Narrative

 

In the ending of ‘Moon’ the narrative structure reaches the closing equilibrium but remains similar to the equilibrium at the beginning of the movie. When the second Sam we meet leaves and goes to earth, the audience hears voice over’s of the people on earth calling Sam an ‘illegal immigrant’ and a ‘wacko’, and saying that they should ‘lock him up’. This suggests to the audience that the earth at the end of the movie is much like the earth at the beginning of the movie, that the earth still has problems because the people have not changed. Humans are still not being treated equally, Sam 2 is not being listened to meaning that Lunar Industries will continue to rise and grow, causing more clones to be made and forced to do manual labour. This has links to the ideology of capitalism and the idea that I does not benefit everyone such as it’s workers (the Sam’s). This idea is also brought up in the beginning of the movie when we learn from the montage infomercial for Lunar Industries that their idea of saving the planet and 70% of the population is West America, creating the binary opposition of the East and West and plants the seed of doubt in the audiences mind that Lunar Industries aren’t as good as they say that they are.

During the ending the narrative device of having the same actor play all of the Sam’s to create the narrative repetition that the Sam’s go through. We see Sam 3 waking up just like the other Sam’s did, and as an active audience we know that if Sam 2 hadn’t messed with the communication lines, Sam 3 would have met the same fate as the others. This has links to determinism which is a philosophical theory that the film goes against by the end of the film. It is the idea that free will is an illusion and that if we were to start our lives again, we would end up in the exact same place. Throughout the movie, this seems to be true as both the Sam’s behave the same and appear to be meeting the same fate until the end when all three Sam’s meet very different fates. This difference in fates between the characters is shown through the narrative device of parallel action. We see Sam 2 escaping at the same time as Sam 3 waking up. This makes us care for Sam 3 as well and reminds us that he is still human and deserves to be saved, especially since the voice over countdown which acts as narrative device like a ticking bomb is heard when the audience see’s him on table, suggesting he matters too. This parallel action allows us to see the different fates that all three of the Sam’s reached.

Throughout the film a part of the narrative is the questioning of Gertie’s humanity, and whether he is just a programmed machine or if he has feelings. Sam 2 appears to believe that Gertie has a kind of humanity within him, the audience knows this due to his performance when Sam 2 takes the ‘kick me’ post it note off of Gertie. We are also shown other signs of Gertie having a sort of humanity. Sam 1 draws faces on the wall earlier on in the film, the faces he drew look very similar to Gertie’s face pictures that he has on a screen, suggesting a humanness to Gertie’s emotions. However, the other side to this is that the director was suggesting the clones have machine like emotions and aren’t human but considering the rest of the film this is less likely. The humanity of the Sam’s is also a part of the narrative as they question it throughout the movie such as with the saving of Sam 3 as Sam 2 feels that it’s important to do so.

 

 

Ideology

 

In the middle sequence of ‘Moon’ the two Sam’s argue over whether or not the company has a secret room full of clones. This means that their different attitudes towards this are explored. The most obvious ideology being explored is Capitalism as the movie criticises it heavily throughout the movie. Sam 2’s dialogue reveals that he believes the company is making clones, and that he and Sam 1 are clones themselves; the narrative device of the being played by the same actor helps to get this idea across to the audience. Lunar Industries using clones to do manual labour and then killing them instead of training new people and being nice to them shows how the company is not following good morals in order to save money, this is a way that a negative attitude towards capitalism is explored in the film. This attitude towards capitalism starts right at the opening equilibrium and still exists by the closing equilibrium.

 

Nihilism is also explored as the Sam’s have very different reactions to the knowledge that they could be/are clones.  Sam 2 appears to believe that it doesn’t matter and maybe even that life is meaningless, we know this because of his performance. The audience can see him watching Tv, specifically Mary Tyler More, as a way of ignoring his problems. This creates the idea of media being used to make the workers passive. To contrast, Sam 2 explores and tries to find the secret room. The many jump cuts of Sam 2 always in the centre of the shot make the audience feel tense, uncomfortable and claustrophobic which highlight the bad way that the Sam’s are being treated due to it being a capitalist company.

 

Marxism is also explored in the middle sequence of the movie. Not only are the workers not benefiting from working there which supports the Marxist idea that capitalism doesn’t help everyone, but the audience learns that the Sam’s are being held back in many different ways such as artistically. The model that the Sam’s have all being working on is a clever piece/prop of mise en scene as not only does it represent all of the clones, and work as a narrative device as knowing that Sam 1 doesn’t remember starting it proves Sam’s 2 theory, but it also acts as a way of showing the audience how the Sam’s could have been artistic in another life as making the model is what he does for fun, Lunar Industries is holding him back. Plus, the model looks like a homey town which could be a reflection of where the Sam’s would have wanted to live or maybe even where the original Sam did live.

 

 

Aesthetics

 

The general feel of the movie tends to be negative. Such as, is in the middle sequence tension is built by the Sam’s performances of the fighting which involved gruesome mise en scene with blood. This makes the audience feel grossed out and stressed due to the sight of the blood and they know the Sam’s need to work together not fight. Plus, during this scene there are many jump cuts of Sam 2 exploring trying to find the secret room where he is always in the centre of the screen whether it is a mid-shot or long shot which makes the audience feel tension and stressed. These are all negative emotions which happens a lot during the film. Discovering that there are clones in the recognition of disequilibrium makes the audience feel as though life is meaningless as the Sam’s could just be replicated. Especially since their performances seemed to be the same, for example, they were both scene exercising and during the physical fight scene they both fought in similar ways; this has links to nihilism and that life is meaningless which is explored throughout the film. The middle sequence also has references and inspirations from 2001: A Space Odyssey, the chair that Sam 1 sits in while watching TV is like the one form 2001: A Space Odyssey.

 

The music throughout the movie also makes the audience feel tension and possibly even fear. During the middle sequence when Sam 2 is searching there is diegetic beeping noises and the non-diegetic music of the minor piano playing comes back which makes the audience feel negative emotions like fear, tension and stress. The emotional attachment to the characters emphasises these emotions. The minor piano is first heard in the opening sequence. After the montage infomercial where the binary opposition of the East and west and human and machine is made, the happy advert music with major piano playing turns into the minor piano which makes the audience doubt Lunar Industries and means the audience questions their intentions throughout the movie, and maybe that the binary oppositions which they claim to be helping is actually false and instead it’s the opposite; this has links to capitalism and how it does not help everyone, Lunar Industries claim to help everyone but instead only help 70% of the planet which they represent as West America through mise en scene during the animate sequence which creates the binary opposition of the east and west.

 

 

Representation

 

The representation of age in the opening of moon could link to the untrustworthy elements of the Lunar Industries company. The film opens with an infomercial which is made from a montage of news images and an animated sequence. Within this infomercial during the news images montage which is part of mise en scene we see children. One example of this is when we see children sorting through rubbish. This not only sets up the binary opposition of those who have and those who have not (compared to those on the beach) but could be interpreted in different ways. One way is that Lunar Industries help everyone, especially children such as the ones shown. This mise en scene matched with the happy piano music (major) makes Lunar Industries look and sound amazing. However, the other interpretation is that the representation of age in the opening is to show the manipulative side to the company. We know from the animated sequence and mise en scene that 70% of the worlds population to Lunar Industries mainly means west America which sets up the binary opposition of the west and the east; this also links to the representation of ethnicity. This makes the audience doubt Lunar Industries and think of them as corrupt. This means that Lunar Industries only showed children as a means to emotionally manipulate the public into thinking they were making a good difference.

 

The representation of gender in the movie presents men as the hard-labour workers and the women as goals for the men to return to. In the opening the audience meets Sam Bell who is a middle aged man who works for Lunar Industries on the moon. The audience learns that Sam Bell is not treated well by the company due to the mise en scene of his outfits and where he works which is dirty. We also get the idea that he is lonely due to the blue lighting in the vehicle he enters as blue has the connotation of coldness and isolation. This has links to the ideology of capitalism and how not everyone benefits such as the workers (Sam Bell). To contrast, the women unlike the men who are presented as hard workers for a big company are shown as a prize for the men (Sam) throughout the film. Sam’s wife is who is who he is working towards and doesn’t have a notable story arc herself. The daughter of Sam is very similar.

 

 

Context

 

The opening of the film ‘Moon’ introduces the ideology of environmentalism. Lunar Industries is presented as an environmentalist company. The film opens with a montage sequence which is an infomercial for the people in the film for Lunar Industries. It is made up of pictures and videos from the news as well as an animated sequence. The videos from the news’s mise en scene show the audience how Lunar Industries present themselves as an environmentalist company. The images shown present the problems that there is with electricity and energy such as factories causing pollution and people ignoring the pollution and factory problem on the beach (binary opposition of human vs technology) and children sorting through rubbish (representation of age). Then, Lunar Industries contrasts these negative images with beautiful scenery’s. This change in mise en scene is Lunar Industries presenting themselves as a good company who wants to and is helping the environment. This links to the audiences real lives, they too are facing environmental problems with things like global warming, so they exploration of environmental problems is relevant in there lives and could cause them to become more emotionally involved as they can relate. This could also cause them to be more sceptical of the company Lunar Industries, as a solution has not been found in real life they might doubt that the company has, especially since there’s a change from a positive major music to a minor one and the fact that Lunar Industries come off as corrupt with their representation of then 70% of the world they can help as West America which also adds to the audience questioning them as a good company even if the infomercial tries to present themselves that way by using voice overs as well as positive images to contrast negative ones, ‘energy was a dirty word’.

 

The film links to other films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey. Both Moon and 2001: A Space Odyssey are set in space and question the humanity in machines. In 2001: A Space Odyssey, the robot is Hal and is evil with the capabilities to hurt the humans so that it can achieve it’s mission, similarly, the way that Gertie acts is also so that he can achieve what he was programmed to do and achieve his mission but it contrast to Hal as achieving his mission means saving and helping the Sam’s. There are also visual links between the films. The mise en scene is similar with the chair in the middle sequence that Sam 1 sits on while watching TV and the mise en scene and cinematography is similar between the films at the end when Sam 2 is escaping. The director would have intentionally made these connections as 2001:A Space Odyssey is a famous film with similar themes.