Stereotypical Roles of Australian Males
The typical Australian: lazy, beer guzzling, faded blue singlets, thongs, slang words. This is the dominant reading formed by the media, commonly in advertisements and novels. The image constructed by such media is one of an unfit ‘couch potato’ who sits around all day drinking and watching television. This stereotype is not only downgrading, but constructs Australian males as underachievers in society. Some Australians may be like this, as for many the pursuit of leisure is a serious business. Indeed texts such as Chris Franklin’s – Bloke (2000) and The Wind and the Monkey (1999) support this theory of the common Australian man. However texts such as Crocodile Dundee (1986) and The Castle (1999) do not.
Michael J Crocodile Dundee is not your average Joe. He is far-from the dominant reading of your average Australian male in that he is a genuine, free spirited Australian who hunts crocodiles with his bare hands and stares down giant water buffaloes. The text ‘Crocodile Dundee’ follows New York reporter, Sue Charlton, who travels to Australia to meet and interview Michael J Crocodile Dundee, a man who runs a safari business and has just survived an attack by a crocodile. “Crocodile” Dundee is constructed as being a hard, rugged Aussie bushman who has a way with the animals. After the crocodile attack, “hundreds of miles through snake infested swamps he crawled on his hands and knees right into Katherine.” After spending a few days touring the safari park, Sue invites Dundee to come back with her to visit New York. Dundee has never been to a large city. He is constructed as being stupid in the way that his culture is so different from the Americans. “It’s all right, he’s Australian,” pe...
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... mate” and “bugger it” is associated with the Australian male in today’s society. The shocker image is also a part of the cultural context of this text.
Hence most texts seem to look past the true features of Australian males. They seem to prefer to dwell on the negative factors, moulding them into more than they really are. In concentrating on the negative issues, texts have chosen to lead viewers to believing that this is what Australians are really like. Australia and its people have always been represented as the underachievers of society and, with time this should change.
Bibliography:
Bibliography
Barrett R. G, The Wind and the Monkey, Harper Collins Publishers, (1999)
Chris Franklin, Bloke, (2000)
CBS FOX Video, Crocodile Dundee, (1986)
Village Roadshow Pictures, The Castle (1999)
Channel 10, XXXX advertisements, (2001)
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Then it was the outback pioneer, battling the bush to build a new nation prior to the First World War. The Anzac legend – bold and ferocious males, unwilling to bow to military discipline, never flinched in battle defined the evolution of the image of Australian masculinity. Professor Manning Clark in his opus A History of Australia imaged the bronzed and noble Anzac as males involved in sex orgies, having violent scuffles, and in Egypt burned belongings of local people, brawled, got drunk and rioted and patronised brothels. Hero and larrikin, ratbag and rebel, the Anzacs ... ...
Today, I will be telling my view on Australian texts. I will be analysing the text “The Exotic Rissole” by Tanveer Ahmed.
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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.
The media, reporting on the latest news around the country, there is no doubting that the media had influenced the 'moral panic' seen over Australia's youth. With article headlines such as "BODGIE RAZOR ATTACK", in the Daily Mirror , to "SAVAGE BODGIE BRAWLS" and another "BODGIE IN BOTTLE ATTACK" . These doom-laden headlines about the youth would cause mass hysteria and concern among man 'respectable' Australians. Moral panic fosters intense hostility towards the group in question as they are "fueled by a dichotomization process whereby folk devils are distinguished from folk heroes in a morality play of good versus evil" . Through the media, there may have been a mass wave of stereotyping taking place over what was considered a Bodgie/Widgie until it became anyone of youth. There will always be a bad proportion of society, so labelling a true juvenile delinquent as a Bodgie or a Widgie simply because of his or her age helps create the belief that the mistrust towards the ostracized minority group is justified.
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.
Although partially true in its time, the Australian bush legend fades more and more as time progresses. The Australian identity of the 1890s was not the same as it was in the 1950s, nor do we have the same self-image today, as portrayed in 'The Australian Legend'. Recent statistics show that we work longer hours and drink far less then we used to. Many more Australians go to the beach than to the bush and despite the iconic male bushman, for most men and women in Australia the beach is far more central to our identity and lives, as the majority of the population lives closer to our coastal shores.