Muriel's Wedding Essay

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Muriel’s Wedding
Desperate for acceptance and a loving husband, Muriel Heslop (Toni Collette) armed with $12,000 stolen from her lifeless family embarks on a life-altering journey. Together, with her new-found friend, Rhonda Epinstalk (Rachel Griffiths) Muriel endures the ups and downs of being the opposite of a feminine, popular woman.

Porpoise Spit—a small Australian suburban town near the sea that is built upon 90s stereotypes. The typical supressed housewife, the strong, independent husband and their children that are prime examples of stereotypical lazy, Australian bogans. The Heslops have lived there their whole lives, remaining stationary and unremarkable in every way. Muriel, the only Heslop to seem to have a goal for life of any kind becomes fed up with her situation. She sees the opportunity to escape and takes it, stealing all the family’s money by tricking her mother into writing her a blank cheque. She …show more content…

This is made clear in various scenes, including the opening scene. As Muriel catches the wedding bouquet the audience can see that she stands out form the scenery and people there, marking her as the reject. All she wants is acceptance—she will go to any means to achieve her goal of being part of the popular group—but she values marriage over everything else. She believes that to be successful and a “new person” she must be wed to someone, even if she doesn’t love them or even know them. On the other hand, Rhonda is almost the opposite. She sleeps around and wants to remain free. She doesn’t want to be restrained or tied down by responsibilities or a husband. Rhonda always looks on the fun side of life until she has to live the rest of it in a wheelchair. For a while afterwards, she becomes a bitter and dark, depressed person. Once Muriel comes back for her and takes her to Sydney again, the audience sees Rhonda revert back to her optimistic fun attitude that she showed at the beginning of the

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