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Nick Enright's A Man With Five Children

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Interactions between humans are an essential part of life, fulfilling our need for communication. Through the evolution of the media, our ability to communicate has broadened, changing the ways we see ourselves and others. Nick Enright’s play, A Man with Five Children, highlights the change in attitudes towards the line between public and private life, shown through the media consistently following the children for a documentary. Further, as the audience believe that the documentary is fact, the media is able to manipulate the truth about people’s identities, giving us an altered view of the world. On the other hand, Dan Gilroy, the director of Nightcrawler, utilises Lou as an embodiment of the media, rejecting moral values in pursuit of the …show more content…

The play is set in 1970s Australia and echoes the shifting paradigm from assimilation to multiculturalism. Enright reveals that beliefs and acceptance and equality are not true during that contemporary time by showing how the media further reinforces our misguided beliefs about stereotypes of other races by exploiting our trust. Gerry solidifies Roger’s stereotype as a rich Asian who is aiming for materialistic success by manipulating the documentary. Enright shapes the audience’s beliefs and writes Roger with little stage time but a lot of documentary screen time, with a cut of him saying “I want a Maserati”. The minimal context spurs on his stereotype, demonstrated by Annie’s reaction when she first meets Roger, “I know you! Got the Maserati yet?” Annie represents the audience’s shift in their opinion of Roger due to the manipulation of the documentary. Roger’s blunt response,”That was a joke.” implied that he was not materialistic at all. His choice of words displayed his ease in answering this question which clearly depicts the materialistic stereotype the audiences are placing on him which was created by the manipulation of the media. Due to the audience’s blind trust, the media has full control over them by manipulating information, making them perceive the world according to the …show more content…

Gilroy portrays Lou Bloom as a hardworking protagonist with the close-up shot emphasising the high modality tone of conviction in his dialogue, “I set high goals… I can even start tonight.” However, in his interaction with the news reporter,“this will be on morning television,” the arrogant tone shows that working for the media is rewarding materialistically and offers plentiful of opportunities. After understanding the power media provides, he even drags the unconscious body of the victim to “better frame the disaster in style and give viewers a clearer look.” His manipulation is highlighted with a medium shot, showing that Lou has shifted to lose his morals in exchange for his objective, gaining success at all cost. His loss of morals is further displayed by the detective,”I think you have withheld information… That would be murder” Using the point of view of the recording camera to symbolise the eye of the law, Gilroy highlights that even the law does not faze him from his ambition, disregarding all rules and morals. With people’s belief in embedded in the American Dream, they exploit the power granted by the media to achieve their goal ignoring all rules and

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