\Aim:
By using both primary and secondary resources we are to show how Australian television programs incorporate different cultures.
Procedure:
As this assignment will need to include a vast amount of information, both primary and secondary. Information has been gathered from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and government owned sites as well as a variety of articles. A survey of 20 people aged 15-50 was conducted and 4 hours of Australian television were viewed to gain further knowledge and understanding of cultural diversity on Australian free-to-air television.
Analysis of Data:
Typecasting and Stereotyping
Though Australia is seen by many as a relatively culturally diverse country, it has been heavily critisised for its primarily
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Neighbours, located in a suburb in Melbourne, is abundant with a thriving Asian community – yet the most recent Asian to join the main cast was back in 2008. The exclusion is largely unintentional, however it seems that racial minorities are still so marginalised that including them doesn't even occur to the relevant people. These shows are biggest in Europe, quite possibly due to their representation of typical 'Australian culture'. The need to portray a desirable and Caucasian based Australia can explain the typecasting associated with the lack of cultural diversity on Australian dramas. It can be argued that viewers in Europe and the United Kingdom are so used to everyone having different backgrounds, that it tends to lack interesting subject matter for them to watch a show of mixed race people. They often do not get the novelty of watching blonde haired, blue eyed Aussies surfing the waves, exclaiming "crikey!" and be stereotypically Australian. Nevertheless, not every Australian speaks with the Australian accent. The 2011 Census shows 26 per cent of Australians are born overseas ; which …show more content…
Statistics show that a whopping __ percent of people on Australia television are Caucasian FOOTNOTE. This is a major concern to up-and-coming journalists or actors who are struggling to get seen on free-to-air TV in Australia. According to survey results, Masterchef is one of the few television shows screened on TV that incorporate an extensive variety of cultures and backgrounds. Season one’s runner up, Poh Ling Yeow has become a culinary celebrity to Australians everywhere with her fresh look on cuisine and her humanitarian work; but this did not happen without a few bumps along the way. After her initial second place status on the show, Poh suffered from rejection from many TV networks and broadcasters that harkened her path to culinary recognition. Nonetheless, not only is commercial Australian television beginning to include non-white people, both in reality and drama, but Poh also defied the subservient Asian woman stereotype through her cooking and interaction with the judges, giving us a televisual hint of Australia’s multicultural nuances and complexities. The final five of Masterchef (2013) included a country boy from the Northern Territory, an Indian-Australian, a Muslim, and a Lesbian. This is a true reflection of
The 2014 Walkley Award winning documentary, "Cronulla Riots: the day that shocked the nation" reveals to us a whole new side of Aussie culture. No more she’ll be right, no more fair go and sadly no more fair dinkum. The doco proved to all of us (or is it just me?) that the Australian identity isn’t really what we believe it to be. After viewing this documentary
Over the years Australia has had many different problems with racism and racism affecting peoples’ lives. Many racial groups have been affected, most significantly the Aboriginals. The end of world war two in 1945 marked a huge change in types of racism. Australia went from the ‘superior’ white Australians dominating over immigrants and aboriginals. To a relatively multicultural and accepting society that is present today.
Reynolds, H. (2005). Nowhere People: How international race thinking shaped Australia’s identity. Australia: Penguin Group
The sitcom will portray some modern Australian stereotypes instead of that old white crocodile Dundee stereotype. It will include a multicultural cast include the hard-working man, the high school dropout and their families. It will also demonstrate that Australians love for sport is passed down from generation to generation.
. Through television, Australians had access to American culture, which allowed it to influence and shape Australian culture, and people gained a better understanding of cultural history and complex social, political, and personal problems due to the simple dramatic format of television shows (Blundell, 2014). However, Australians began to voice concerns about the lack of local content, so, in the late 1960s, the government imposed a local content quota, and the Australian identity gradually made itself known on the TV screen (Skwirk, n.d.). This allowed the Americanisation of Australian culture to be slowed, and let Australia shape its own identity. In 1975, colour television was first introduced, and by 1980, almost 80% of Australian homes had a colour TV set, making this the fastest adoption of colour television in the world (Free TV Australia, n.d.). Television’s rapid increase in popularity lead to its significant cultural impact on Australian
These colors help unite the cultures within Australia and create a sense of mateship, defining what the Australian voice is. Cultures from all around the world can be labeled with colors; American culture is red, white, and blue, Chinese culture is red and yellow, Australian culture is red and blue, as well as yellow and gold. It defines us from other cultures.
But one element that is common to all interpretations of identity is landscape that includes everything from Flora to Fauna. With 90% of Australians living in cities by the coast, foreigners to this day still consider Australia and its inhabitants to live in a vast and desolate landscape. “As we globalise, this will become our great national advantage, the one thing that defines us” (Watson, 2003) – which it
As technology and the media hurtle society into a global village, making interaction and socialization not only more attainable but more commonplace, the lines between groups of people become blurred. This lends itself to expanding our experience and aids in not overlooking multiple stories of other cultures. As an illustration, Fox Entertainment created the reality television show 30 Days, hosted by Morgan Spurlock, which delves into understanding cultural issues by placing an individual into unfamiliar environments that challenged their own firmly held beliefs about a culture or group of people. The characters, largely, have judgements and world-views that emanate from a one-dimensional story or understanding of a culture of belief that contrasts their own beliefs and often undermines the truth. The episodes are a prelude to inviting a healthy examination of different cultures and beliefs as well as an examina...
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“Whiteness” is one of the core and crucial national identity of Australians. The construction of “whiteness” as an identity is apparently linked to Australian’s colonial history. Robinson (2004) suggested that “Whiteness is not a basic categorical object and being socially constructed. Instead the concept 'white' denotes nothing more than skin colour. It is the Indigenous 'other' who is the focus of racialisation and its effects.” (ppg 145) His statement implies that Aboriginals are the major community being silenced and discriminated in the Australian society. There is a prevailing belief among Australians that “White represents the norm, the natural order of things, or self while non- White represents the Other who may threaten, degrade, pollute or contaminate the White race” (Kamp, 2008,ppg.413). Those who are considered as “white” are mainly determined by sharing common interests and culture with the British colonizers.
Growing up in Australia I have formulated my own opinions over time, by revisiting these thoughts in my lectures I have come to the conclusion that there is a fundamental idea between traditionalists that immigrants coming to Australia should assimilate to our culture and furthermore that Australia should be a monocultural thinking society.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics , in Australia more than 85% if people live within 50 kilometres of the coastline of Australia. The rest of the world have this image of Australia in their head. Typical Aussie bloke with a sausage, tank top, thongs, hat, board shorts and drinking a beer. People from all over the world have this image in their head overtime they think of Australia. They also have this overseeing opinion that all
Multiculturalism is the ethnic and cultural diversity that exists within a certain area. Different countries display various forms of multiculturalism. The most common form of multiculturalism is whereby a citizen of a certain country is born overseas, or of the parents of the individual is born overseas. English speaking countries have a lot of multiculturalism in them. Just like the United Kingdom, Australia has adopted multiculturalism as a national identity. My essay explores how Australia appreciates and accepts many different ethnicities and cultures.
I moved from Derby, a town in the centre of England to Australia, when I was eight (2007). While England and Australia speak the same language, it was still a shock moving across the globe. For we had never even left the country before this move, and had never been on a plane. During the time it took to fly from England to Australia, my parents were always warning us to be on our best behaviour. Particularly, when we landed in Singapore and there were soldiers patrolling the airport with rifles. The most vivid memory I have showcasing the different cultures between the two nations, was when I first started school here. The first thing I remember was being shocked at the size of the school, as it went from pre-school all the way
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