Énoncé
Le sujet porte sur la thématique « Arts et débats d'idées ».
Partie 1. Synthèse en anglais (16 points)
Prenez connaissance de la thématique ci-dessus et du dossier composé des documents A, B et C et répondez en anglais à la consigne suivante (500 mots environ) :Paying particular attention to the specificities of the three documents, show how they interact to illustrate the impact of popular culture on society.
Partie 2. Traduction en français (4 points)
Traduisez en français le passage suivant du document A (lignes 5 à 11) :
The previous weekend I'd been looking through the magazines in the local barber shop while I was waiting to have my hair cut, when I came across a photo of the most bizarre looking man I'd ever seen. Everything about him looked extraordinary: his clothes, his hair, even the way he was standing. Compared to the people you could see outside the barber shop window in the north-west London suburb of Pinner, he might as well have been bright green with antennae sticking out of his forehead.
The previous weekend I'd been looking through the magazines in the local barber shop while I was waiting to have my hair cut, when I came across a photo of the most bizarre looking man I'd ever seen. Everything about him looked extraordinary: his clothes, his hair, even the way he was standing. Compared to the people you could see outside the barber shop window in the north-west London suburb of Pinner, he might as well have been bright green with antennae sticking out of his forehead.
Document A
« This document is an excerpt from Me, the autobiography of Elton John, British singer, songwriter, pianist and composer born in 1947. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
It was my mum who introduced me to Elvis Presley. Every Friday, after work, she would pick up her wages, stop off on the way home at Siever's, an electrical store that also sold records, and buy a new 781. […] She told me she'd never heard anything like it before, but it was so fantastic she had to buy it. As soon as she said the words Elvis Presley, I recognized them. The previous weekend I'd been looking through the magazines in the local barber shop while I was waiting to have my hair cut, when I came across a photo of the most bizarre-looking man I'd ever seen. Everything about him looked extraordinary: his clothes, his hair, even the way he was standing. Compared to the people you could see outside the barber shop window in the north west London suburb of Pinner, he might as well have been bright green with antennae sticking out of his forehead. I'd been so transfixed I hadn't even bothered to read the accompanying article, and by the time I got home I'd forgotten his name. But that was it: Elvis Presley.
As soon as Mum put the record on, it became apparent that Elvis Presley sounded the way he looked, like he came from another planet. Compared to the stuff my parents normally listened to, 'Heartbreak Hotel' barely qualified as music at all, an opinion my father would continue to expound upon at great length over the coming years. I'd already heard rock and roll – 'Rock Around The Clock' had been a big hit earlier in 1956 – but 'Heartbreak Hotel' didn't sound anything like that either. It was raw and sparse and slow and eerie. Everything was drenched in the weird echo. […] As 'Heartbreak Hotel' played, it felt like something had changed, that nothing could really be the same again. As it turned out, something had, and nothing was.
And thank God, because the world needed changing. I grew up in fifties Britain and, before Elvis, before rock and roll, fifties Britain was a pretty grim place. I didn't mind living in Pinner – I've never been one of those rock stars who was motivated by a burning desire to escape the suburbs, I quite liked it there – but the whole country was in a bad place. »
It was my mum who introduced me to Elvis Presley. Every Friday, after work, she would pick up her wages, stop off on the way home at Siever's, an electrical store that also sold records, and buy a new 781. […] She told me she'd never heard anything like it before, but it was so fantastic she had to buy it. As soon as she said the words Elvis Presley, I recognized them. The previous weekend I'd been looking through the magazines in the local barber shop while I was waiting to have my hair cut, when I came across a photo of the most bizarre-looking man I'd ever seen. Everything about him looked extraordinary: his clothes, his hair, even the way he was standing. Compared to the people you could see outside the barber shop window in the north west London suburb of Pinner, he might as well have been bright green with antennae sticking out of his forehead. I'd been so transfixed I hadn't even bothered to read the accompanying article, and by the time I got home I'd forgotten his name. But that was it: Elvis Presley.
As soon as Mum put the record on, it became apparent that Elvis Presley sounded the way he looked, like he came from another planet. Compared to the stuff my parents normally listened to, 'Heartbreak Hotel' barely qualified as music at all, an opinion my father would continue to expound upon at great length over the coming years. I'd already heard rock and roll – 'Rock Around The Clock' had been a big hit earlier in 1956 – but 'Heartbreak Hotel' didn't sound anything like that either. It was raw and sparse and slow and eerie. Everything was drenched in the weird echo. […] As 'Heartbreak Hotel' played, it felt like something had changed, that nothing could really be the same again. As it turned out, something had, and nothing was.
And thank God, because the world needed changing. I grew up in fifties Britain and, before Elvis, before rock and roll, fifties Britain was a pretty grim place. I didn't mind living in Pinner – I've never been one of those rock stars who was motivated by a burning desire to escape the suburbs, I quite liked it there – but the whole country was in a bad place. »
Elton JOHN, Me, 2019
Document B
« This document is an excerpt from Born to Run, the autobiography of Bruce Springsteen, world-famous American rock singer, songwriter and musician born in 1949.
In the beginning there was a great darkness upon the Earth. There was Christmas and your birthday but beyond that all was a black endless authoritarian void. There was nothing to look forward to, nothing to look back upon, no future, no history. It was all a kid could do to make it to summer vacation.
Then, in a moment of light, blinding as a universe birthing a billion new suns, there was hope, sex, rhythm, excitement, possibility, a new way of seeing, of feeling, of thinking, of looking at your body, of combing your hair, of wearing your clothes, of moving and of living. There was a joyous demand made, a challenge, a way out of this dead-to-life world, this small-town grave with all the people I dearly loved and feared buried in it alongside of me.
THE BARRICADES HAVE BEEN STORMED!! A FREEDOM SONG HAS BEEN SUNG!! THE BELLS OF LIBERTY HAVE RUNG!! A HERO HAS COME. THE OLD ORDER HAS BEEN OVERTHROWN! The teachers, the parents, the fools so sure they knew THE WAY—THE ONLY WAY—to build a life, to have an impact on things and to make a man or woman out of yourself, have been challenged. A HUMAN ATOM HAS JUST SPLIT THE WORLD IN TWO!
The small part of the world I inhabit has stumbled upon an irreversible moment. Somewhere in between the mundane variety acts on a routine Sunday night in the year of our Lord 1956 . . . THE REVOLUTION HAS BEEN TELEVISED!! […]
This new world is a world of black and white. A place of freedom where the two most culturally powerful tribes in American society find a common ground, pleasure and joy in each other's presence. Where they use a common language to speak with . . . to BE with one another. […]
A "man" did this. A "man" searching for something new. He willed it into existence. Elvis's great act of love rocked the country and was an early echo of the coming civil rights movement. He was the kind of new American whose "desires" would bring his goals to fruition. He was a singer, a guitar player who loved black musical culture, recognized its artistry, its mastery, its power, and yearned for intimacy with it. […] He was not an "activist", not a John Brown, not a Martin Luther King Jr., not a Malcolm X. He was a showman, an entertainer, an imaginer of worlds, an unbelievable success, an embarrassing failure and a fount of modern action and ideas. Ideas that would soon change the shape and future of the nation. »
In the beginning there was a great darkness upon the Earth. There was Christmas and your birthday but beyond that all was a black endless authoritarian void. There was nothing to look forward to, nothing to look back upon, no future, no history. It was all a kid could do to make it to summer vacation.
Then, in a moment of light, blinding as a universe birthing a billion new suns, there was hope, sex, rhythm, excitement, possibility, a new way of seeing, of feeling, of thinking, of looking at your body, of combing your hair, of wearing your clothes, of moving and of living. There was a joyous demand made, a challenge, a way out of this dead-to-life world, this small-town grave with all the people I dearly loved and feared buried in it alongside of me.
THE BARRICADES HAVE BEEN STORMED!! A FREEDOM SONG HAS BEEN SUNG!! THE BELLS OF LIBERTY HAVE RUNG!! A HERO HAS COME. THE OLD ORDER HAS BEEN OVERTHROWN! The teachers, the parents, the fools so sure they knew THE WAY—THE ONLY WAY—to build a life, to have an impact on things and to make a man or woman out of yourself, have been challenged. A HUMAN ATOM HAS JUST SPLIT THE WORLD IN TWO!
The small part of the world I inhabit has stumbled upon an irreversible moment. Somewhere in between the mundane variety acts on a routine Sunday night in the year of our Lord 1956 . . . THE REVOLUTION HAS BEEN TELEVISED!! […]
This new world is a world of black and white. A place of freedom where the two most culturally powerful tribes in American society find a common ground, pleasure and joy in each other's presence. Where they use a common language to speak with . . . to BE with one another. […]
A "man" did this. A "man" searching for something new. He willed it into existence. Elvis's great act of love rocked the country and was an early echo of the coming civil rights movement. He was the kind of new American whose "desires" would bring his goals to fruition. He was a singer, a guitar player who loved black musical culture, recognized its artistry, its mastery, its power, and yearned for intimacy with it. […] He was not an "activist", not a John Brown, not a Martin Luther King Jr., not a Malcolm X. He was a showman, an entertainer, an imaginer of worlds, an unbelievable success, an embarrassing failure and a fount of modern action and ideas. Ideas that would soon change the shape and future of the nation. »
Bruce SPRINGSTEEN, Born to Run, 2016
Document C
 Andy WARHOL, Double Elvis, 1963 Silkscreen ink on synthetic polymer paint on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York City (USA) |
Corrigé
Partie 1. Synthèse en anglais (16 points)
Understand the terms found in the question. It is important to analyse each document first to see what they all have in common:
Prepare a plan. Before starting to write, you must work on a plan. You must not start to write the essay until you have worked out its structure. We can see from the previous work that the main problem will be to understand how Elvis Presley has influenced pop culture, which in turn has influenced society:
- Impact of popular culture on society: this is the main topic you have been studying in your English class.
- Interact to illustrate - what does that mean? This is just another way of asking how the documents present the ideas found in them.
Prepare a plan. Before starting to write, you must work on a plan. You must not start to write the essay until you have worked out its structure. We can see from the previous work that the main problem will be to understand how Elvis Presley has influenced pop culture, which in turn has influenced society:
- Elvis' influence on different artists: we can see from the documents that Elvis influenced three important artists, who themselves changed society.
- Elvis managed to change society through music: Elvis is presented as a musical messiah. He changed society not through politics, but through music.
- Elvis lives in many different formats: he not inspired musicians, but also artists and cinematographers.
Introduction
If you wish to begin with a flashy and attention-grabbing first line (certainly one better than this), you must relate it to the topic at hand. Then you should reword the question to show to the examiner that you have understood what is at stake. This is an important skill and here you have the chance to show how well you master the language.
Make sure you have made a plan before writing. This means that you can focus during the writing phase on your written expression. We can refer to the plan we made earlier in this correction and then write out the paragraphs.
Make sure you have made a plan before writing. This means that you can focus during the writing phase on your written expression. We can refer to the plan we made earlier in this correction and then write out the paragraphs.
Modern society has been so profoundly influenced by pop culture and this is evident everywhere we look. While we could focus on mainstream culture in the 21st century, the documents provided offer an earlier look at this phenomenon. Elton John, Bruce Springsteen and Andy Warhol are cultural icons of the 20th century and their influence on popular culture is undeniable. But what links them is Elvis Presley, arguably one of the most influential cultural icons of recent history. My answer will focus on his influence on other artists, the power of culture to change society and the fact that Elvis can be found in different media.
1. Elvis' influence on different artists: we can see from the documents that Elvis influenced three important artists, who themselves changed society.
First of all, it is clear that Elvis influenced some very important artists and this impact is not to be underestimated. Both Elton John and Bruce Springsteen mention the 'King' in their autobiographies and remember the first time that they heard his music. This shows the monumental place his music had on them. We also know that Andy Warhol was incredibly influential on the world of modern art and on our ways of looking at pop culture. He is most famous for his prediction that everyone in the future will have their '15 minutes of fame'. We can see that through other successful artists, Elvis is able to spread his own fame even further and for longer than just a quarter of an hour.2. Elvis managed to change society through music: Elvis is presented as a musical messiah. He changed society not through politics, but through music.
Secondly, it is clear from the texts that Elvis Presley succeeded in changing the society around him. This highlights the strangeness of Elvis Presley, but in order to understand this, you need to know that Britain, as well as many other countries, was culturally very conservative. People wore suits, were polite and courteous to each other, had clearly defined roles for men and women, etc. Elton John references the place, 'the north-west London suburb of Pinner' and how strange this Elvis figure appeared there. We can imagine how some people today look down on track suits and other customs linked to a subculture of society. Furthermore, Bruce Springsteen considers Elvis as a kind of messianic figure: "He was a showman, an entertainer, an imaginer of worlds, an unbelievable success, an embarrassing failure and a fount of modern action and ideas. Ideas that would soon change the shape and future of the nation."3. Elvis lives in many different formats.
Finally, one of the most important means to influence someone is to consider the number of ways a subject is presented. This year, the Australian film director Baz Luhrmann released the film Elvis, which was welcomed with critical acclaim and was very successful with box office sales. Elvis is also depicted here in a painting by Andy Warhol, with a slight doubling of his character which might suggest his repeated effect on society. He is a cultural icon, whose symbolic image as one of the founders of pop music, a voice of a generation or intercultural innovator has been expressed many times over in many different forms. This is a clear sign that he changed society.Conclusion
In conclusion, we can see how Elvis Presley's impact lives on through other artists he inspired: his own efforts at revolutionising music and culture is thus combined with the references that others make to him. The total effect is one that will last and maybe even inspire a new generation of musicians and artists in the 21st century.Partie 2. Traduction en français (4 points)
The use of a past-perfect continuous tense 'I'd been looking through' might be confusing at first, but you can just translate with a simple past continuous tense. 'To have my hair cut' is the equivalent of 'me faire couper les cheveux'. There might be some difficulty with 'the most bizarre-looking man' as it is a compound adjective. The next problem is with the modal verbs 'you could see' and 'he might as well have been' - two nuances to the language you might well have difficulty in translating.
Le week-end précédent, alors que je feuilletais les magazines au salon de coiffure du coin en attendant de me faire couper les cheveux, je suis tombé sur la photo d'un homme à l'apparence la plus bizarre que j'aie jamais vu. Tout chez lui paraissait extraordinaire : ses vêtements, ses cheveux, même sa façon de se tenir. Par comparaison avec des gens que l'on pouvait voir devant la fenêtre du salon de coiffure de la banlieue de Pinner, au nord-ouest de Londres, il aurait tout aussi bien pu être en vert fluo avec des antennes sortant de son front.
