When it comes to the Australian content industry, any attention is good attention.
Stereotypes are a huge issue when it comes to Australian content. Persons from other countries tend to identify Australians due to these over exaggerated stereotypes. This does however bring with it attention, think Crocodile Dundee (1986). The film was a huge success both locally and internationally, however, was considered controversial as it represented Australians as ‘redneck’ and was seen as an untrue and embarrassing portrayal of Australian culture. But is any attention good attention? It might just be.
A common stereotypes of Australians is that they are good natured, down to earth, use slang, have a pragmatic sense of humour, have a larrikin streak, are free of worries and are quite adaptable (Convict Creations). It’s these stereotypes, which are evident in Crocodile Dundee that gives the Australian content industry attention, if any. Another film portraying Australians as outback idiots and even racist is The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994). The film portrayed outback men as racist, intolerant and just down right disgusting. Not exactly something we want portrayed to an audience.
However, not all attention has to be negative. When an Australian film is popular, for instance Wolf Creek (2005), the setting of these films can become some of our countries most popular tourist destinations, if you don’t mind heading to a destination when people were fictionally murdered that it is. The film took place in Wolfe Creek National Park in Western Australia and the location is now a majorly popular tourist destination.
I feel like many Australian’s when seeking attention want our land to receive it, rather than our people. We truly do come from a beautiful country and is or well rounded opinion that if people were curious of seeing the real Australia, they should look at the land and not the people. A classic example of this is the Australian film, Babe (1995).
Babe brought with it a change in the way we receive attention for our country. The film use Australian landscape through the majority of the shots and the best part was that every location was kept secret. Internationally viewers were giving this film attention and seeing the beauty of Australia without any negative connotations. Babe was a turning point in the representation of Australian landscape in film (Brabazon, 2001). This debate could go on and on, because there are so many different ways in which Australia has been portrayed to international audiences, some are considered bad and some good.
To put this debate to bed, I will eat my own words. I don’t necessarily believe that any attention is good attention. If we were speaking about box office success, then yes, I would say any attention is good. However, when considering our country as a whole, the correct representation is key for future film, television, music and tourism success, among many other things.
References :
Brabazon, Tara 2001, ‘A pig in space? : Babe and the problem of landscape’, in Craven, Ian (ed.), Australian cinema in the 1990s, F.Cass, London, pp.149-158
jayden is cross 