The Castle Sociology

The ironic part of Sitch's film The Castle confirmed the audience's ideas about the class divide between the working and upper classes, a patriarchal household, and ‘Australian Battler’ characteristics. Collective and individual assumptions have the ability to affirm and shape ourselves, our cultural beliefs and how we reflect on a person’s identity. The Castle is a satirical comic directed by Australian satirist Rob Sitch in 1997 that revolves around the stereotypical working-class Australian family called the Kerrigans and their battle with a higher authority, the Barlow Group. The film primarily confirms our assumptions through the culture of an Australian community in the 90s by using film techniques to study different social groups such

It is clearly visible several times throughout the film, but especially in the scene with the use of mise en scene the entire family in one frame surrounding the “head of the house” Darryl . Sitch demonstrates this through Darryl's and the mother's body language, showing that everyone is linked and paying close attention to one another through the use of mid shot. This provides a sense of familiarity and closeness amongst the characters, allowing the audience to participate with the family. His patriarchal family dynamic is directly confirmed to the audience throughout the film through the use of metaphor “Dad is the backbone, then mum is all the other bones.” Darryl Kerrigan, the admirable patriarch, is characterised through Dale's voice over which is accompanied with a panning shot of a father and son playing billiards. Thus, this reinforces the patriarchal family dynamic by displaying the stereotyped family structure that existed in Australian culture throughout the 1990s by presenting a male-dominated atmosphere, reinforcing the audience's notions of a normal suburban home

The high and low angles used throughout this scene not only imitate first-person perspective, but visualise the moral standings of Darryl and the judge respectively. This is shown through the juxtaposition of “it's the law of bloody common sense” which reflects his disrespect for authority. His argument is that it’s unfair that the government can force a family out of their house. Hence, it is proved that socially superior groups of persons have the ability to disregard the cultures and cultural viewpoints of those below them. The audience's assumptions about the class divide between the working and upper classes are confirmed. Those that are well educated are deemed upper-class and can pursue higher-paying jobs since they can afford more education. The satirical aspect is also seen when Dennis helps Darryl in the sense of brotherhood, through the use of repetition in It's justice. It's law. It's the vibe and ah, no that's it. It's the vibe . Dennis refers back and forward to the “vibe” of a matter despite being out of his depth in arguing constitutional law. The word ‘vibe’ sounds out of place in a court setting and the constant use of a word so unfit becomes comical as it’s different to what is usually heard in a court. Therefore showing a division in the lower class and upper class, through the lack of high