall effect is one of balance – the moral being that there's no stopping accidents at the beach but there are lifesavers on hand to see us through. We have the yin of mateship complemented by the yang of nature. Our place, contextualised in time.
Blogger Comments:
[1] Here the authors have stopped speculating on the meanings expressed and started speculating on effects on the reader.
[2] To be clear, the images are contemporary, only the text reports on the events of February 6, 1938. Given that it is impossible not to view past events from 'a safe distance', it is not the images and text that do this "positioning".
[3] To be clear, the moral of a story is the lesson that it teaches about how to behave in the world. That is, in terms of speech function, a moral is a proposal, whereas the authors present a proposition as the moral of this retelling of the events of 1938.
[4] To be clear, the 'place in time' is Bondi Beach in February 1938.
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