Introduction: The Castle, directed by Robert Sitch and produced in 1997, is arguably one of the greatest Australian movies ever created. It is a peculiar, boorish and above all, humorous film, that is loved by most Australians. With great use of trademark Aussie humour, amateur camera work and Australian stereotyping, the movie can be very relatable to Australian viewers, typically those of the blue-collar working-class level. Even with light-hearted humour that could be taken offensively, and seen as a ‘dig at Australian culture, in my opinion, the Castle portrays the typical Australian working -class family and has an underlying message of being resilient and never giving up! Plot Summary: Set in Melbourne, The Castle is a movie …show more content…
Typical Australian traits of standing up for your rights, no matter how rich or poor you are and never giving up are used to represent common Australian ideologies and values, which most Australians can relate to. His home is his Castle that he is proud of and has worked hard for and won't give up. Acting and Characterisations: Darryl Kerrigan (Michael Caton), the actor who plays the role of the father in the Kerrigan family fantastically, contributing to the high degree the film's success. His role incorporates the appearance, behaviors, and traits, that most Aussies can relate to. Darryl is the illustrious face of the Kerrigan family in the movie, possessing the usual Australian attributes of being devoted, diligent and very family orientated. M.C's character is acted out greatly, enabling the worldwide audience to relate to the obstacles the family faces and the battling journey they endure to keep their "Castle.' Darryl shows courage and bravery that is the basis of the morals, most Australians strive to abide by, portrayed his attitude and perseverance in reaching his goal(retaining his house). Film Techniques and Comparison to Other Aussie Films: In this movie, different filmic techniques are used, however, in my opinion, they are not very effective and thus it fails to improve or contribute to the success of the movie, which I believe it should. The filming techniques used in
The concept of the “Australian legend” is an idea that has been altered many times throughout history, however the common conception of this interpretation has remained the same. This perception of a typical Australian legend is of someone who is extremely strong, independent and very capable in a natural outdoor environment such as the bush or outback. Many different sources display this idea and include the same or related characteristics. Russel Ward, author of “The Australian Legend”, focuses on an examination of the development of the "Australian character" and it’s influence on Australian culture. This was very significant in creating and supporting this idea. Crocodile Dundee, a famous Australian movie, references many aspects of what
The Castle, directed by Rob Sitch, is an Australian comedy, which delves into the lives of a stereotypical Australian family, the Kerrigans. The film touchs on issues close to home in a humourous way. The audience is introduced to the classic Aussie family, narrated in the viewpoint of the youngest of the Kerrigans, Dale.
The idea of the “Aussie Battler” is projected in The Castle via the protagonist, Darryl Kerrigan. Through this, average Australians who also consider themselves somewhat of an “Aussie Battler” are able to identify with his character. In other words, Darryl is the father that many Australians would be able to relate to as their own. Despite his character being slightly exaggerated, the audience is still able to identify with him on some degree. Darryl is optimistic, hardworking and has “good principles”. Although having an airport in their backyard, Darryl believes that he and his family live in the land of luxury, this projects that Darryl is always looking on the bright side and is able to appreciate the simple things in life, thus this suggests that Australians are quite uncomplicated. An example that supports this archetypal representation of the “Aussie Battler” is when the Kerrigans take a visit to their holiday home in Bonnie Doon. Whilst there, Darryl can be continuously quoted as saying, “how’s the serenity” nevertheless, the audience is positioned to see Bonnie Doon as a desolate landscape complete with high voltage power lines. However, from Darryl’s point of view, you could not get any better. Therefore, the element of identity in this film makes it more relatable towards the intended
A part of Australian identity shown in both the castle movie and homo suburbiensis by bruce dawe is the emotional connection with non-human or inanimate objects. In Dawe’s poem “homo suburbiensis” the man has raised a patch of vegetables and the poem is describing his relationship with the outdoors. “A man alone in his patch of vegetables,” in this line the ‘patch of vegetables’ represents his territory, a place where he can vent his built in frustration and a place where he has total control of everything that’s going on. It describes him specifically being by the patch in the evening as during the day he cannot be alone with his thoughts while working so it is only after his work is done can be free. The line “and all the things he takes
Australia is filled with many different aspects in which makes it the country it is today. I believe it is important to study texts that explore aspects of Australia by studying texts such as ‘The Club’, by David Williamson, a play written in 1977 about an Australian football club and movies such as “The Castle”, directed by Rob Stitch in 1997, about the daily life of an Australian family when their happiness is threatened when developers attempt to buy their house to expand the neighboring airport. Both these texts show us what Australian life was like in the past. By us looking at themes such as language, tradition and the mateship shown we are able to explore different aspects of Australia that make it what it is today.
Hi everyone! How are you today? Nice to see all you guys here. Let’s me introduce myself first. My name is Jane Kennedy. I am one of writers of the film ‘The Castle’. I’m sure that everyone has watched ‘The Castle’, right? I’m invited to be here and tell you about this movie as well as how I and my team have built up and shown the ideas about the voice of Australians through it. As you know, everyone including Australians have their own way of understanding and an opinion of the world and people in it. That’s called their ‘voice’. However, the way Australians view and understand the world is unique. Let’s come back to ‘The Castle’, this is a story about the Kerrigan family who together stand up to fight against the government for their
A very noteworthy quote in Grant’s speech is easily noticed. He constantly uses repetition to highlight the ideology of “The Australian Dream”, in fact Stan Grant repeats this phrase 11 times throughout his speech. Instead of stating it after speaking of freedom, youth, wealth and joy he instead constantly repeats this expression again and again after describing the oppression, fear of humiliation and hurt of dispossession, injustice suffering and survival. Grant utilises these keywords to draw focus on the lies told by Australians told to themselves everyday. Grant speaks of the Australian anthem and to draw attention on the mockery in many verses of it and appeal to the patriotism of Australian Citizens. He constantly quotes verses from our
One instance is where Steve’s car window is smashed. Instead of reporting this to the police, Darryl and Steve go to the house of the man who was responsible, abuse him through the intercom, then proceed to tear down and steal the iron gates from the house. When the police question Darryl about the disappearance of the gates, he lies and says he had nothing to do with it, despite the gates sitting on the front lawn. This is definitely not a positive portrayal of family.
The cinematography is by Bert Glennon. The expectations for this film is that it has to be western because it’s the genre. The movie needs to have action and movement. And have a heroic character. The expectations are high since a lot of people watch Western genre. I don’t see any manipulation of space and time.
“The Glass Castle,” written by an American author and journalist, Jeannette Walls, is a memoir about herself rising up and eluding from the continuous poverty and her unusual parents. Through out the novel, Jeannette describes her non-typical childhood with her optimistic yet delusional mother and a smart yet alcoholic father. Despite the fact Wells’ parents taught their children to be very strong and determined, Jeannette very much believed the way she was raised as being not normal.
The Glass Castle is a 2005 memoir by Jeannette Walls. The book is about how her family lived in the 1950s in poverty. The title resembles the false promises and commitments her father Rex Walls made to her specifically or her family, he always talked about building a glass castle for the family once they were finally financially stable along with many other projects. The book also shadows the idea of the “American Dream”. Eventually Jeannette and her siblings move away from their parents and go to New York city and have a successful life.
The play presents complex notions about family bonds, based upon their shared cultural experiences and the way in which they reinforce their cultural Australian identity and help members of the family endure the physical hardship and social isolation. Jack Davis’ social realist drama, ‘No Sugar’ explores how the varying levels of family unity, rebellion and cultural identity depicted in different characters influences their survival. In this play, the term ‘survival’ operates on two continuums. It is conveyed as the physical sense of life and death through the play’s protagonist, Jimmy Munday, as well as the pursuit of happiness. This pursuit is predominantly reflected in the parallel yet contrasted lives of Mary and Billy Kimberley as well as Gran’s deteriorating health after losing family members. Although Davis articulates the endurance of the Indigenous Australians, he incorporates figures of white authority who seek to demolish the Indigenous race and culture. Set in the time frame of 1929 to 1934, ‘No Sugar’ presents a critique of the conventional colonial British views of that era; and their effect on the preservation of Indigenous spirit and culture.
The second way why cinematography made the film is because the camera shots during the film were very close to one other. It did become kind of confusing many times during the film. Now you would see medium shots more than any other one during the film. There were also long shots that were shot alongside the medium shots so long shots would
The directors chosen camera technique, a simple two composition that progresses the scene a steady pace, forces the audience to feel a part of the awkward exchange; obviously, a quality of film that could not be as profoundly achieved through the narrative in the novel.
I couldn’t believe that we had managed to book this abode without realising that our next door neighbour was one of Australia’s most stunning attractions. I practically danced into Stan’s room, to say the least the lazy bastard was nowhere near as enthusiastic as me – but, nevertheless (with quite some persuading) he gave in and came to see it with