今日HSC-australia voice band 6 essay

Q: You have been invited to give a talk to a meeting of your school’s Parents’ and Citizens’ (P&C) Association about this elective. In your talk, explain how the texts you have studies have given you an understanding of distinctly Australian voices. Refer to your prescribed text and ONE other text of your own choosing.

Good evening everyone. Thank you for coming to listen to my speech after the whole days’ work. I’m happy to have such an opportunity to stand here to deliver a speech to you and discuss my understanding about Australian voices. As an international student, it’s very important to know the culture and lifestyle of your new country of study, through the voice of that country, in my case Australia. Through my interaction with people, their thoughts, emotions, beliefs and values, I have learned the language and cultural features and lots about the valuable spirit of Australians. These include the idea of family values, “mateship”, fighting for underdog and larrikinism, which is all present in The Castle and the song I am Australian.

During the two years’ experience of living in a local family, I found Australian people have a strong emotional attachment to their family and their homes. The movie of ‘The Castle’ is narrated by son Dale Kerrigan and tells the life of a working class family. He makes it clear that he idolises his father Darryl Kerrigan and loves his mother Sal Kerrigan though his speech “ Dad is the backbone, mum is the other bones-all of them”. The first time we see Darryl he is in the backyard. The use of low angle camera shots reveals his high status within the family. Also in the use of close up shots of the family sitting together around the kitchen table or in the lounge room, show the unity of the family that Darryl is the head of the family and they all listen to him when he speaks. The Kerrigans are a humble Australian family who care for each other. 

The value of the family home is also shown through Darryl’s disappointment about the government decision of compulsory acquisition to make way for airport extensions.  He claims“a man’s home is his castle” and he and other family members are all trying to protect their castle. Darryl’s private family voice is used throughout the film to demonstrate his deepest concerns. For example, Darryl doesn’t want other family feel down about lose the case, heconceals his emotion through routines, asking Sal “what do you call that” to hide his disappointment in the loss of the court case and maintain the family routine, so protecting his family. This family voice shows an Australian man caring and protecting his family. I learned that as you love the family, the family also give you love and caring. It is important for international student like me to blend into a new family. In my homestay family, we care for each other and treat each other like own family member. It helps me to experience the Australian valuable family voice directly.

Darryl Kerrigan’s relationship with his neighbours demonstrates the essence of the Australian voice of mateship. Darryl’s concern for his elderly neighbour Jack demonstrates this typically Australian value. When discovering the eviction notice, Darryl uses a tone of urgency in his voice saying, “Jesus Christ Jack”, which expresses the importance of Jack to Darryl. Also this mateship is demonstrated when the neighbours all come together to finance the legal fees for taking the case to the high court. The use of dark lightning in this scene creates the sense of a secret meeting. The neighbours sit close together and the medium shot of them seated together demonstrates their closeness. This is further illustrated through the conversation between Darryl and his mates, the use of colloquial language show they feel comfortable and equal to each other. Moreover, because colloquialism in particular is a form of speech that is closely linked to groups of people, showing how well they know and care about each other. The composer also is making fun of the way Australian express themselves through the at times obvious stereotypical authencity of the colloquialisms used like “bloody oath” and “your dreamin’ “.

I think support for the underdog is an important element in the film. From the start the viewer sympathises with Darryl as a victim of a multinational company that wishes to acquire his home. The scene at the local court serves to give the viewer a further sense of support for Darryl as an underdog. He goes to the court alone and defends himself. The low angel camera shot which pans from the base of the court house up to the top emphasis the power of the law and the nature of the obstacle Darryl faces. He is portrayed as an underdog through his lack of legal expertise. The judge enquires “what law are you basing that on?” and Darryl replies, “The law of bloody common sense.”  The creation of humour through typical Australian slang emphasis Darryl’s lower position relative to the judge as the use of camera angles showing the judge up high and Darryl below him.  The colloquial “bloody” also reflects the Australian anti-authoritive nature.  Australians have a tradition of supporting the underdog and The Castlecelebrates this distinct Australian value, which represents an Australian voice.

Farouk is Middle Eastern stereotypical immigrant man; he has different values based on his experience and background, he is coming to Australian to look for a better life. For example, when he says “in Beirut plane drop bombs, I like these planes”, the audience finds out that despite any difficulties he may find in Australian he still appreciates the country as a better place to live. He also gets on well with his Aussie friends. Through Darryl’s acceptance of both Farouk and his son-in-law Con, I have learned that Australians accept people of other cultures and that the country is developing a particular multicultural voice. In our school, we have lots of international students, we come from different countries. We all enjoy the life in Australia because we feel the acceptance in this country, the multicultural voice make it easier to blend into this new place. Both the actions and language used between Darryl and his family and friends demonstrates the strength of the value of mateship, including friendship between different cultures, as an Australian value.

The Aboriginal voice is reflected indirectly in the movie. When Darryl knows he needs to move, he compares himself to the Aboriginal plight- “this house is like their land, it holds their memories”. For Darryl’s family land is everything, it defining who they are and what they stand for. This sentiment is very similar to that expressed by Australia’s Aborigines who feel a very strong connection to their ancestral lands and have fought to keep and retake their land for many years. Indeed, they mention the most famous Aboriginal land rights case, the “Mabo” case more than one time in the movie. These indirect references all express the Aboriginal voice of Australian and draw the audience attention to their fight through history.

I can learn Australian voice from everywhere, not only the movie but also the song “I am Australian”. It is written to celebrate the Australia becoming a multicultural nation after 200 years of permanent European settlement in Australian. It represents a typical and unique Australian voice because “we share a dream and sing with one voice”. The song uses first person and many people’s voices to show the multicultural nature of Australian. Also the Aboriginal voice is demonstrated in this song, “I am the rock, I am the sky, the rivers when they run. The spirit of this great land, I am Australian”, The Aboriginal love and identification with the land is conveyed through the use of an Aboriginal voice- “I am Australian.”

The Australian voice has revealed distinct characteristics and they are reflected through use of language. I have learned values such as anti-authoritarianism and fighting for the underdog are typically Australian values presented in the castle. They all influenced me a lot in my overseas study journey.  

The creation of distinctly Australia voices is uniquely interpreted through the interaction between people, their thoughts, emotions, beliefs and values. These include the idea of family, “mateship”, fighting for underdog and larrikinism, which is all present in The Castle and I amAustralian.

【今日点评】这篇essay的题目是大家give a talk，在面对这样的题目时我们首先要搞清楚audience是谁，这决定了文章是formal的还是informal的。其次既然是一个talk，那肯定少不了要结合自己的own experience。这些都是在这篇文章中拿到高分的关键。这篇范围中基本都做到了这些，结构也很清晰，最后得分为18/20。