Moon: the message and meaning.

in Moon (2009) astronaut Sam is the only employee working at a lunar station with his computer assistant, GERTY. Sam is ending his three year work contact before he returns home, he is involved in a fatal accident which leads to Sam uncovering a plot by the company he is working for, the film itself through this arc of uncovering the deep and dark mysteries of the corporations exploitations criticises capitalism.

Moon begins with a question within the advert for lunar corps so it keeps the viewer on their feet and keeps them involved. The opening shots contain symbols of industry shot against the foreground of nature,

as if the industry is capturing and containing nature, the contact of the industrial side is off putting, it is unnatural and makes us feel uneasy. This binary opposition of nature and machine perfectly encapsulated the meaning behind the film and one shot in particular in the beginning shows the criticism of capitalism as we see people searching through a landfill and people in poverty, this is a criticism that capitalism favours the rich and exploits the poor, increasing wealth divides and maintaining poverty for most people. We are seeing the impact of the industrialisation. We are being shown the worst parts of the capital system: death, decay, poverty, exploitation, waste, famine etc.

This dystopian imagery is opposed with images of prosperity, a more eutopic view of the world, of course the advert shows that these are the fruits of Lunar corps labour, lunar corps is showing themselves in a positive light, they have given themselves this image and will neglect harsh realities explored later in the film, this is a direct criticism of big companies in our world, companies such as Apple have a campaign to “make the world a better place” yet they exploit people, pay them little wages and give them lots of hours yet this will never be a part of how they represent themselves as a company.

the film is in support of the worker, it reflects realities of these industries in our own world and tells a story of the worker prevailing, which in itself means the film is supporting a left wing ideology.