The Castle A Critical Study of a Feature Film Text This study programme uses the Australian feature film The Castle to exemplify the ways in which a text confirms or challenges the attitudes and values of its audience. BY TONY HUGHES Questions within the pro- * how attitudes and values are con- gramme will help students discover veyed in films how the construction of a text encour- The programme reinforces the view ages particular responses in its viewers. that: Students will be encouraged to view the * films are texts — all texts are ideo- film as a cultural artefact, considering logical the society that produced the film as * films are constructions, versions of well as the audiences that have viewed reality the film and generated its popularity. * films present complex sets of atti- Questions within the programme are tudes and values designed to explore the notion of: * films position the viewer to respond * text construction in certain ways * genre * film has its own language Dennis Denuto (Tiriel Mora) and Lawrence Hammill QC (Charles * attitudes and values * the values and attitudes presented are ‘Bud’ Tingwell) * point of view related to the values and attitudes of the * by viewing the film as a shaper of in- * verbal and non verbal language film’s audience TION formation The following elements will be * a text can reinforce or challenge a * by considering the film as position- central to this study: society’s existing attitudes and values ing the viewer * the shared conventions of narrative * viewers make sense of films through * by considering the ways in which the SCREEN EDUCA — setting, plot, character, conflict codes and conventions context of the script writers and the * how these are created on film How do we make meaning of context of the viewers meet together to * specific aspects of film language The Castle? create meaning ISSUE 20/21 * by viewing the film as a construction 36 A central focus of this pro- * people fighting for their home The Castle highlights aspects of gramme is a study of the narrative * a man’s home is his castle what it is to be Australian. Characteris- structure. This is a study of the way in * home is where the heart is tic assumptions include a view of opti- which the storyline of The Castle makes * challenge of the individual to author- mism in the face of adversity, admira- meaning in our world. Narrative can be ity tion for the larrikin and the individu- considered in the following terms: * David v Goliath alistic nature of a rebel. The satirical Narrative Structure 1 * a nuclear family whose members love nature of the script is exemplified by each other the description of the film in the pro- Internal and Intrinsic to the film * a satirical view of suburban working- duction teams web site (Working Dog) (story, plot, structure) class life www.thepanel.com.au/wdog.html: The Castle tells the story of a * greed of large corporations and dis- The Castle is a sweeping saga that working-class Australian family who regard for the rights and feelings of the takes the harsh Australian out- live adjacent to Melbourne’s individual back, the rugged characters of the Tullamarine airport. The family is a * stereotypical gender constructions of Anzac legend, the spirit of Banjo close-knit group who love and support the nuclear family Patterson and ignores them in fa- each other. The plot centres on the * the individual and the law — the vour of a greyhound racing tow- family’s desire to keep their home de- phrase from the Constitution (Section truck driver who never meant to spite the compulsory acquisition order 51,31) that deals with individuals be- be a hero. placed on it by the local authority. ing treated ‘on just terms’ is a central Beliefs, values and assumptions Darryl Kerrigan, the loving father, hus- issue in the film include: * construction of the Australian ‘bat- tler’ * the importance of the quarter acre block to the national mind set * leisure activities and the holiday home * challenges to authority by ‘little’ Aus- tralians * Australians’ ability to laugh at them- selves * myth and Australian character Audiences of Cultural and Ideological Narratives Audiences construct the mean- ing of a film from the symbols that are The Kerrigan family presented on the screen. There will be Genre: Recurrent patterns in many similarities in the meanings they band and provider, sets out to fight for film-making occur because of audience construct but there will also be some ‘his castle’ and support his mates in preference and the success of particu- variation. It is not possible for there to their desire to keep their homes. The lar patterns of story telling. These pat- be as many variations as there are mem- storyline profiles the family, their inter- terns reflect the audience’s cultural bers of the audience because language ests and their stereotypical roles, and background. Many Australian feature has to be a shared experience, not an by doing so reveals a humorous view films have, for example, adopted a individual one. Education is one factor of Australian suburban lifestyle. that will affect the ways in which mem- documentary style. This style is adopted ISSUE 20/21 Narrative Structure 2 in The Castle through the home movie bers of the audience construct mean- Archetypal Narratives (recurrent narration of Dale Kerrigan. ing from a film. A knowledge of Aus- tralian suburban life and humour pro- patterns in story-telling and film- Narrative Structure 3 SCREEN EDUCA making) vides a framework for the story, but is Cultural and Ideological Narratives Recurrent patterns linked to The not essential to understanding the film. (particular beliefs, values and Castle and the universal appeal of the An awareness of topical events and assumptions that we as viewers TION plot line: ideas will also give another insight into adopt to make sense of our social the attitudes in the film. The distinc- world) 37 tively Australian references to Hey Hey is reflected in the character of Darryl * a user programme enabling the It’s Saturday, holidays in Thailand, Kerrigan in The Castle. The character teacher or student to create a printed cheap Rolex watches and ‘bargains’ is a composite of various types. We see programme of study for use in the from The Trading Post gesture towards aspects of the Aussie battler empha- classroom common experiences for many Austral- sised. In this representation, the char- The questions in the fourteen ian viewers. Other factors such as gen- acter takes on many of the traits of the category sections present a range of der, ethnic background and economic bush myth — he values mateship, and ideological positions that influence the status cut across the various levels and despises authority, bureaucratic insti- way teachers formulate questions on forms of education. tutions and snobbery. (Consider the plot. The package is the third in a se- Myth in Feature Film representation of the official govern- ries of English study programmes writ- ment bodies in this film.) The Austral- ten by Tony Hughes to support the Feature film is an important ve- ian male is often laconic in his speech, teaching of Critical Literacy in the Eng- hicle for mythology. Stereotypes of rugged in his appearance, and individu- lish classroom. The first and second family, society and a country are com- alistic. He survives by instinct and wit. packages present the same structural municated through film. The Kerrigan components as The Study of Plot in Eng- family uphold a range of mythical be- Satire lish and are designed to support the liefs of a ‘typical’ Australian working- Satire is used to make the sub- teaching of character and setting. The class family, embodying stereotypical ject matter appear ridiculous. It can packages can be used together or inde- gender roles, occupations and ideas evoke amusement, contempt, indigna- pendently in the design of teaching pro- about leisure preferences. An Austral- tion or scorn. It is distinct from com- grammes. ian audience watching The Castle will edy because its primary aim is not sim- The Study of Plot in English as- recognise the film as Australian. This ply to amuse. Language is often used to sumes the traditional view that there recognition comes partly from the use criticise an individual, an institution, a are a number of plot elements that can of familiar places and things — the sub- nation or even a whole race. Satire can be used to shape and structure a narra- urban lifestyle for example — however be used to undermine an argument or tive. These elements combine to pro- there is something about the beliefs and deride inexact language. The subject vide a framework for the story. The plot attitudes of the characters which is also matter of satirical comment is, broadly is therefore primarily concerned with intrinsically Australian. The concept of speaking, the human condition. Com- the action of the story. The writer of myth helps explain our recognition of mon topics that are satirised include the narrative will use devises to impose the less tangible elements in the film. politics, gender and bureaucracy. Sat- order and create a planned sequence of Darryl Kerrigan is constructed ire should not merely make the audi- events. There is an obvious link be- using common myths such as that of ence laugh at someone else’s discom- tween the way we approach the teach- the Aussie larrikin who has contempt fort, but should make one seriously ing of plot and the way we teach both for authority, values a ‘fair go’ for all and evaluate the weakness highlighted by character and setting. supports his mates. Another character- the writer.