Gallipoli

Gallipoli Essay Gallipoli is a movie directed by Peter Weir that was released in 1981. It stars Mel Gibson as Frank Dunne and Mark Lee as Archie Hamilton. The film is about several young men from rural Western Australia (WA) who enlist for the Australian Army in May 1915, around the time that Australia first entered the great war. The film has three main settings and three main acts. Act one is set in WA, act two is set in Cairo, Egypt during the Australian Army training camps. And the third and final act is set in Gallipoli.During the course of the movie Archie and Frank slowly lose their innocence about the purpose of war. Through out the film Peter Weir uses film techniques such as symbolic, written, audio and technical codes (SWAT codes) to influence the viewer to have a sympathetic view towards Frank and Archie. In Peter Weir’s tragedy Gallipoli the viewer is made to feel sympathetic towards Frank through the use of SWAT codes. The viewer is first introduced to Frank Dunn e in the second scene of the film in an unknown rural region of WA.When the viewer is first introduced to Frank he is with his mates and they are discussing whether to join the infantry or not. All of Frank’s mates are on board but Frank is not convinced. â€Å"If you want to go and get yourselves blown up then by all means join up. † This example symbolises how Frank is more worldly and has an idea about what really happens in war. This quote also makes the viewer immediately feel sympathetic towards Frank as that viewer gets the feeling that he’s going to leave his mates and have to be alone.This then changes when that when we realise that Frank is going to the Kimberly gift to run this is when the viewer learns that Frank is also a runner however he decides to put a bet on himself to win but the viewer can see through the use of technical codes that although he is confident enough to bet on himself he is still worried about losing the money. The use of techni cal codes makes this clear as the viewer is shown a close up on Franks face which has an anxious expression.This example from the film makes the viewer immediately feel sympathetic towards Frank as the viewer can see how worried Frank is about losing possibly his last bit of money through the use of SWAT codes and in this case the use of technical codes. There are many other scenes where Frank is seen to be running in most cases when he is running it usually turns out to be successful. This is also backed up through the use of sound codes. â€Å"Oxygene† by Jean-Michel Jarre is heard whenever Frank is running and in every case he usually turns out to be something happy associated the music.However this is used as a trap to the viewer when the song is once again played when Frank is running from officer Barton to General Gardiner. Immediately the viewer begins to think as though something good will happen as whenever â€Å"Oxygene† is played the viewer associates it wit h something positive. However it becomes obvious that something bad has happened when we see Archie get killed by Turkish soldiers. This example of the use of an audio code clearly shows how SWAT codes are used through out the film to influence the viewer to have a sympathetic view towards Frank.Through out Peter Weir’s film Gallipoli Frank becomes a character that the viewer becomes quite attached to as his character is displayed through out the film. He is seen as a wise, cunning athlete who the viewer becomes very sympathetic towards. This becomes clear from the examples which have been given in the text above. In Peter Weir’s film Gallipoli The viewer is made to feel sympathetic towards Archie. The viewer is made to feel this way through the use of SWAT codes. The viewer is first introduced to Archie in the very first scene of the Peter Weir’s film Gallipoli.The viewer is given a written code saying â€Å"Western Australia, May, 1915† This written cod e immediately makes the viewer feel sympathetic towards Archie as it is discovered that he is alive during the time that Australia first entered the great war the viewer also immediately makes the assumption that Archie is going to join up as written codes have suggested in the credits. Evidence of this written code that suggests that Archie may join up is in the opening credits. In gothic, blood red text the title says: â€Å"Gallipoli†.This example again makes the viewer feel sympathetic towards Archie as one may get the feeling that something bad may happen to him. Archie’s appearance is another characteristic that makes the viewer feel sympathetic towards him. Archie’s appearance is of a young faced tanned, blonde haired ‘typical Australian’. His appearance also symbolises Australia as a nation in being that it is a very young country. This symbolic code that Peter Weir has used helps the viewer feel sympathetic towards Archie as the viewer may feel that he is just too young o go to war. In the examples given above it becomes clear how the viewer is positioned to have a sympathetic view towards Archie through the use of SWAT codes. Overall I enjoyed Peter Weir’s film ‘Gallipoli’ I found that it had a sad yet comedic view to it and showed the Australian culture during the early years of its federation. The film also showed how nothing good comes out of war and that many young people with infinite potential such as Frank and Archie were killed because of some body else’s war.The film also made the viewer feel in a sympathetic way towards the main characters Frank and Archie. The viewer is positioned to feel this way through the use of film techniques known as SWAT codes. Examples of when these codes are used are shown through out the film have been shown in text above via examples of speech quotes from the film, camera angle and technique analysis, audio analysis, and written text quotes. Through a ll these examples of where SWAT codes have been used it becomes very clear how the viewer begins to have a sympathetic view towards Frank and Archie.