Moulin Rouge

Moulin Rouge, a musical film directed by Baz Luhrmann in 2001, portrays the inner journey of a young naïve man, Christian, who embarks on a physical journey to Paris and his inner journey of love, jealousy, and possessiveness escorts his voyage, influencing his actions and attitudes. Inner journeys are a process to be waiting to be experienced, and have to be embarked upon on in parts The film is divided in three parts to represent 3 stages of his inner journey, and reveal several concepts of journeys. Firstly, coming to Paris, secondly accepting the bohemian way of life, and thirdly dealing with Satines death. The film incorporates several language techniques which are expressed through dialogue, which captures the audience and gives them insight into the thoughts of the protagonist. The rhyme, ‘Come what may, I will love you until my dying day’, demonstrates that no matter what interrupts or separates us, our love is so strong that it will last forever until my last breath.

The writer highlights that journeys may have problems and challenge situations to be endured before reaching the end. The Bollywood themed play Christian writes about the maharaja and the poor sitar player metaphorically symbolises the love triangle between Satine, and Duke and Christian. This is exposed when Nini, a jealous dancer slyly declares to the duke, “Why would the courtesan go for the penniless writer? Whoops! I mean Sitar player”, while rehearsing, furthermore rising the dukes jealousy. This reveals another added obstacle to withstand, representing that even though you may have to sustain a rough patch, it will all be in persistence to achieve the end. This idea relating to overcoming complications in journeys can be depicted in the core text, Foulcher’s poetry, explicitly Happy Wood. Symbolism expresses rapid tremor in ‘one time collapsing the moment he started’, followed by the terrifying personification of ‘the mine nearly took him’, revealing that the protagonist survived. The play Cosi tells the story of Louis, a young man, whose job is to direct a play with a group of patients from a mental institution.

The concept presented is that journeys may not be deliberately initiated. In Lewis’s case, he would not have completed his journey if it were not for his interactions with the other patients. Roy’s constant criticisms are symbolic of the outer world, and as Louis overcomes each of them he reaches a new stage of presence. The techniques incorporated, accentuate emotions of un-comfort, adventure and love. The book Cosi expresses an understanding of journeys, when the dirtiness and despair of the asylum and the burnt out theatre is juxtaposed against the splendour of the grand opera. “Smells like Burnt wood and mould”, creates imagery of an old, mouldy theatre filled with dusty air, which has been opened for the production. The composer portrays the concept by incorporating the idea that Journeys may be affected by changed environments people are encircled in, and this is proven in both texts. In Cosi, the vietman war is mentioned ongoing at the time, and in Foulchers poem, Martin and the Hand Grenade, the students are faced with a grenade, symbolising a deadly weapon of wartime. In both situations, the inevitable of death are linked to war and its reality of pain, dangers, trauma and conflict.

John Foulcher reveals several concepts of journeys through his poems; demonstrating that a journey often consists concurring situations with difficult hurdles before achieving desired success. “His poems reveal to us the violence and brutality of the nature we live within and for us to question as to our own morality”, a quote from unknown. This statement is proven relevant when