The Castle

Have you ever spoken to your friend, and stopped for one second to consider not only what he is saying, but also how he is saying it? The language, the structure and what this tells us about his voice. One can argue that the ‘voice’ is incredibly important. It is the ‘voice’ that enables Human beings to express their thoughts, feelings, and ideas orally to one another. Universally, we find there is a distinct importance on this idea, as despite the circumstance, the ‘voice’ provides us with important insights into the individuals and the messages they are conveying. However, in particular it is the language that individuals utilise at their exposure, which creates the power in their voice. For instance, we find that simple things such as the use of formal language juxtaposed to colloquial language, emotive language compared to rigid and objective language, all play a part in the representation of the ‘voice’. The film ‘The Castle’ and the song ‘You are the voice’ by John Fernham in particular, give us clear insights into not only the notion of voice, and how language influences ones voice, but rather Australian voices in particular. Throughout these texts, the power of language is used to represent ideas about the differences between the ‘authority’ and the ‘underdogs’ and their power and powerlessness respectively. By association, we find that the Australian voice is then further revealed through the exploration of language, as we see notions of justice, mateship and the Aussie battling mentality – central aspects of Australian culture and the Australian voice.
From the outset, we find that there is a profound contrast between the voice of the ‘underdog’ in comparison to the ‘authority’. When Darryl Kerrigan faces the Judge at the tribunal in an attempt to protect their home from acquisition by ‘Airlink’, we find a disparity in the language conventions used by