Stand up for what you believe in

In this scene, while everyone was standing and singing the national anthem, Joel just sat down on the chair and didn’t sing. A high angle shot has been used to make Joel look powerless.

Joel’s dad believes that the song doesn’t belong to them and it’s not their song, saying “you don’t need to have this stuff to have pride.“ By looking at Joel’s facial expression you can see that he’s not sure about what he has to do. The song doesn’t mean anything to him, so there’s no reason for him to sing the song, but he doesn’t want to get into trouble.

Anthony Mundine is an indigenous Australian boxer who doesn’t believe the Australian national anthem. Joel’s father was happy that his son stood his ground, and he looked at the picture of Anthony and said ”Chock, my son is the man too.” Showing it’s important to have leaders in the fight for rights.

Joel got in trouble and his parents were called, because he didn’t stand for the national anthem, or sing the song. By looking at principal’s face and the way she walks it seems she’s serious, and the close up of Joel indicates he feels guilty.

Joel got suspended because he didn’t sing the national anthem; he went back to school with his parents to talk to the principal. The principal said” all Joel needs to do is to sing the national anthem. “Joel wanted to sing the national anthem but he couldn’t, so the principal abused the power that she had to expel him. The principal never looked at this from Joel’s perspective.

After Joel was expelled to get him back to school, all Indigenous students sat down while everyone else was singing the national anthem. Chloe said ”I’m sorry Mrs, but no one’s moving until Joel walks through that door.“ The principal replied, ”I have tried to be reasonable. I have tried to respect your point of view. But if you will not meet me half way I will not hesitate to expel you. Every single one of you. You really have no idea what that means do you? It will stay on your records for the rest of your life.“ At the end Joel went back to school and he didn’t have to sing the national anthem, but not before Mrs Mc cann realised her actions didn’t match her words.