Film is a medium, which is often able to converse across cultures and nations. Generally, audiences perceive knowledge of certain events and foreign customs through cinema; moreover, the way these are depicted, contribute to our national stereotypes. The constructed Australian Identity is often exaggerated in both foreign and Australian film. This is especially true of Australian films of the last few decades; all of whom have exaggerated the Australian conception. Australian cinema excels in the genre of comedy; where characters have been intentionally exaggerated for the purposes of entertainment. Specifically, directors of the iconic Australian films, The Castle (1997) and Muriel’s Wedding (1994) have successfully, used simply techniques, such as the use of language, costumes, makeup and set designs to explore our National Identity. Directors, Paul John Hogan (Muriel’s Wedding) and Rob Stich (The Castle) have produced phenomenal scripts, exploring Australian themes within the use of colloquial language. Throughout the duration of both films, the actors use uniquely slang Australian terms and regular coarse language. Detectable in both films, is the comedy found in the use of sometimes inappropriate language; Muriel’s Wedding character, Rhonda, uses her coarse language to express emotion: ‘Sorry, Mum. You know I love you, but you drive me crazy. And you three, what a bunch of cocksuckers’. In contrast, the characters of the Castle, use it as more of a means of expression: ‘In the end who knows if it was Dad’s words or Mr Hammell’s or even Dennis’s note passing (fucking brilliant) but we won the case.’ Many of the quotes, the Australian audience find identifiable in their regular lexicon. Notably, Stitch’s, the Castle, is full ... ... middle of paper ... ...up. They reckon the planes put people off, them and the power lines. Not Dad. He reckons power lines are a reminder of man's ability to generate electricity.’ All appears sweet for the Kerrigan family, until developers want to acquire their house for an expansion of the airport, but due to the condition and location of the house, they offer only a token sum. The film is centred on the Kerrigan family’s battle to challenge the compulsory acquisition. Directors, Paul John Hogan (Muriel’s Wedding) and Rob Stich (The Castle) have produced, iconic films that have reached the scale of national and international credit; successfully evoking Australian stereotypes, sharing an insight into the classic Australian lifestyle. The clever observance and exaggeration of Australian language, appearance and livelihood; have proved identifiable to Australian audiences in particular.
Gary’s House, Debra Oswald, features the story of an Aussie couple facing the reality of adversity. Oswald has represented common beliefs and representations through the four protagonists mainly focusing on Gary and Dave. Many beliefs and values in the book symbolize the dominant stereotypes of an average Australian. Oswald explores the concept of an Aussie battler and how it perpetuates and challenges the common stereotype of Australians.
The setting is a lower class Melbourne suburb, adjacent to an airport. The head of the Kerrigan household, Darryl Kerrigan (Michael Caton), is simple, but a man of incredible pride. He is a typical Aussie bloke who is adored by his family yet disregarded by society. Nonetheless, seemingly oblivious to reality, Darryl lives and rules in his own home, which he calls his castle. "A mans home is his castle" he states. Sal Kerrigan (Anne Tenney) is the classic Australian housewife, who is wholly devoted to her family, and especially her husband. Her cooking lacks sophistication of any form, yet is praised beyond any professional chef’s wildest dreams.
Tim Wintons short story, “Neighbours” questions Australia's social discourse by exploring the transition of individuals into a new phase of life. Winton challenges society’s ignorance and cultural stereotypes by displaying a provocative new experience which has the ability to manipulate and change individuals perspectives. Society’s ignorance can be seen through the conflicting hyperbole, “good neighbours were seldom seen and never heard”, exploring the couples incomprehension of different cultures and lifestyles. The negative connotations surrounding the adverb “seldom seen” and “never heard” distort society's underlying values of love, respect and trust, consequently positioning the reader to consider the impact of new experiences in developing one's personal perspective. Moreover, Winton explores society's challenging and spurring transition into a new phase of life via the use of the emotive noun “murdering” in “their neighbours were not murdering each other, merely talking”. The noun, “murdering” juxtaposed with the positive imagery of “talking” posits the audience to society's dignity in the stereotypical context of Australia. Winton challenges the audience to question their moral truths and how a new experience can enlighten individuals to consider different cultures and perspectives. Composers manipulate the reader's perspectives through showing the transition into a new phase of life and how this has the ability to develop and individuals knowledge and
Travelling from Sydney, the three main characters played by Hugo Weaving, Guy Peirce and Terrance Stamp travel to Alice Springs for a cabaret show hosted by Mitzi’s wife. The audience is positioned to sympathise with the main characters during their hardships, and good times. The movie confronts different types of masculinity in an extreme environment
Australia has the terrible condition of having an essentially pointless and prefabricated idea of “Aussiness” that really has no relation to our real culture or the way in which we really see ourselves. We, however subscribe to these stereotypes when trying to find some expression of our Australian identity. The feature film, The Castle, deals with issues about Australian identity in the 1990’s. The film uses techniques like camera shots, language and the use of narration to develop conflict between a decent, old fashioned suburban family, the Kerrigans and an unscrupulous corporation called Airlink. Feature films like The Castle are cultural products because they use attitudes, values and stereotypes about what it means to be Australian.
Australian voices are the medium used to reflect an Individual's value in the society, culture, historical and political beliefs of Australia. It expresses general opinions, perspectives, attitudes, interpretations and emotion of both individual Australians and the wider collective society. In "The Castle" by Rob Stitch, the Australian voices, both private and public voices provide the audience with an insight into a range of voices that shape Australian culture and society.
The film Wendy and Lucy, directed by Kelly Reichardt, presents a sparse narrative. The film has been criticised for its lack of background story, and as a short film, much of the story is left to the viewer to infer from what is presented in the plot. However, Wendy and Lucy is able to depict the intimate relationship between Wendy and her dog as well as reflecting more broadly on the everyday, and commenting on the current economic state of the film’s setting in America. This essay will examine how film form contributes to the viewer’s awareness of the story in Wendy and Lucy and allows a deeper understanding of the themes presented. The aspects of mise-en-scene, shot and editing and sound in the film will be explored.
The movie in which I have chosen to study and evaluate is The Sapphires, the movie was released on the 9 August 2012. Written by Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson and based in the Murray River in Albury, Sydney and in Vietnam. It is set in the era of the late 1950 and 1960’s. In this speech I will talk about the plot, how the movie challenges the Australian stereotype and the literary techniques used by the film makers, while also linking to the ‘Ture Blue Aussie’ topic we are currently studying.
Crocodile Dundee (1986) directed by Peter Faiman and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) directed by Stephan Elliott are two Australian films that have unique plots. The expositions of both films have various similarities and differences in the context of quirky ‘Aussie’ characters, stereotypical Australian language, themes and the vast outback setting. The exposition of each film reaffirms typical Australian stereotypes.
Film Response of Muriel’s Wedding Muriel’s Wedding is a contemporary comedy set in a small Australian town. This enables the film to explore many of the Australian ideologies through the discourse of its characters and film techniques. The value that I’ll be focusing on is the various aspects of mateship portrayed in the film. Mateship is considered to be an integral part of the Australian persona.
The director’s use of various character development techniques such as vocabulary, colloquial language and clothing etc have allowed the director to establish stereotype Australian characters within the film. In the movie, the use of these techniques have influenced the way societies around the globe consider the country Australia and its people. According to a film editor John Miller “This film ˜Crocodile Dundee' has influenced the way foreigners think about Australia and Australian people. The images it portrays only focus on a small part of the truth about Australia and its people, culture and social systems. The impressions the film would give to overseas viewers weren't exceptionally true and mainly focussed on the things commonly known to foreigners. The film portrays the Australian men as dirty and uneducated who speak informally. The whole movie could be interpreted in many ways to show the truth. Those who know of the country would have seen it as a funny movie but those who didn't would have the wrong impressions and ideas about
The film Australia by Baz Luhrmann displayed numerous misrepresentation of Indigenous Australians. King George or better known as the “magic man” according to Nullah demonstrates an inaccurate and stereotypical view of Aboriginal Australians as being mysterious and spiritually powerful. Australia depicts Aboriginal Australians as being in touch with nature which is a positive stereotype. Nature plays an important role in the Aboriginal culture since they live off of the land by hunting, gathering, and farming the land. Aboriginal Australians were also portrayed as the “other” in this movie and their culture was viewed as being primitive compared to that of the white culture. Movies portraying Aboriginal Australians as being exotic, mysterious,
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Stanley, Robert H. The Movie Idiom: Film as a Popular Art Form. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 2011. Print
...ets off the alarm and alerts the boyfriend to what they are doing. They quickly grab the guitar, and jump back into their Holden Kingswood and speed off with Jess in the back seat waving to her boyfriend and laughing with the two men. This is a true portrayal of the Australian larrikin as they have just done something against the law, but still have the ability to laugh about it.