In ‘Moon’ the ideology of capitalism is heavily explored throughout the film. In the opening, the performance and mise en scene of the main character Sam running on a treadmill is a symbol and/or metaphor for him working but getting no where and not benefiting from all the hard-labour work he is doing for Lunar Industries. This has links to capitalism as it shows that not everyone benefits from capitalism, the film takes a Marxist like critique approach to capitalism throughout the film by presenting how Sam as well as others suffer from a capitalist society/company.  The opening montage infomercial for Lunar Industries has upbeat major piano music because the company is trying to portray themselves as good people when in reality the mise en scene of the archive footage contrasts the positive music that made the audience feel good things towards the company and shows the real side to Lunar Industries. The binary opposition of those who have and those who have not is shown in this montage through the ideology of capitalism as the animated sequence shows that the company only view 70 percent of the world as west America (binary opposition of the east and the west) which are who they are going to help despite everyone needing helping showing them as a corrupt company and proving that capitalism doesn’t help everyone. This opening equilibrium when compared to the closing equilibrium shows no change in the world for the better as the people have not changed and capitalism is still negatively affecting the population. This narrative structure presents to the audience the problems with capitalism and could leave them, considering their own society and moral views.

Some audience members may interpret a capitalist critique in ’Under the Skin’ as well.  During the opening Laura, the alien, picks up an ant and stares at it. This can be interpreted as her first proper interaction with life on earth, but it could also be interpreted as a symbol for being a worker for someone else as an ant is a worker as well as Laura. The close up of the ant and the high contrast and high key lighting emphasizes the ant’s presence to the audience and therefore also the meaning behind it. It could even be a metonym for Laura, she is a worker as well as a vulnerable live creature which we learn at the end of the film. The binary opposition surrounding this ideology is power and submission; when Laura becomes human/feels empathy (the moment she looks in the mirror is a pivotal turning point, unlike in ‘Moon’ when Sam avoids looking at himself in the mirror prolonging his turning point) she does not want to hurt humans anymore and rebels keeping power for herself against the capitalist like situation she was involved in where she didn’t benefit from what she was doing. The man with a disfigured face was not just interested in having sex with her, he didn’t focus just on her body and instead looked around where he was and commented on the temperature of the room. This was the moment the alien realised not all men where interested in sex, being one of the reasons why she started to feel empathy for humanity. This was also a turning point in the representation of gender in the film as until this point men were shown as being only interested in sex and women, Laura, was constantly being sexually objectified. Laura didn’t submit to the pressure of what her job was, she was being hunted by the motorcyclists that were supposed to ‘keep her in line’ and instead rebelled when she recognised the disequilibrium and didn’t follow what she wasn’t benefiting from and what she didn’t want to do, contrasting to the opening equilibrium when she appeared to do her job without any emotional consideration such as when she drops the woman’s head on the floor or appears predator like in the shopping centre when the high angle over the shoulder shot places her above every other person making them seem vulnerable and like meat (it could even have been from her point of view, it was how she felt towards them). Sadly, for the audience, Laura dies at the cruelty of humanity at the end of the movie which in some ways is ironic as when she starts to show compassion, humanity shows its evil side; she is killed brutality, her skin is broken and then she is set on fire. Some audience members may feel for Laura this was an escape, as she was incredibly isolated due to not fitting in with humans or her own kind anymore.

The binary opposition of human and clone in ‘Moon’ is explored through the ideologies of nihilism and existentialism. During the middle sequence the second Sam the audience meets is looking for a hidden room, the jump cuts of him doing so with him always in the centre make it feel hectic and claustrophobic for the audience, highlighting to them that something is wrong. This contrasts to Sam one’s actions/performance who is watching trash television instead of helping. To the audience, Sam appears stupid as he isn’t trying to solve the serious problem that he is in. Nihilism and existentialism are explored through Sam one as an audience member might interpret that he feels as though his life is meaningless now he knows he’s probably a clone and not a human and therefore doesn’t bother helping Sam two. This changes later on in the film during the attempt to repair the disequilibrium/ending equilibrium when Sam one’s purpose is to save the second Sam before the narrative device of the Eliza countdown finishes.

The binary opposition of human and alien is one way that the ideology of existentialism is explored in ‘Under the Skin’. Laura after her pivotal turning point and now feeling compassion and empathy no longer wants to harm humans and instead tries to act like one. For example, she attempts to eat cake, an activity most humans take pleasure in, yet she cannot. She spits the food out showing that she isn’t human as not only would humans have enjoyed it, but food is fundamental to their survival therefore setting her apart form humans. This means Laura is incredibly isolated as she doesn’t fit in with humans or with her own kind anymore, this link to the ideology of existentialism as she may start to feel worthless due to her lack of belonging. Sleep became her only escape from this isolation, the extreme long shot of the forest where Laura fades into the frame when sleeping is a metaphorical shot to show her calmness and freedom in sleep which contrasts to her scary and trapped life when awake where she is being hunted down by the motorcyclist can can’t fit in as much as she tries. She even dies not understanding humans in the closing equilibrium meaning the comparison of the opening and closing equilibrium shows both a gigantic change in her personality and no change at all, as she feels empathy and is a different person than he used to be meaning she now doesn’t fit in anywhere and may feel meaningless and isolated (existentialism), yet she still doesn’t understand humans.

In the opening on ‘Moon’ the ideology of environmentalism helps set up the binary opposition of human and machinery as well as setting up the narrative plot for the rest of the film. The opening montage infomercial for Lunar Industries that uses archive footage presents Lunar Industries as an environmentalist company as they show images of factories causing pollution as well as humans ignoring the problem on the beach with the factory behind them (human and machine) then contrast these images with ones that make the audience feel hopeful such as the greening deserts and saying that that’s what the company is trying to achieve and will achieve. This contextually links to the audiences lives as the film came out in 2009 meaning that environmental problems such as global warming were very relevant in their lives not just the film and it’s still relevant for watchers today. The binary opposition of human and machine is explored through those ignoring the problem on the beach with the long shot of people relaxing with a polluting factory in the background, this may make audience members consider their own lives and if they ignore environmental problems too. It also sets up Lunar Industries as a good environmentalist company until we learn that they just plan on swapping one finite resource with another. The animated sequence shows how they plan on using the moon which is a finite resource (it also explain the narrative plot and why Sam is on the moon), suggesting they’re not as environmentalist as they claim a well as suggesting the ideology of modernism can’t be applied to the company despite them trying to portray so with their block colours in their simply designed logo, as solving the environmental problems was not as simple or logical as they suggested through the infomercial, there is not a straightforward logical solution meaning modernism cannot be applied to the company or their environmental plans. The binary opposition of human and machine may also be applied to this ideology as audience members may interpret humans as the problem and what is preventing modernism/a logical way for environmental problems to be solved. This is proven in the ending equilibrium when compared to the opening equilibrium because despite Sam two telling the world what Lunar Industries had done, they still just called him an ‘illegal immigrant’ through the voice over suggesting no good change would come as the humans had not changed themselves.

In ‘Under The Skin’ exploring the binary opposition of men and women through the ideology of feminism the way that the roles and representation change throughout the movie becomes more apparent. Laura, the alien, can be viewed as objectified due her main role in the film being her luring men in with her body; and as she doesn’t have many lines, an audience member may feel that her body is being used and objectified instead of using her words/because she doesn’t really speak if they are thinking about it from a feminist perspective. Until the acknowledgment of the disequilibrium, the female (Laura) is the one with power. The high angle shot of her when in the shopping center makes her seem predator like and above everyone else who appear like herd in the background. Plus, the way she leads men into the black void which looks like Richard Wilson’s 20:50 is emotionless, and she’s in control when it happens. At this point the representation of women is objectifying but also suggests that women are powerful. The film represents men as only wanting sex as the men follow Laura without question; the motorcyclist also represents men as power and brutal such as when he picked up the unconscious woman. There is a narrative flip when it comes to the binary opposition of men and women. After Laura has decided she doesn’t want to hurt men anymore, she meets a man at the bus station who takes her to a castle. During this scene, the man is encouraging Laura to descend some steps but she appears scared. This is because the roles have flipped, the proxemics are the opposite to what they were before. He is in front of her and trying to encourage her to follow him, she fears that it is a trap because he takes the role that she used to when she killed people. At the end of the movie, the men are still brutal, the log man brutally attacks her and the performance of him chewing gum makes him seem emotionless while doing so. This brutality contrasts to her earlier in the film when she led men into the black abyss making it seem more passive as she didn’t violently attack them like the log man did to her when he attempted to rape her and sets her on fire .

Representation 

In the opening sequence of ‘Moon’, Sam an adult male is shown as the labour worker for Lunar Industries, the film then goes on to represent women as a kind of prize/reward for the man while he does all the hard work. In the opening of ‘Under The Skin’ the man (the motorcyclist) is shown as emotionless and focused. He captures the woman (or alien?) without any sense of caring, this contrasts to the woman who cries which is showing emotion. The alien, Laura, is also shown to be emotionless. She drops the woman head on the ground and pays for attention to the ant when the audience is concerned for the paralysed woman.

Narrative Structure 

In the opening equilibrium of ‘Moon’ the audience learns allot about Lunar Industries and why Sam is working on the moon for them. It also sets up binary oppositions such as the west and east and ideologies like capitalism in the infomercial montage. It sets up the rest of the movie as well as showing the audience that Lunar Industries are corrupt and cannot be trusted which helps the rest of the movie to work. On the other hand, the messages that the opening equilibrium in ‘Under The Skin’ gives the audience are more subtle than those in ‘Moon’, and when it’s the first time watching the audience will probably be left confused. The jarring changes of shot length and lighting from low key to high key set the tone for the rest of the movie and make the audience feel like an outsider just like Laura, the alien, does. With close up images it shows an eye being made, and the sound of what sounds like Laura learning to speak with phonics suggests the process of Laura becoming her human form. Unlike the ending of ‘Moon’ the ending in ‘Under The Skin’ is different to the beginning as Laura has become more human and has empathy which contrasts to her at the start. However, in both equilibrium’s she doesn’t understand humans and still cannot entirely be one.

Visually, these two images look similar:

Moon – Opening

Under The Skin – Opening

The exploded projection from ‘Under The Skin’ has a planetary feel but can be interpreted as an eye being made. Similarly,  the animated sequence in the opening of ‘Moon’ is of space and in some ways looks similar to the exploded projection in ‘Under The Skin’. Both tell the audience information as the exploded projection gives the idea that Laura is other worldly and the animated sequence shows the corruptness of Lunar Industries when they only represent West America.