V i s u a l   C u l t u r e
Links Film Home The Media

Aspects of World Cinema - Australian

After a lengthy period of relative inactivity, Australian film saw a resurgence of production as a result of government subsidy in the 1970's. This unit is concerned to trace not so much the internationalism of directors like Peter Wier or stars like Mel Gibson, but to examine how Australian film announced its national character by both challenging and bringing something fresh to the Hollywood paradigm.   You will find useful web sites under Links and also listed at the end of this unit where Australian Film Resources are listed separately.

Accredited task : The outcome of this unit must be an essay of some substance, comprising 1500-2000 words, and discussing themes, style and narrative convention in at least three films.

Overview of this Unit

Assessment Criteria: You should show evidence of
  • Close analysis of both form & narrative - refer to specific moments in films
  • Broad knowledge of range of texts - at least 3
  • Relationship to Hollywood?  Always point out the differences or similarities
  • Director(s) - auteur signatures.  The contributions made by particular directors
  • National context - political, economic etc.
  • National practices - themes, images etc. i.e. relating to above point
Texts for analysis:
  • Love and Other Catastrophes.  (1996)     Director: Emma-Kate Croghan
  • Picnic at Hanging Rock.   (1975)     Director: Peter Weir
  • A Sunday too Far Away.    (1975)    Director: Ken Hannam
  • Gallipoli.    (1981)  Director : Peter Weir
  • High Tide.   (1988)  Director : Gillian Armstrong
  • Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.  (1994)   Director: Stephan Elliot
Analytical approaches:
  • Representation   (i.e. gender, class, race, age)
  • Narrative             (i.e structures and categories)
  • Iconography       (i.e notions of national landscape)
Representation:   The following questions may act as guides for analysis:
Gender: 

What roles roles are given to/taken by male and female characters in this film?

What is the film's attitude to sexual orientation?  If any?

  

How are these elements generally treated in the average Hollywood, mainstream production?
Class:

How are different classes signalled?

What are the ideas and values with which  classes are associated? (i.e. accent, money, housing, ethnicity, geographical location etc.)

How does class affect our view of character?

  

How does class generally figure in Hollywood, mainstream movies? 

Are there any useful comparisons? 

How might a Hollywood movie have told this story differently?
Race:

Do different races play any part in this film?  What are they

To what extent are they stereotyped?

  

How far does this conform to or differ from the average Hollywood production?  Again think of useful comparisons - especially where native american figures appear.
Age:

What ideas do old or young people stand for in this film?

Are elders, for example, repositories of wisdom and/or national pride?

Do younger people, for example, represent a new beginning?

  

How well does this compare with the average Hollywood production?

It may be that this category - age - has a more international application.  What sort of national ideals and values do different ages represent?
Narrative. Here are some basic questions to ask yourself about each film:

In what ways is the narrative structured?  Does it have a linear progression, driven by character motivation along a logical trajectory punctuated by cause and effect?   Or is there a lack of logic?  Is there even something mysterious about how and why things happen?  Do characters make things happen or do things happen to them?

Is there a sense of closure?   Are all the loose ends tied up?

Does the outcome of the narrative support dominant ideology?  Are the bad guys caugtht and punished by the Law?  Does everything work out neatly in the end?

Can you assign a category to this film?  Does it fall neatly into ca ategory?


Do these conform to genres?
Are the films viewed no more than disguised westerns, thrillers, melodramas etc.?
Iconography

An icon is a type of sign that looks like what it signifies.  Icons also carry associations.

Is the image on the right an icon?  It carries associations, but when I asked my students what associations, they connected budgerigars with old ladies.  These look exactly like Joey, my grandmother's budgie.  Random, subjective associations are not what iconography enjoys or encourages.  Processes of iconography use existing power structures to restrict and anchor associations of images.

Though the budgie is native to Australia - as is the Koala bear and duck-billed platypus - these animals have not been institutionalised as has the emblematic kangaroo. 

budgteza.jpg (17187 bytes)
But the kangaroo is a ready-made icon - a cliché.  One of the functions of Art is to create iconic meanings.  The picture below is of a place in Australia called Hanging Rock, which Peter Weir makes iconic in his eponymous film.  It is perhaps a measure of the film's success that the two are so closely associated.

hang.jpg (14107 bytes)

Australian Film Resources

Interview with Peter Wier (Sight & Sound 1976)

Peter Wier on Gallipoli (1981 Journal of Television and Film Quarterly)

Gallipoli (A web site with images and music)

Oz Film Reading Room (Essays/ Dissertations/ Reviews)  (Click on 'Oz Film' then 'Writings')

A Sunday too Far Away (IMDb review)

Narrative Conventions in the Classical Hollywood Cinema (an essay)