The Australian Film Industry has been around since October 1896. The first full length feature film, in 1906 was ‘The Story of the Kelly Gang’. Australian Cinema has only become a much larger industry in like past 10 years with ‘Sanctum’ being Australia’s 10th largest film in the US Box Office history with its exceptional 3D technology and exquisite photography. ‘The Sapphires’ which also had a strong impact on Australian viewers did not reach the capacity of gross making in the US Box Office. The Australian Film Industry has become in crisis because without the Australian movies having an impact on the Australian viewers as a minimum, the money used to make the film will not have profited from the tickets bought to see the actual movie. In this essay I will explain how ‘Sanctum’ and ‘The Sapphires’ can be used in reference to the Australian Film Industry crisis and reason’s for how and why the Australian Film Industry has hit a crisis in film making. The Australian film history has been described as one of 'boom and bust' due to the unpredictable and repetitive nature of its industry; there have been in deep holes when few films were made for decades and high peaks when an oversupply of films reached the market. The 1990s proved to be a successful decade for Australian film and introduced new stars to a global audiences such as Toni Colette and Eric Bana in his first prominent role. The Australian film industry continues to make a reasonable number of films each year, but in contrast with all the other English-speaking countries, Australia has almost always found it difficult to compete with the American film industry by having a much larger home market. The most successful Australian actors and film-makers such as Hugh Jackman ... ... middle of paper ... ...e different types of movies but also the types of movies that Australia produce. As I have outlined in this essay many factors come into account when a film industry can be in crisis such as competition with similar industries, financial support to have the technology and equipment to create a movie. Although these factors may be true, globalisation has made it possible, through studios in Australian being more affordable for American directors. This then gives Australian’s the open doors that are needed to create a sophisticated film even if it is an American Australian film. Just like Rowley explains ‘in the last five years, it has been to more ‘local’ films, that aims at the Australian market and feature recognisable, everyday settings. The engagement of Hollywood genres often remains, but is no longer done in an attempt to emulate Hollywood slavishly’. (1998)
...cate American entertainment films. But what was the cost to the development of Canada's supposed "cultural identity" and the perogative of the Canadian filmmaker to make a film without mimicking Classic Hollywood style and theme? Toward the mid-1980s, following the demise of the Capital Cost Allowance tax shelter in 1982, the "success" of a Canadian film was determined less by its forecast box office potential. The trend in the late 1970s and the early 1980s towards what Ted Magder calls the "If you can't beat `em join `em" (Magder, 169) relationship with the commercial Hollywood production infrastructure, was met in the mid-1980s by an equally vehement movement, which maintained that the infiltration of American culture and the adoption of their economic or "big-business" approach was precisely the problem with the Canadian film industry, and hence Canadian films.
If we look at the early history of Australian television, virtually all program material until 1963 was of foreign origin, of which eighty three percent were American and the rest British (Cited in an article by Cunningham Stuart, “History, Contexts, Politics, Policy”). Philip Bell discusses in his article that even in the first two decades of television ‘American programs and formats dominated commercial channels’ (Cited in an article by Bell Phillip, ‘Television’). So Americanization of Australian television is not just a recent development. This problem has been there right from the beginning, with American shows like Leave it to Beaver and I love Lucy dominating the TV screens of Australian households. Many are concerned with this issue, a good example is shown in an article written by David Dale, readers were asked if they were shocked by the revelation that all the most popular dramas and comedies on Australian television were made in America, and whether they thought TV stations should be forced to show more stories from other countries, including Australia.
Beginning the mid 1920s, Hollywood’s ostensibly all-powerful film studios controlled the American film industry, creating a period of film history now recognized as “Classical Hollywood”. Distinguished by a practical, workmanlike, “invisible” method of filmmaking- whose purpose was to demand as little attention to the camera as possible, Classical Hollywood cinema supported undeviating storylines (with the occasional flashback being an exception), an observance of a the three act structure, frontality, and visibly identified goals for the “hero” to work toward and well-defined conflict/story resolution, most commonly illustrated with the employment of the “happy ending”. Studios understood precisely what an audience desired, and accommodated their wants and needs, resulting in films that were generally all the same, starring similar (sometimes the same) actors, crafted in a similar manner. It became the principal style throughout the western world against which all other styles were judged. While there have been some deviations and experiments with the format in the past 50 plus ye...
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.
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Soon after the invention of sound in movies, the silent era of movies ended.... ... middle of paper ... ... Even though the industry was taken by Hollywood, there have been a lot of Canadians that have greatly contributed to the industry and has influenced the industry. Hollywood has affected Canadian lifestyles in a lot of ways, most notably in fashion.
... ed (BFI, 1990) we read … “contrary to all trendy journalism about the ‘New Hollywood’ and the imagined rise of artistic freedom in American films, the ‘New Hollywood’ remains as crass and commercial as the old…”
The film prevails as a reflection of the Australian culture of the 90s in all its crass, gaudy and over-the-top suburban ways. Despite this unique and iconic look at urban Australia and Australian characters, the story highlights universal themes with Hogan saying of the film’s international success, “that was a big lesson to me: if you have the right story there is no such thing as 'too parochial’.” (Lowenstein, 2000) Though the popularity of films portraying a new urban “Australian-ness” in this era influenced films like The Castle (Chocolate & Sitch, 1997) for years to come, this new cultural identity was not embraced by all. There has been significant backlash towards Australian film within Australia, with many finding the ideas of Australia portrayed on screen limited and stereotypical, rather than portraying the full breadth and multi-cultured nature of Australia.
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.
" Cinema and the Nation. Ed. Mette Hjort and Scott Mackenzie. New York City, NY: Routledge, 2000. 260-277.
Marchetti, Gina, and Tan Kam. Hong Kong film, Hollywood and the new global cinema no film is an island. London: Routledge, 2007. Print.
Thompson, K 2003, ‘The struggle for the expanding american film industry’, in Film history : an introduction, 2nd ed, McGraw-Hill, Boston, pp. 37-54
Cinema studies: the key concepts (3rd ed.). London: Routledge. 2007. Lacey, N. (2005). The 'Standard'. Film Language.
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