Exploring the Racial Divide in "Rabbit Proof Fence"

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In the film Rabbit Proof Fence by Phillip Noyce there is a relevance to the present and past days of society. The relevance is shown through the strong judgment of racism between the white Australians and the Aboriginal people, and the actions that had been taken and only in the past 40 years changed. The race of people is still judged today in current society, Rabbit Proof Fence makes the viewer aware of the racial discrimination then and now. The fact that this film is based on a true story makes it more powerful and real. The film puts a human face to the stolen generation, and the young actress who plays the main character Molly does not disillusion the viewer of the real emotions and disgusting actions taken upon the young half caste children taken from their families. She makes the journey real and her cleverness is created by the need to survive, not as an entertainment construction to make the film more exciting, but to give the viewer an emotional impact. The racial activist, A.O. Neville constantly shows strong discrimination against both Aboriginal culture and half-caste children. He is determined to `breed the black out of them'. "Are we to allow the creation of a third unwanted race?" resembling the cause of World War Two where Adoff Hitler proposed the creation of the `perfect race' therefore killing off over half the Jewish people. After the release of Rabbit Proof Fence, many `politically right' white Australians tried to promote that the film was based on myth and misunderstanding but in facet is not as the film itself promotes the openness of racism. Racism was not only a problem is Australia but throughout the world and is continuing to stay a problem, even in our own backyard. The racism between the white Australians and the Aborigines is quite similar to the racism shown in schools and even in parliament here in New Zealand between the Maori and Europeans, or once again between the `white' and the `black'. An Australian council speaker tells us " it was standard practice ... children were taken from their homes ... Whole communities were shifted form their home to another part of the country. Aboriginal life has been regulated and supervised at almost every turn. There was no choice." But did the Aboriginal people pose any threat? In almost all cases of racism the people being treated unfairly are the people under threat.

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