“The Castle” Essay
The heart-warming comedy film “The Castle,” directed by Rob Sitch, portrays a stereotypically Australian family struggling against a big corporation for the rights to their home. The film reveals the Australian spirit of family, a fair go and fighting for the underdog. Darryl Kerrigan is a proud, kind, family man that fights for his kin to keep their home, Lawrence Hammill is a well-educated, humble man that provides the help the Kerrigan’s are looking for and Sal is a stereotypical Australian mother supporting the family. Whilst these characters are exaggerated alterations of real people they still possess the characteristics we consider uniquely Australian.
Darryl Kerrigan is in multiple ways the hero of the castle. He is shown as a stereotypical, working class, proud Australian family man. He struggles against a big airline company to keep his home and succeeds in the end with a little help from his friends. He is very laidback and easy-going and you get the sense of his working class upbringing by the way he communicates. An example of this is “Compulsorily acquired? You know what this means don’t you, they’re acquiring it compulsorily.” You also can get this idea from the way he looks (see image on right).
You can plainly see the amount of pride Darryl has for his family with the things he says. Some of these quotes are “Dale dug a hole. Tell ’em Dale,” and “Darryl Kerrigan: Well hello. How’s this boys. Woo hoo. What’ do you call this?
The Essay on Japanese Family Australian Members Families
At first sight, Japanese families may look little different from that of a contemporary Australian family, in that, the majority of families live in cities, the house contains, generally, only members of the nuclear group, parents and child, who use it for sleeping, eating and bathing. However, closer inspections show the differences in values and social norms. To understand where these values ...
Sal Kerrigan: Chicken.
Darryl Kerrigan: and it’s got something sprinkled on it
Sal Kerrigan: Seasoning
Darryl Kerrigan: Seasoning! Looks like everybody’s kicked a goal.” The way Darryl Kerrigan is portrayed is very Australian because of the dialogue and appearance of him.
Juxtaposed with Darryl is Lawrence Hamill, a well-educated “Queens Council” or QC lawyer. Whilst he is an opposite of Darryl in many ways however, he also shows some similar characteristics. Some of these similarities are his kind, easy-going Australian nature and how he stands up for the underdog in a battle against the authorities. The simple fact of Lawrence Hamill’s support for Darryl proves this.
In the background but still phenomenally important to the Australian culture portrayed in the film is the character of Sal Kerrigan. She is in many ways the stereotypical Australian housewife. She cooks, cleans and cares for the family at home and has also taken on a part job to help support the family. Her support for the family is shown in the film by her, fairly average, cooking that is praised tremendously and her constant working state at the home. While Darryl is the backbone of the family Sal is “…the rest of the bones,” which Darryl says early in the film. This statement wholly sums up her portrayal in the film.
“The Castle” portrays a satirical view of what Australians are like with the dialogue, concepts and visual aspects of the film. Lawrence Hamill and Darryl and Sal Kerrigan are one of the main portals through which these aspects are displayed. “The Castle” is a classic Australian film and will continue to be long into the future.
