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Image Reference

Timeline of Indigenous Film

The below page is from the Australian Government website and provides an interesting timeline of indigenous representation in the media.


Source
Australian Government, Indigenous Film. Accessed at:http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/indigenous-film

Indigenous film

Warning. Australian Stories may contain the names and images of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people now deceased. Australian Stories also contain links to sites that may use images of Aboriginal and Islander people now deceased.

Rolf de Heer, Still from 'Ten Canoes', 2006. Courtesy of Vertigo Productions and theNational Film and Sound Archive.

Indigenous film either portrays Indigenous people, issues and stories or is film made by Indigenous Australians. While Indigenous film is a small part, it is a highly significant part of Australia's culture. The portrayal of Indigenous issues and people in film provides a unique insight into Australia's relationship with its Indigenous peoples and heritage. Indigenous film can also be a means of expression for Indigenous experience and Indigenous culture.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, issues and stories have often been stereotyped and marginalised in Australian society. Australia's film history paints a similar picture. However, there are films that portray Indigenous people as self conscious and aware and not as a mysterious or dangerous ‘other’. The portrayal of Indigenous issues go hand in hand with real world measures to achieve reconciliation.

Silence - 1920s

Still of automobile from 'Australasian Gazette - 10000 miles around Australia', 1926. Courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have been portrayed in film since the silent era of the 1920s. Films from this time about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies were made from a European viewpoint. They were also condescending in their view of Indigenous Australians. Fictional film, dramas and feature films, often portrayed Aborigines as threatening, but also represented them as mysterious or playful. However Indigenous people in both types of films were portrayed as primitive and inferior to the white settlers. (see Screening Indigenous Australia ).

An example of how Indigenous Australians were represented in early Australian film can be found in the newsreel: Australian Gazette 10,000 Miles Around Australia (1926). A caption states: 'The collection of native spears bears witness to the automobile’s peaceful penetration of the primitive north'. The film portrays white European Australians as victorious over the wild and uncivilised land and consequently as conquerors of Indigenous peoples and their land.

Un-civilisation - 1930s-1950s

Charles Chauvel, Robert Tudawali and Ngarla Kunoth in 'Jedda', 1953. Courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive.

The conflict between white settlers and Indigenous peoples has frequently been a theme in Australian films. For example in the early Sound Era film Heritage (Chauvel 1935) 'black devils' attack a homestead. They are shown swarming across the landscape, killing a man and a mother with spears, before being scared off by men on horseback shooting guns. Both Uncivilised(Chauvel 1936) and Bitter Springs (Smart 1950) represent Aborigines as an undifferentiated and violent force of nature, rather than human.

A later film by the same director as Heritage presents a different portrayal. Charles Chauvel’sJedda (1955) pays serious attention to the experiences and feelings of the title character Jedda (Ngarla Kunoth), an Aboriginal girl raised by a white family. It is arguably the first film that does so, yet it is an ambivalent portrayal. The audience is led to identify with Jedda and her perspective, rather than the racist views of the white characters. Yet the tragic ending suggests that Aboriginal people and society are unable to be 'civilised' (in the context of European society at the time).

Roads - 1970s

Phillip Noyce, Garry Foley in 'Backroads', 1977. Courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive.

As the Australian film industry blossomed in the 1970's, Indigenous characters played a greater role in Australian cinema. In films such as Walkabout (Roeg 1971) and Stormboy (Safran 1976) Aboriginal characters are presented as helpful, kind and much more knowledgeable about the land than white characters. However, they are removed from the audience, presented as mysterious and misunderstood. 

The film Backroads (Noyce 1977) coincided with social developments of 1970's Australia. One of the central characters was played by Aboriginal activist Gary Foley. Foley and Essie Coffey, who also appears in the film, were involved in the Tent Embassy, and were promoters of Indigenous land rights and culture. The film openly discusses racism and Indigenous experience. However, unlike some of the more recent Indigenous focused films, Backroads was not successful in its time.

My Survival as an Aboriginal (1979) is a documentary directed by Essie Coffey and made in collaboration with non-Indigenous filmmaker Martha Ansara. The film was the first documentary directed by an Indigenous woman and one of the first films where Indigenous people had a determining role in how they and their community were represented.

My Survival as an Aboriginal is a powerful film. Coffey has a commanding presence and speaks with authority about traditional skills and culture, her experiences as an Aboriginal woman as well as her views of the past and future. The film provides an intimate induction into Coffey’s community and its message calling for the preservation of Indigenous culture is still current today.

White Australia has a Black History - 1980s

Pat Fiske, Aboriginal Protest in 'Australia Daze', 1988. Courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive.

In the 1980s, awareness grew in the Australian public that Indigenous experience since white settlement was more complicated and shocking than had been acknowledged.

Lousy Little Sixpence (Morgan 1982) is a documentary in which Indigenous Australians recount their experience of being forcibly sent away from their families and communities to work for the Australian Government without pay. It is provoking to watch these elders tell their stories, in the knowledge that, to this day, the issue of ‘stolen wages’ has not been entirely resolved (see Stolen Wages - A resource guide ).

One of the most successful Australian films of all time, Crocodile Dundee (Cornell 1985), does not acknowledge this history. However, it presents a complex view of Aboriginality and uses humour to subvert stereotypes. 'City boy' Neville, played by Australian screen legend David Gulpilil, tells the journalist Sue (Linda Kozlowski) that she can’t take his photo. She assumes this is because he believes the camera will steal his spirit, but he replies quick-wittedly: 'Nah you’ve got the lens cap on' (watch clip here).

Australia’s Bicentenary in 1988 raised the question of whether the public should celebrate two hundred years of white presence in Australia or Indigenous survival during this period (see Foley’s Article The Sydney Morning Herald and Representation of the 1988 Bicentennial ). The documentary Australia Daze (Fiske 1988) reflects this ambivalence. The footage of the documentary was filmed on the day of the Bicentennial in various locations around Australia. It includes a section on the Aboriginal Protest (watch clip here). An Indigenous speaker describes the day as both the morning of a genocide and the 'celebration of a survival' and criticises the “lie of ‘terra nullius’” and its devastating results.

No More ‘Terra Nullius’ - 1990s

The 1992 Mabo Land Rights Case exposed the myth of ‘terra nullius’, and recognised the rights of Indigenous people to land (SeeLand & Sea Rights ). The documentary, Mabo: Life of an Island Man (Graham 1997) provides a window into the struggle of Torres Strait Islander Eddie Mabo to have his rights to ancestral land recognised. The landmark decision was only achieved after his death. The Mabo Case influenced the portrayal of land in many films that followed including Vacant Possession (Nash 1994) and even The Castle (Sitch 1997). The fictional court case in The Castle relies on the Mabo decision, although the characters are largely ignorant of its real repercussions.

Indigenous Australians had called for land rights long before Mabo’s victory in the High Court. Tent Embassy (Peters-Little 1992) was made by Indigenous filmmaker, musician and academic Frances Peters-Little about a site of Indigenous protest that stands to this day: the Tent Embassy in front of (Old) Parliament House. The documentary follows the lives of the activists that established the Tent Embassy twenty years after its initiation. The film asserts the impact the activists had on government policy and the Australian public’s perception of Indigenous issues.

One of Australia’s stand-out film successes of the early 1990s, The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert (Elliot 1994), depicts Indigenous culture as communal, vibrant and adaptable and subtly advocates its endurance. An Aboriginal man, played by didgeridoo legend Alan Dargin, invites the three central characters (drag queens Felicia, Bernadette and Mitzi) to his camp (watch a clip here). A number of camp members are playing instruments and singing. Felicia, Bernadette and Mitzi decide to perform for the camp and the two groups collaborate in a energetic and moving rendition of 'I Will Survive'. The performance evokes a complex array of meanings. The song was originally performed by African American woman Gloria Gaynor and has been associated with women’s empowerment, queer rights, HIV awareness and now, through this performance, Indigenous survival and self determination.

For more information about Indigenous film in the 1990's, especially those relating to the experience of the Stolen Generations, see the article National Sorry Day .

Reconciling the Nation - 2000s

Ivan Sen, Danielle Hall in 'Beneath Clouds', 2002. Courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive.

A number of Indigenous films were broadcast by SBS as part of Unfinished Business: Reconciling the Nation in the year 2000. For more information on these films see the article National Sorry Day.

Since Unfinished Business, SBSi in partnership with the Adelaide Festival has helped to produce a number of film that address Indigenous issues and experience including: Yolngu Boy (Johnson 2000), Australian Rules (Goldman 2002), The Tracker (de Heer 2002) and Beneath Clouds (Sen 2002).

Beneath Clouds uses the road movie format to explore what it means to be Indigenous in contemporary Australia. Beneath Clouds is Sen’s first feature length film. He wrote, directed and composed for the film and won the 2002 “Best Achievement in Directing” AFI award. This achievement is made more significant by the fact that 2002 was the same year veteran film director Phillip Noyce was nominated for Rabbit Proof Fence .

Rabbit Proof Fence (Noyce 2002) was based on the true story of Molly Craig and her sisters’ escape after being forcibly taken from their family and taken to a distant Native Settlement. Rabbit Proof Fence lays bare Australia’s racist past. It is a telling development that so many Australians are now willing to embrace films with an Indigenous focus and to identify with Indigenous characters, even if this means siding against the white characters.

The 2006 Adelaide Festival helped fund and hosted the world premiere of Ten Canoes (de Heer 2006). It is Australia’s first feature film to be made entirely in an Aboriginal language (although narrated in English).

Ten Canoes occurs both in the present and the past, portraying the Yolngu relationship to land and stories as an ongoing experience. The setting and central story are parts of David Gulpilil's country and traditional stories. Gulpilil was heavily involved in Ten Canoesbehind the scenes as well as featuring in the film as the storyteller. Ten Canoes has been successful internationally winning a number of awards including a special jury prize at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2006 .

Unfinished Business

Over the past hundred years or so, the representation of Indigenous Australians has broadened, including complex and varied portrayals of both issues and characters. The increase in Indigenous people working behind the scenes in film has also been an important development, both providing a means of expression and aiding reconciliation.

Programs by publicly funded organisations like the Australian Film Commission (AFC) continue to encourage the professional development of Indigenous filmmakers. The recent joint initiative between SBS and the AFC, Bit of Black Business , funded five minute long dramas 'that explore individual notions and experiences of contemporary Black "Business" ' (watch short films from Bit of Black Business ).

Australian film will continue to be interwoven with the unfinished business of reconciliation, reflecting, informing about and commenting upon Australian society and Indigenous issues and experience. Kevin Rudd’s Sorry Speech and the actions that follow will, no doubt, continue to influence future Indigenous film.

Useful links

Listen, look and play

• Watch clips of films by Indigenous Australians @ Australian Screen
• Watch clips of films by non-Indigenous filmmakers that feature Indigenous Australians or issues @ Australian Screen
• Watch short films from Bit of Black Business

Online resources - general

• Audiovisual archive - Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
• Black magic: Aboriginal films take off - The Age
• Aboriginal art and film: the politics of representation by Marcia Langton
• The impossibility of pleasing everybody: a legitimate role for white filmmakers making black films by Frances Peters-Little
• Screening Indigenous Australia: an overview of Aboriginal representation on film by Peter Krausz
• Mabo v Queensland No. 2 1992 (legal document)
• Reconciliation in the community - how do we make it a reality through the media? by Lola Forester

Online resources - on specific films

• Yolngu Boy (2001) film information
• Official Ten Canoes site
• Crocodile Dreaming
• Island Home Country
• Sacred Ground
• Rabbit Proof Fence: a resource guide
• Search for academic articles on specific films @ Senses of Cinema

Indigenous film directors

• Wayne Blair
• Steve McGregor
• Catriona McKenzie
• Tracey Moffatt
• Rachel Perkins
• Frances Peters Little
• Leah Purcell
• Warwick Thornton

Resources for filmmakers

• Indigenous Film Services
• The Black Book Directory
• Screen Australia Indigenous programs

Events

• Message Stick’s Indigenous Film Festival
• The Dreaming Festival (celebrating Indigenous culture including film)

Indigenous media organisations

• Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association
• Goolarri Media Enterprises
• Imparja Television

Print resources

• Bryson, Ian. Bringing To Light: A History of Ethnographic Filmmaking at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. Canberra; Aboriginal Studies Press. 2002.
• Collins, Felicity and Davis, Therese. Australian Cinema After Mabo. Melbourne; Cambridge University Press. 2004.
• Ginsburg, Faye and Myers, Fred. 'A History of Indigenous Futures: Accounting for Indigenous Art and Media', Aboriginal History; Volume 30; 2006; [95]-110.
• Graham, Trevor. 'Trevor Graham on Mabo: Life of an Island Man', Metro Magazine: Media & Education Magazine; Issue 112; 1997; 17-18.
• Langton, Marcia. ‘Well, I heard it on the radio and I saw it on the television...’  Sydney; AFC. 1993.
• Meadows, Michael and Molnar, Helen. “Bridging the Gaps: towards a history of Indigenous media in Australia.” Media History; Volume 8 Number 1; 2002; 9-20.

Bringing Sexy Back...But why?

I lack any sporting prowess and must therefore ask in advance to be forgiven for any ignorance in the following post.  However, something in the far away world of sport recently caught my attention and probably the attention of every man in the universe- the Lingerie Football League (LFL).

For those of you who have an imagination, you have probably willingly or not so willingly created a mental image of what this league incorporates just by reading the name. As I said, I'm not the sportiest but I do have a great respect for those who are; for those who dedicate their heart and soul into a sport and push the human body to its limits- those go-getters deserve a certain amount of respect. But more specifically, women deserve a lot of respect in the male dominating sphere that is sport.

I've posted three clips below. One is a clip about women’s gridiron (the more conservative kind that involves wearing cloths), one is a critique (given, a very informal one) of lingerie football and the last is an advertisement for por- sorry, for LFL. Some questions are raised from these clips. Firstly, if there is already a woman’s football league, then why was there a need to replicate that league but take away cloths? Secondly, can the LFL be counted as a real sport or is it just a perve fest for men? And lastly, does the LFL delegitimize women’s sport? One CBS news report covered a Friday night game of lingerie football and it came across as more of a comedy skit than a news segment. Not one of the men interviewed knew any of the female players’ names and when asked whether they thought the team playing was any good, the only responses were sexualised and revolved around appearance or body parts. One Youtube user commented at the bottom of the LFL clip saying: “This is why no one respects women’s sports”. Do they have a point?

  

Here Be Haters

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When reading an article in my favourite magazine recently I came across an article called ‘Here be Haters’. The article brought up an issue which has silently meandered through my mind for some time now- the issue of internet violence. It sounds strange, after all technology has not advanced far enough (yet) to allow us to put a fist through the computer screen and repeatedly punch someone in the face. No, internet violence is being repeatedly punched in the face...with words. My belief system tells me that I should stand up for what I think is right and to stand up for those who are being wronged. However, doing such things on the internet can lead a person into dark places.

A few months ago I created a Youtube account and as all Youtube members know, this comes with the privilege of having the ability to leave comments on people’s clips. Tempted by this new power of opinion, I left a comment that I thought might enlighten someone, anyone; on a clip that basically degraded the religion of Islam. It was not a nasty comment that I wrote, it was a factual one which I had hoped would promote some positive multicultural dialogue. A few days later, I logged onto my Youtube account to find that people had replied to my comment. I clicked the link and as the page loaded, I imagined some enlightened being admitting that; yes maybe the clip was a bit racist and that yes; religious freedom should be soon as a good thing. What I did not imagine would happen is that I would be punched in the face with hate. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a timid person, I enjoy a good debate and I will always face confrontation head on if I believe that it’s for the good of the world. These replies however were so ignorant, so uninformed, and so utterly hateful, that they left me trembling.

Now I stand at a crossroads, is it worth my energy and the emotional strain standing up to #Aussiebogan15 and #Whitesupremacy95 or do I choose my battles and realise that the battle of Youtube ideologies is not one which I will ever conquer? Leaving your opinion on the internet is empowering, but can it be damaging? I know that I have numerous unread replies waiting on my account and I just don’t think there is enough love in me to counteract so much hate. Maybe those replies will never be read, and if they’re not- then does hate win? 

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"The Universal Life Church Monastery strongly believes in the rights of all people from all faiths to practice their religious beliefs, regardless of what those beliefs are, be they Christian, Jew, Gentile, Agnostic, Atheist, Buddhist, Shinto, Pagan, Wiccan, Druid or even Dignity Catholics; so long as they do not infringe upon the rights of others and are within the law of the land and one’s conscience."

Source - 

ULC mission statement. Accessed on: 20/04/12. Accessed at:http://www.themonastery.org/aboutUs

Locating Religion

This week in class we discussed ‘online religion’ and this provoked (yet again) some debate over whether the internet can be noted as a sacred place and further more if online rituals are significant or not. Cheong’s (2010) article about the relationship between religion and twitter is also reflective of this argument. Cheong includes that religious organisations started using social networking to ‘encourage the extension of presence beyond the church walls’(Cheong 2010 ). If you take this point of view, then it isn’t really a matter of whether online religion is sacred or not, it’s more about whether it is necessary, and the answer to that is yes. 

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Social networking is not a new fad and many other organisations have been clued on to how powerful it is for quite some time. One of these organisations is the Global Atheist Foundation. This foundation completely utilises every kind of social network to spread their beliefs. If religious organisations want to counteract the spread of atheism and want to truly spread the word of god as far as possible, there doesn’t seem to be any other choice in this day and age- they must embrace the internet. Afterall, is there a defined temporal or spatial aspect to religion? Kim Knott’s book, ‘The location of religion’ examines this question. Knott describes her purpose as trying to create ‘a new perspective on the relationship between religion and the physical, social and cultural areas in which it is situated’ (Knott 2005, p1).

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Sources

Cheong, P. 2010. Faith Tweets: Ambient Religious Communication and Microblogging Rituals. M/C Journal 13.2. Accessed on 15/04/12. Accessed at: <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/223>.

Knott, K. 2005. The Location of Religion: A Spatial Analysis. Equinox Publishing:London. 

Let's take our time.

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I’m sure you will all remember the debate that took place in our week six lecture. There were two sides, dozens of ideas  and  frustratingly enough -no decided winner. Out of the numerous comments which were flung from team to team, the two main points were as follows. Those who were pro ‘fast religion’ argued vehemently that older, traditional or ‘slow religions’ were just that- too old, too stuck on tradition, and too slow for a fast-paced world. However, with just as much gusto was the other side, arguing for slow religion and highlighting the fact that it is only the slow religions that hold true meaning. Yes, maybe slow religions are older, but it is only with time that we learn the most valuable lessons. And yes, maybe slow religions revolve around tradition however; we live in a mad world, there is no order to our chaos, there is no method to our madness, except for tradition. The right traditions grounds us, they provides safety from a world which is one step away from being so individualised, so complacent , and so distorted that soon it will be hard to find meaning in anything.

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The debate got me thinking, or more so worrying, about our concept of time.  Every generation seems to be getting more impatient and more wasteful than the next. We want everything now; all that matters is now and the long term is a far away concept that doesn’t matter right now. This is a disposable society where fast is good; fast cars, fast food, fast transport- we are fast thinkers. Western time is a competition. Many other cultures don’t even have a word for time because they do not have the obsessive urges that we do, to do control time. These cultures judge time through nature, they see a certain flower in bloom and they know it is a good time to grow some crops and not grow others. These cultures see certain animals leaving and they know it is time to brace for cold weather. 

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The western concept of time completely disconnects us from nature and drains the enjoyment from something that should be precious: from life. Even now as I write this, I want to escape such restrictive thinking and give the finger to this Greenwhich system we’ve been indoctrinated into, but I can’t. I can’t, because I have assignments due at a certain time; because I have to have dinner ready by a certain time; because I have to have an early bed time; because my class starts at a certain time tomorrow- the list goes on. But most of all, I can’t because I’ve already been conditioned to think in seconds and minutes and hours and years and by thinking like this, time controls me. We are not friends, time and I, just when I think we are getting closer... time runs away from me.