Text Shape Society - Respond With Reference To Film

All texts either challenge or reinforce the values and attitudes of its readers. This is an inevitable and unavoidable aspect of reading because values and attitudes can differ from one individual reader to another. This means there are no texts that solely reinforce or solely challenge the values and attitudes of all who read them because it is impossible to cater to the tastes of every reader. It is clear however that many texts are shaped by the values held by the majority of a society; the societys ideologies. The film Moulin Rouge by Australian director Baz Luhmann does not differ in this aspect and, as a result, we are able to examine how the ideologies of our present day society are mirrored in the film, and thusly shape the film.

The films dominant values centre around four timeless themes; truth, beauty, freedom and love. These four themes may epitomise the bohemian lifestyle portrayed in the film, however these are four themes that define the very essence of human existence, they are accessible by any audience in any time period which is why people in present day society can relate to the film. The film is an example of modernism and art in that it positions us to view these themes from a different perspective, and in that sense it has challenged the way in which we view these themes, however ultimately the film reinforces these themes more so then challenge them.

Out of the four main themes it is clear that love is the dominant theme within the film, which is why the film appeals to such a large audience, love is everywhere within our society. Analyse a random set of present day songs, or even songs from the past, and a very high percentage will centre around, or make reference to, love. Love is a mysterious emotion in that it can create such intense feelings of joy and happiness, but can also cause insurmountable pain and suffering. Our society values love and holds love as something highly sought after and it seems we will forever be intrigued by the mystery of its power, however in the film we are presented with two conflicting views of love from the two main characters, Christian and Satine.

Christian is infatuated with love, being described as having a 'ridiculous obsession' with it, and seeks it above all other things, however Satine is trying to protect herself from it. Satine wishes to leave the Moulin Rouge and become a successful actress and feels that if she lets love get in the way she will never be able to achieve this goal, this dream of 'flying away.' Her materialistic values are simply the armour she wears to shield herself from love. The audience can relate to this for we still live in a society that is transfixed on materialism and wealth. Financial success is considered the only real kind of measurable success and as a result it has become our human nature to try and achieve this. This being said, we as a society still like to romanticise that if we possess love that is all that will matter, that ultimately our values of love will overpower our materialistic values. This is evident in everyday weddings where the priest recites that the husband or wife shall take their spouse in "sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer." We still like to believe that love is all that matters, and that is exactly what the film is trying to position us to believe. This is clear when Christian uses a line from a Beatles song and says "All you need is love." As individuals within our society we are forever torn between the lust for love and the lust for wealth and success, which is mirrored in the characters Christian and Satine, however the film attempts to portray the message that love will conquer all, even the lust for materialistic wealth.

The centrality of love within the film is bolstered by the other three main themes, being truth, beauty and freedom. All three themes help tie in with the main theme to help strengthen the message the film is trying to portray to the audience, being that love is all that matters. The hunt for truth was what the bohemian lifestyle was all about, and this ties in with love, but mainly in concern with Satine for she experiences a point of realisation and learns truths about herself. This refers to when she realises that she can no longer sell her love to the Duke for the sake of the Moulin Rouge production, she loves Christian and understands that this alone is a greater thing to experience than all the successes she could ever experience from becoming an actress; to "love and be loved in return." Satines truth is that she values love above materialism, she just never knew it until she experienced love first hand.

How beauty is represented in the film ties in heavily with love, for the film positions us to believe that true, pure love is not bound by simply physical beauty, but also internal beauty. This can be seen in the love triangle comprising of the Duke, Christian and Satine. The Duke and Christian are, physically speaking, similar in appearance, however where they differ is in there personality traits and status. Whilst Christian is a kind hearted man and penniless the Duke is cold hearted and wealthy, their inner beauty is not the same. The Duke is not physically ugly, but internally we are positioned to believe he is, and this then positions us to believe that his enormous wealth and power can not shroud these aspects of his personality, and as such it can not deter Satine from loving Christian; love, or pure love, knows no boundaries.

The film mirrors our cultural ideologies of inner beauty for we as a society, even though physical beauty is highly sought after and valued, like to believe that "beauty is only skin deep," evident in classic fairy tales such as The Ugly Duckling or even present day films such as Shallow Hal. Even Satine, who is physically beautiful, would not have attracted a man like Christian if she didn't

possess a high degree of inner beauty. As a courtesan her looks alone attracted many men, including the Duke, but men such as the Duke simply lusted for her in a physical sense, they did not love her as Christian did. The Duke lusted for her so much he became blind with jealousy and demanded he would be the only man who could be with Satine, and in this sense he viewed Satine as an object, just another possession he could buy. In this aspect he did not really love her. Our culture values the ideal of inner beauty, whether or not we follow such ideals in reality is beside the point, the fact is that the film is shaped by our societies ideological views on beauty and thus reinforces the audiences values associated with these views.

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