One Night the Moon is a 2001 Australian musical film directed by Rachel Perkins and starring Mia Wasikowska, David Gulpilil, and Jessica Mauboy. The film tells the story of a young girl’s search for her missing dog in the outback. One Night the Moon uses a mixture of traditional Aboriginal storytelling and music, as well as more contemporary pop and rock influences.
One Night the Moon has been praised for its use of gendered voice. In particular, the film’s use of female voiceover allows for a more intimate exploration of the main character’s emotional journey. This is contrasted with the male voiceover which is used for more action-oriented sequences. One Night the Moon demonstrates how gendered voice can be used to create a more nuanced and effective storytelling.
There are numerous voices in the film One Night the Moon, which assist pull the audience into other people’s experiences and offer various viewpoints on the same thing. Today I’ll talk about the primary distinct voices in my movie, which are spiritual, cultural, and gendered. Because these voices are represented by a variety of characters in my film, they allow us to have a better understanding of someone’s thoughts on certain problems and aspects of life.
The spiritual voice is firstly introduced through the character of Rabbit-Woman, who is an Aboriginal Elder. She speaks about the ‘Dreaming’, which is the spirituality and beliefs of Aboriginal people. One particular scene where her voice is significant is when she talks about how the ‘moon only comes out at night because she is sad’.
This perspective on the moon provides a deep insight into Aboriginal spirituality and helps connect us to their cultural heritage. The film also uses music to convey the spiritual voice, particularly in scenes where characters are performing traditional Aboriginal dances. This allows us to feel the deep connection that Aboriginal people have to their culture and land.
The cultural voice is explored through a number of different characters in the film. One of the most significant is Mrs Saunders, who is a non-Indigenous woman married to an Aboriginal man. She speaks about the prejudice and discrimination that she faces from both sides of the cultural divide. Her voice is important in helping us to understand the challenges of living in two worlds and how this can affect someone’s sense of identity.
Another character whose voice is significant in exploring culture is Kevin, who is an Aboriginal man working in a mainstream job. He talks about how he sometimes feels like he has to choose between his Aboriginal culture and the white world that he lives in. His voice helps us to understand the conflict that many Indigenous people feel between their traditional culture and modern society.
The gendered voice is explored through the character of Rosie, who is an Aboriginal woman. She talks about the discrimination and sexism that she has experienced in her life. One particular scene where her voice is significant is when she talks about how she was not allowed to attend school because she was a girl. This scene helps us to understand the barriers that women face in society and how this can impact their lives. Rosie’s voice is also important in helping us to understand the challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated culture.
These three voices are just some of the many that are explored in the film ‘One Night the Moon’. They help us to understand the complex experiences of those who belong to different cultures and genders. By hearing these voices, we are able to gain a deeper understanding of the world around us and the people who inhabit it.
The Spiritual voice is the most abstract of all the voices because it deals with interactions between Aboriginal and White people and the land. From normal to supernatural, we progress. Albert Yang, the protagonist I’ve chosen to explore for spiritual voices, has a background in traditional Chinese medicine as well as a practice opening up in Australia’s Dampier Peninsula.
In Scene 2 of Albert walking in the outback, his connection with the environment is emphasized, and it serves as a subtle yet effective reminder of Albert’s spiritual ties to the area, implying that the Spiritual voice of the land is chatting with Albert’s.
The soundscape of One Night the Moon is integral to the film’s story and its exploration of Aboriginal culture. One of the most important aspects of this soundscape is the use of traditional Aboriginal music, which is used to convey both the spiritual and cultural connection that Aboriginal people have with the land.
This music is used throughout the film, but is most prominently featured in the scene in which Albert Yang walks through the outback. In this scene, the traditional music conveys the deep connection that Albert has with his culture and with the land. This connection is further emphasized by the fact that Albert is shown walking barefoot, which reminds us of the close connection that Aboriginal people have with nature.
The use of traditional music also serves to remind us of the importance of oral tradition in Aboriginal culture. One Night the Moon is a film that is based on an Aboriginal folktale, and the use of traditional music helps to remind us of the importance of this oral tradition. The film’s use of traditional music thus reinforces the idea that One Night the Moon is a film about Aboriginal culture and about the connection between Aboriginal people and the land.
I’ve also chosen a song for the film, entitled “This land is mine.” Albert is shown walking on this land with familiarity, depicting his commitment to the land. However, from Jim’s perspective, the scenery appears to be typical of white settlers who arrived in Australia as a result of colonization.
In One Night the Moon, director Rachel Perkins uses a variety of techniques to create a film that challenges the typical Hollywood western. One example is the use of gendered voice in One Night the Moon.
While most Hollywood westerns are narrated by a male voice, Perkins instead uses a female voice to narrate One Night the Moon. This change in perspective allows for a different interpretation of the events that take place in the film. For example, when Albert is killed, the female narrator speaks from his perspective, saying “I was born of this land”. This emphasizes the connection that Albert felt to the land, and how his death has affected those who knew him.
The use of a female narrator also serves to challenge the traditional notion of the western genre as a “male-dominated” genre. By using a female voice to narrate the film, Perkins highlights the role of women in the western genre, and how they are often overlooked or marginalized.
