Gallipoli is the tragic tale of two Australian men, Frank Dunne and Archie Hamilton, who both enlisted to join the Gallipoli campaign overseas. The film follows the two men from their time as competitors in a sprint races to Perth for enlistment the light horse. The film itself isn’t so much a ‘war’ film as it is a film dealing with attitudes of Australians through particular individuals towards war in 1915.
The story is told through the continued themes within the film such as competitiveness, mateship and sporting spirit. Gallipoli uses creative and experienced cinematography to effectively send a visual message to the viewer without overstating its intent. This filmic device makes the director a successful yet subtle storyteller. This is especially obvious in the scene where Archie and Frank are crossing the dried up lake bed in an effort to reach Perth. The director uses this landscape to highlight Australia’s isolation from the rest of the world and supports it with the two male leads arguing whether or not it is in their best interests to fight for the Mother Country, England.
The screenplay itself accomplishes gaining the audience’s interest and attention by using humour to capture the essence of Australian character letting viewers relate and later sympathise with all characters as well as highlighting Australian spirit. Combined with breathtaking visual imagery, this is a remarkable combination.
After fives years of organization, Gallipoli had a budget of a $2.6 million and took 4-5 months to film. The locations were mainly found in South Australia (Town of Beltana, Lake Torrens and the coastline near Port Lincoln was transformed into Gallipoli) but also a small town near Cairo. It had been Mel Gibson’s impressive performance in Mad Max that was enough to convince Weir and Lovell into inviting Gibson to an audition for the role of Frank Dunne. Gibson was successful in the audition and got along well with his fellow co-star, Mark Lee, who had been cast as Archie Hamilton. Despite not having been in a feature film before, Weir thought Lee had the right qualities to portray the character of Archie Hamilton on screen.
Gallipoli, as part of a national cinema, can be construed as being made to effectively compete with the dominant international cinema especially Hollywood. It is part of the national cinema ideal to create a space nationally and internationally for non-Hollywood film-making activity. As a result, it was the film-maker’s conscious decision to invoke Gallipoli with qualities that are essentially Australian – dark humour, humanist values and quirkiness.
November 1998, written for FILM 220: Aspects of Criticism. This is a 24-week course for second-year students, examining methods of critical analysis, interpretation and evaluation. The final assignment was simply to write a 1000-word critical essay on a film seen in class during the final six-weeks of the course. Students were expected to draw on concepts they had studied over the length of the course.
The soldiers are remembered for maintaining courage and determination under hopeless conditions. The ANZAC legend owes much to wartime correspondents who used the Gallipoli landing to generate a specifically Australian hero. Among the many reports, which reached Australia, were those of Ashmead-Bartlett. His Gallipoli dispatches described Australians as a 'race of athletes ... practical above all', whose cheers, even in death, 'resounded throughout the night'. Ashmead-Bartlett helped in...
The performance ‘Chasing the Lollyman’ by Debase productions succeeded in using the Dramatic Languages to create a Dramatic Meaning that comments on a social and political issue. This, along with the effective manipulation of the dramatic conventions, has allowed Debase to successfully recognised the Epic Theatre style. Chasing the Lollyman is one man show starring one of Queensland's most dynamic and funny Indigenous performers, Mark Sheppard. He shares many stories, a celebration of urban Indigenous identity and takes a satirical look at the media and popular culture. Playing a variety of characters, Mark pokes fun at everything from Neighbours (what would it be like if a Murri family moved into Ramsey street) to polities. The dramatic meaning of the performance is if Australia wants to become one, we need to learn to accept each other for their differences.
Peter Weir’s 1981 film Gallipoli can in every sense of the phrase be called an ‘Australian classic’. The impact and effect this film has had upon the psyche and perspective of several generations of Australians has been significant. Whilst it can be argued that every Australian is aware of the ANZAC legend, and the events that occurred on the Turkish beaches in 1915, Weir’s film encapsulates and embodies a cultural myth which is now propagated as fact and embraced as part of the contemporary Australian identity. The film projects a sense of Australian nationalism that grew out of the 1970’s, and focuses on what it ‘means’ to be an Australian in a post-colonial country. In this way Gallipoli embodies a sense of ‘Australian-ness’ through the depiction of mateship and through the stark contrast of Australia to Britain. A sense of the mythic Australia is further projected through the cinematic portrayal of the outback, and the way in which Australia is presented in isolation from the rest of the world. These features combined create not only a sense of nationalism, but also a mythology stemming from the ANZAC legend as depicted within the film.
The suburban house, as the film’s setting and sphere of action, is extraordinary partly because it is ‘next-door’ to an airport. The odd layout of this backyard is underlined because their suburb meets the kind of architectural cast-offs often found at the margins of big cities. This mix of the humble backyard with the international vectors of travel, tourism and international trade plays out in the film’s narrative which connects the domestic and the distant. The Castle displays many locations and landscapes easily identified as being unique of Australia- The ‘Aussy’ barbeque and patio setup, greyhound racetrack and poolroom, just to name a few. The neighbours of the Kerrigan’s are a symbol representing the multicultural diversi...
With gun control being one of the most substantial controversies of modern times, many influential figures have risen to support stances on the matter. On February first of 2013, a man by the name of Sam Harris wrote an article for “The WEEK” on the matter titled, “Why I own guns” in which he illustrates his beliefs as to why a rational person should own firearms. Sam Harris is a New York Times bestselling author, a gun rights activist, and possesses a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Harris believes that “rational” people should possess firearms for protection, as he states that “a person with a gun can make all the difference.” (Harris) To support
The theme mateship is proven through the relationship between Frank and Archy and also Frank and his three other friends. In Gallipoli, Peter Weir explores the idea of mateship all throughout the movie. For the duration of the film he uses running to draw Frank and Archy together but also his motion picture is wholly based on the theme of mateship between the two, Archy and Frank. Additionally, mateship is shown not only through Frank and Archy but through Frank and his three friends Barney, Billy and Snowy. This essay will examine these issues to explain how mateship is proven throughout the film.
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 depicts what it was like to be Australian in the decades of the 50’s and 60’s and the decisions of the Australian government over this period, through the journey of four Aboriginal women and one Irish man. The movie explores the treatment of indigenous people living in this era in comparison to white Australians. The unique ways in which the characters made their living provided for scrutiny, judgement and vulnerability. In the movie you see just how differently the Aboriginal community was treated compared to the white Australians during these era’s.
In today’s society, there are many ways that people perceive law enforcement officers. It is believed that all police officers like donuts. Some people picture all officers as being masculine or sporting a flattop haircut. Many believe that all cops must meet a ticket quota each month. And lately, police officers are perceived to violently arrest based on racial profiling and discrimination. All of these views are stereotypes of a law enforcement officer. The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines stereotype as “to believe unfairly that all people or things with a particular characteristic are the same”. A stereotype is a broad generalization that many times is only true for a small minority. Stereotypes can be hurtful and incorrect. They
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.
Falk, I. & Kilpatrick, S. (2000). What is social capital? A study of a rural community. Socialogia Ruralis, 1(40), pp. 87-110.
The presence of social capital in civically engaged communities leads to better socioeconomic situations and an improved general quality of life. In his own research, he also found that in Italy the “levels of effectiveness [in regional governments] varied dramatically” and relates to the existence of civic engagement. Social capital can only produce benefits if utilized, just as monetary capital does little if not reinvested in the economy. Even if someone has many contacts in their address book the benefits of social capital can only be realized if at least some of them are engaged for socialization regularly. When people disassociate from groups they are less socially engaged. Democracy does not work as intended if a potential voter does not voice their opinion at the ballot box. He states that “voter turnout, newspaper readership, membership in choral societies and football clubs” were activities prevalent in successful areas. (Putnam 67) These each require active participa...
Putnams analysis of social capital in his essay, “Bowling Alone”. In his essay, he argues that a active civil society is key to the consolidation of a democracy. The reason he gave is that when individuals are involved in various societies, they build social trust and reciprocity. Putnam says, “Such networks facilitate coordination and communication, amplify reputations, and thus allow dilemmas of collective action to be resolved”. To elaborate further, when individuals join a society (Red-Cross, Women Rights Groups, and etc), and interact with each other, they are able to hear and share many opinions. Furthermore, they had a sense of belonging to that society and thus had one voice. This kept democracies stable as people were able to take well informed decisions and supported by the civil societies that they belonged to. Putnam also states in his essay that, as America became more modernised, individuals become more occupied their own work and have less time to join these societies. This leads to a fall in social capital and destabilises the democratic state.
The paradigm of rural development has shifted its focus from the structures and institutions to the collective action, trust, cooperation and reciprocity among the people. This trust, cooperation and the relationship of reciprocity are actually the features of social capital as envisaged by Robert Putnam in his study of Italy in 1993. According to him, social capital is the features of social organization such as networks, norms, and trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit.