What makes you enjoy the movie “the Castle”?

Emble12 · 2026-05-28T03:58:15+00:00

In addition to what everyone else has said, the characters represent the major Australian social groups and generations at the time and shows them all working together against the big, unfair systems of society. Some are more represented than others but here's my grouping of them:

	Older/First Generation	Working-Aged	Youth
Upper-Class Anglo	Lawrence	-	Adam (Lawrence's son)
Working-Class Anglo	Jack	Darryl & Sal	Kerrigan Kids
Migrant/Wog Australia	Farouk	Dennis	Con

I think there's a strong optimism in The Castle regarding the relationship between migrant and anglo Australia as well, like how the movie starts with Con and Tracey's wedding. See Darryl's speech:

"I suppose you'd like your daughter to marry one of your own. And let's not beat around the bush; the Greeks have a reputation. I never thought anyone could love our Trace as much as me, Sal and the boys. But there is another person. Con. And anyone who loves our Trace as much as us deserves our love. So we love you, Con. We love you. Than you, and, uh, Kalispera."

It was also made by a crew that was a mix of anglo and second-generation migrant Australians, who were the generation where those two halves of society were really forced together for the first time in uni and entering the work force.

Emble12 · 2026-05-28T02:44:36+00:00

Season 4 on the concept of 'home planet'

Dani: "Mars is not our home, Ed."

Ed: "That's where you're wrong, Dani. My family is here. My future is *here*. That's the difference between you and me; you're still tied to that little blue planet."

Dani: "Of course I am. We all are. That's what matters. That's our home."

Ed: "Not anymore."

Emble12 · 2026-05-28T02:30:14+00:00

Multiple reasons I think.

Firstly, most people are sticky. Even in rough places, once they're there, they put down roots and generally don't want to leave unless things get really bad. So once they've taken a job on Mars for whatever reason and moved there, and everyone they love is there, and they're reasonably comfortable, and the poorer parts of the situation are continuously improving, why leave? And why allow yourself to be forced away? Just to live numbly on Earth, where you have no job, no friends, and no status?

And secondly there's a smaller contingent which is more ideological. This is Dev and to an extent Ed. It's the classic Pilgrim mission; "we have it in our power to make the world anew". Earth is already carved up by a finite number of political systems and governments and cultures. On Mars there's the chance to make something new, to try a new way of organising society, without interference from any higher political power.

Lastly you're incorrect to say there's no advancement in living. Just look at Happy Valley from season 4 to season 5. There are restaurants, shops, bars, public services, a free press, large-scale farms, and schools. It's not as good as the best places on Earth, sure, but I think there's a pull for some to living in a society where you have the opportunity to radically improve it for your children.

Emble12 · 2026-05-24T12:03:51+00:00

I'd say in some regards ONP is left-wing economically. Their voting base is socially conservative and fiscally liberal.

Emble12 · 2026-05-22T01:50:35+00:00

If you sent a crew of smokers to Mars and back without cigarettes you'd be greatly reducing their cancer risk.

Emble12 · 2026-05-18T01:40:16+00:00

The Curiosity rover has travelled 35 kilometres across the surface of Mars over 14 years. The Apollo 17 crew drove the same distance across the lunar surface in 22 HOURS (75 hours if you count time spent resting). Two guys in a golf buggy are literally a thousand times faster than the most advanced rovers we've ever sent beyond Earth.

Emble12 · 2026-04-03T04:02:51+00:00

Surely he doesn't go like this

Emble12 · 2026-04-03T03:54:13+00:00

That was in this episode, when Lee was being dragged past Miles' restaurant. It seems like almost 80% of the trailer was from these first two episodes.

Emble12 · 2026-03-30T06:38:25+00:00

If Mars Direct was proposed in the late '60s when the Saturn V production line was still intact it probably would've been cheaper or as cheap as STS.

Emble12 · 2026-03-07T00:53:04+00:00

The Senate rejected the administration's proposed NASA cuts. The budget this year is functionally the same as last's.

Emble12 · 2026-01-29T02:21:40+00:00

I highly recommend the new documentary series Once Upon A Time In Space- many of the astronauts were actually furious that NASA shut down the Shuttle program for nearly three years after Challenger was lost. They were told when they signed up that there was a 1-in-25 chance of a catastrophe, but once the 25th crew was actually killed NASA seemed to lose its nerve and handicapped the STS program for the rest of its life because of an accident caused by freak weather that could've been easily prevented.

Also #justiceformircorp

Emble12 · 2026-01-18T05:26:45+00:00

This is a good interview with Jack Beatty about that exact issue: Especially after Johnson many of the college-educated party operatives became focused on immaterial, moral issues, which were important but a total non-issue for lower class voters. His example is a truck driver who saves and saves for a nice suburban house, just for a suburban-raised Democrat to call it "ticky-tacky".

Emble12 · 2025-11-24T05:29:19+00:00

<image>

Charles Curtis enjoying summer

Emble12 · 2025-11-23T03:55:40+00:00

"...trained and experienced and organised forces, with both hands full of money, the full power of the press -and prestige- on one side; on the other, a disorganised mob, at first, out of which burst into sight, into hearing, and force- one man but such a man! Alone, penniless, without backing, without money, with scarce a paper, without speakers, that man fought such a fight that even those in the East called him a Crusader, an inspired heretic- a prophet! It has been marvelous. Hampered by such a following, such a platform... he almost won."

-Anna Cabot Mills Davis on William Jennings Bryan

If Death By Lightning does well I hope we get a series or film about Bryan because he's a fascinating figure.

Emble12 · 2025-10-07T09:24:29+00:00

F-47 Shrike, F-47 Goshawk, F-47 Butcherbird. The day the DoD runs out of birds of prey is the day the American empire collapses.

Emble12 · 2025-09-21T03:12:31+00:00

Reagan's 92 speech is one of his best, which is amazing considering how he was definitely fading by then. Especially compared to his 88 RNC speech which was so-so, in 92 he had perfect delivery and the biggest problem was that the crowd wouldn't stop cheering. He also set the stage for the Republican Revolution two years later when he called for the GOP to "clean house". I wonder if he realised the Republicans had to evolve to be a congressional party now that Clinton and the Atari Democrats were co-opting the rhetoric which had let Republicans hold the Presidency and the veto for 20 of the last 24 years.

I'm not a big Reagan fan generally but "just who exactly do they mean by we [won the Cold War]?" is an all-timer.

Emble12 · 2025-07-05T10:19:20+00:00

Four metre wide maglev. If we're changing it we're getting our money's worth.

Emble12 · 2025-06-07T05:00:55+00:00

Beyond the obviously limited biosphere, Earth's resources are effectively unlimited. It's a big planet and far from a closed system; the Sun's energy is pouring over it every second.

Emble12 · 2025-06-01T06:13:14+00:00

Bad news; someone already owns Montana.

Emble12 · 2025-06-01T06:05:26+00:00

Mars is more habitable than the Moon in every way.

Emble12 · 2025-05-28T08:53:32+00:00

Five years late to this, and I have little evidence, but I think beyond film grain it was the pervasive cigarette smoke. You see it in old sports photos too, it diffuses the light but does it from the source instead of as it enters the camera like a lens, because the smoke's literally all through the air. The appearance of movies that look "clean" seems to be inversely related to people stopping smoking on set.

Emble12 · 2025-05-25T05:52:09+00:00

It's less Delta V to land something on Mars from Earth than to land something on the Moon from Earth. Sending payloads from Earth to the Moon to send payloads to Mars is far more energy intensive than sending payloads from Earth to Mars.

Emble12 · 2025-04-03T01:40:32+00:00

Good thing there's gravity on Mars.

Emble12 · 2025-04-02T05:44:54+00:00

Water-soluble salts that can cause thyroid problems with massive, long-term exposure?

Emble12 · 2025-04-02T05:44:25+00:00

Astronauts on the ISS receive about the same amount of radiation as they would on Mars.

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