One of the
" Under the Southern Cross" series, "Australia", has a rather vigorous title. It is named after the country, which shows that his origin is unusual. Although the Australians themselves still mention Australia’s “extra-provincial mentality” as a British colony from time to time, even though the land still respects the Queen of England as the supreme leader in name, even though the Queen had deposed the elected prime minister in the 1970s, it proved herself Still holding real power, but Australia has been an independent nation for more than a hundred years, after all, it is an indisputable fact.
So we can imagine that the name "Australia" is equivalent to a movie named after "China", "America" or "France". If we don't want to be overwhelmed by this name, how much cultural and political this movie has to carry Meaning and connotation. It is true that Australia's history is not as long as China's, and its literacy is even less than that of France. Even the United States, which is also a British colony, has a much richer family background than this "cousin" of the same clan in terms of experience and creativity. However, if the history and emotions of a country are reflected in a movie, how important is it? It is far from allowing us to sum it up with a "bad Hollywood epic reprint". In fact, in this era of rising national identity and everyone is busy searching for "Australian identity", "Australia" has a special meaning.
Whether "Australia" is a qualified epic or not is an artistic issue. My interest is not here. In fact, even in Australia, there are many criticisms about this film. However, from a cultural perspective, the significance of a film is often not in its artistic achievements, but in the rich cultural and political information contained in it, as well as its intertextual relationship with society and the background of the times, even if it is an artistic achievement. The "failure" work must also contain the refraction and appeal of the times, and it is worth taking seriously. My article is to talk about the special significance of the film "Australia" from the perspective of Australian culture and national identity.
To read and understand such a film full of local colors, some key concepts must be clarified, just like to truly understand "Huang Feihong", you must understand "Hong Fist", "Black Flag Army", "Golden Mountain", and "Ten Shan". "Sanyi" is the same. Otherwise, you can only watch the excitement, without knowing the meat and the excitement of it. Here are some key words in "Australia", the process of explaining the concept, and also the process of reading the film. If you have patience, please join me into the magical world of "Australia".
The stolen generation of Stolen Generation
Britons initially regarded Australia as their prison. Almost all early immigrants carried British criminal records, and there were more men than men, and the ratio of men to women was seriously imbalanced. At this time, indigenous women began to become the sexual vents of white men, and this behavior resulted in the birth of a large number of mixed-race children. Their skins vary in shades, but generally fall between the local black and white skin tones. From the beginning of "Australia", several common names were spoken through the mouth of Nara: half-caste is in terms of birth, and creamy is in terms of skin color. They are both whites' slanderous names for mixed-race children.
Beginning in 1869, for nearly a hundred years, the British colonies in Australia (later the Australian authorities) systematically took mulatto children from their families, and the local police came forward to search for these children and send them away. In the orphanage established by the church, he was cultivated with a Western model. This cruel policy has caused a large number of indigenous children to be unable to return home, and a large number of indigenous families are fragmented, directly threatening the mental health and cultural heritage of a generation of indigenous people. These children who were taken away are known as the "stolen generation." In fact, this policy has lasted for a hundred years, and the misfortune will never last for more than one generation.
Friends who are familiar with Australian movies may think of a recent work "Along the Rabbit Proof Fence" (Chinese translation of "The End of the Rabbit Proof Fence", Khan!), based on the famous novel, which is "Stolen A microcosm of the "going generation". It tells the story of two little sisters who were taken away by the police and fled along the anti-rabbit fence (a man-made turtle project in Australia to prevent their own rabbits from becoming a disaster) that stretches for thousands of miles, because their mothers were parting Once told them that their home is at the end of the rabbit-proof pen.
This policy is of course shameful and a big stain on Australia's human rights record. Therefore, despite the pressure of many social movements, the Australian government has always refused to formally apologize for this matter. It was not until last year that the new Prime Minister Rudd, who was born in the Labor Party, formally apologized to the indigenous people on behalf of the government. "Australia" confessed this latest development with subtitles at the end of the film.
Although I have already anticipated the multicultural nature of the film, I was a little surprised that the child telling the story was the "stolen generation" from the beginning of the film. This shows that this movie has its own ambitions beyond the Hollywood blockbusters such as beautiful scenery, troubled times, and obsessive men and women. Retelling the history of Australia and regaining the identity of "Aussie" can be seen everywhere. Let's expand on this point. In short, as the audience can see, in "Australia", the "stolen child" is an extremely important clue, even more important than the separation and reunion of the obsessive man and the girl, and should not be taken lightly.
Tracker
understands the assimilation policy of the Australian government at that time, and it is understandable that in the film, the discoloration of the police car was changed. But why is he afraid of a Callahan sheriff's assistant who is also a black (black bloke, as opposed to white bloke)? It's simple, because he is a tracker.
The word station is repeatedly mentioned in the film, which is short for a stronghold established by white colonists on the Australian continent, which has both civil and military purposes. It's a bit like the "corps" we built in Xinjiang, or reclaiming strongholds. Provide protection and services to large farms run by white people around. In the film, Mrs. Ashley's farm is under the shelter of a site. Within the jurisdiction of the site, all blacks must obey the white laws. Once there is a criminal case of black assault on white, the military and police on the site have the responsibility to arrest him.
Okay, here comes the problem. The indigenous people are the masters of this land and have grown up here for generations. They are more familiar with the terrain than the whites. Although white people have modernized means of transportation, they often lose their way in the vast Australian wilderness. Therefore, if they want to catch black criminals, they often have to rely on the blacks as well. These people are "stalkers".
The Australian natives’ ability to find their way is beyond the reach of the whites. In their long hunting life, they can follow the footsteps of a beast to find their nests, or they can accurately touch dozens of miles away with their sense of smell. Other sources of water (just like the "King George" in the film did). These are all skills honed in the life of nature for a long time. In the film, Sergeant Callahan brought such a "stalker". If you watch the movie carefully, you will find that he has clearly found the footprints of Mother and Child Nara, leading to the water tower. However, one thing prevented him from further suspicion, that is, the water tank has two holes in the high water level and is leaking. This shows that it is impossible to hide people in it (he didn't expect Nara's mother to have the courage to sacrifice herself). And one of these two loopholes, as explained earlier in the film, is the hand of Mrs. Ashley painted by Nara. Through the light that penetrates through the hole, Nara imagines that Mrs. Ashley possesses magic.
By the way, it is said that the aboriginal tribes in Australia are all connected through relatives. An aboriginal can walk along the relatives from the east of the mainland to the far west. However, under the oppression of the whites, their tribal organizations collapsed and turned into stragglers living in the farm economy, just like the black people in the "far" pastures. Therefore, trackers often do not hesitate to serve white people.
In Australian history, in order to avoid police searches, mothers of mixed-race children have had many ways. The smearing of soot in the film to make the child look a little darker is a real thing that happened. Seeing a scene of heavy rain in Darwin Harbor, I couldn't help but cried out "It's bad". The director's next scene, I am afraid that it will be shown in the outdoor cinema to watch the scene and Nara was washed out. Prototype", was taken away by the police. Fortunately, this was not the case in subsequent developments.
Rainbow Serpent
Aboriginal Australians have no history, but they have their own myths and legends. In their legends, the origin of the world is a big dream, which is the "dream creation era", and the "Rainbow Snake" is the creator who gave birth to all things in the world. The colorful rainbow snake is a motif that often appears in indigenous paintings, symbolizing spiritual power, regeneration and hope.
Nara's grandfather regarded Mrs. Ashley as a "rainbow snake" for some reason, perhaps because she showed him new hope. Perhaps it does not have to be stated clearly that indigenous intuition is an element that is repeatedly rendered in the film. Whether this mysterious atmosphere is white wishful thinking or is true, no one can say, it is the setting of the film. In the end, Mrs. Ashley rescued the remote pasture, rescued and "released" Little Nara, which shows that the film really portrays her as a rainbow snake.
Smoke net
that has not made it clear in the lines, but there are a lot of performance. In the scene where Mrs. Ashley entered the ranch for the first time, there was smoke everywhere. Two indigenous women lit a bonfire. One of them carried a tin bucket with white smoke to smoke everywhere, including people who also smoked. The unique "Smoke Purification" ceremony is said to be able to eliminate filth. The two women are using earthen methods to eliminate the filth caused by Mr. Ashley's death.
Cigarettes burnt from eucalyptus branches can not only ward off evil spirits, but also serve gods. Nara's grandfather, King George, often lit a bonfire on the top of the mountain and let the smoke go straight into the sky. It is said that what kind of tree is the best, and collecting fire there is the most divine. These are all exquisite in the indigenous knowledge system, but I don't understand it.
Many ethnic groups have the idea that smoke can communicate with gods. Incense burners are used in Catholic ceremonies, and the fireworks in Buddhist temples are constantly self-explanatory. What surprised me is that the Ewenki people in northeastern China also have almost the same "smoke clean". Before picking up the "Taluozi" and transitioning with the reindeer, all the things in the house should be over on the fire, so that the smoke can drive away the insects that may live in it, so as to prevent people from being harmed. Of course, the practical purpose of this approach is stronger.
Oz OZ
do not put the film "The Wizard of Oz" ( "The Adventures of Oz") just as the United States is a classic movie. It is true that Australia admires the United States, but "The Wizard of Oz" is not just an American fairy tale in Australia. In fact, the "State of Oz" has almost become an alias for Australia, and the "National of Oz" is a title that Australians are proud of.
There are two sources of this statement. One is the similarity in pronunciation. OZ is the same as Australia’s initial pronunciation, and is almost the same as the pronunciation of "Aussie" (Aussie, a nickname for Australians, a bit like Yank for Americans). The second is similar in meaning. Australia is located in the southern hemisphere. It is basically the opposite in climate, hydrology, geography, cold and heat, the home country of most white immigrants, Britain, and even animals and plants look weird, very different from the Old World. different. It just so happens that the "country of Oz" in the story is also a weird place, full of weird people and weird things. So regardless of whether it originated in what he called it or claimed to be, the nickname "Oz" was so called. All the characteristics of Australia are what Australians are willing to emphasize. The "Country of Oz" just cleverly sums up the weird characteristics of Australia. There is an old film called "they are a weird mob", which tells about the various "cultural shocks" encountered by an outsider in Australia, reflecting this kind of psychology of Australians.
It should be said that no matter how bad in other aspects, "Australia" quoted "The Wizard of Oz" is still a very clever idea. If "Oz" is just an abbreviation for a weird white colonial country, then the song "Above the Rainbow" is like a bridge that connects the dream of white people with the dream of aboriginal people. The artistic conception of this classic song It coincides with the "Rainbow Snake" and "Dream Creation Era" mentioned above. This dream is not only a white dream, but also a native dream. An important theme of "Australia" is that one cannot live without dreams and tell stories. Nara, George III, and Mrs. Ashley, they are all people with dreams, and the lost dream of the cowboy classmate finally resurrected in his heart, which is the key to his transformation. Nara loves "Above the Rainbow", and finally played this song, which attracted the "Rainbow Snake" Mrs. Ashley, which is undoubtedly a metaphor: they have a common dream, and the beauty on the other side of the rainbow keeps them on the same road.
Therefore, it can be said that "The Wizard of Oz" throughout the film is almost as important as the "stolen generation" clue. If the latter represents the shame in the history of this country, the former represents the dream and hope for the future. Of course, whether "The Wizard of Oz" represents a white dream or an aboriginal dream, does it mean that the aboriginal dream can only be realized through the baptism of white people? This is a dispute. I'm hungry to write, and it involves human affairs, and I will talk about it in the next article. In that article, I will interpret the various cultural and political clues in the film "Australia" in detail on the basis of these key concepts.
"Under the Southern Cross" two series of
this article is still a continuation of the article, the interpretation of "Australia", but the concept of using self-loom Use keywords ways. There is always a clue in the relationship to make it clear. In my opinion, it is impossible to make an accurate interpretation of this movie without understanding these clues.
Mixed
As we all know, Australia is a nation of immigrants. Captain Cook discovered this land as early as 1770, but it was not until 1788 that the British really began to use this desolate land to imprison prisoners. One of the direct reasons is said to be that because the United States became independent, British prisoners had nowhere to be exiled, so they had to use this "Southern Continent" as a "junkyard" for dumping the "scum" produced in the process of industrialization. If we want to modernize today, dumping toxic waste in Africa means one thing.
This wasteland of prisoners is actually a treasure land. Not to mention the abundant rains along the southeast coast, there are rich gold mines in the place called Victoria today, which is the so-called "New Golden Mountain" after "San Francisco". Australia has since gradually developed in the upsurge of animal husbandry and gold nuggets. The new economy has brought a new population, and this land is no longer just the territory of British immigrants. In addition to the inherent indigenous people, Germans, Dutch, Middle Eastern Muslims and even Chinese people flocked to this southern continent with dreams of development. Australia has been a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural country from the beginning.
After the Second World War, the Japanese bomb finally made Australia thoroughly understand one thing: the British can't protect us! One of their ways to deal with it is to look across the ocean. Only the "cousin" of the United States is looking forward to the horse (think of the cowboy in "Australia" riding a horse and looking at the Americans who are driving a group of jeeps, that can basically be seen. The work is a portrait of the gap in national power, and the grunt of "Yankee" is clearly a mixture of envy). The second is to open up the immigration policy and introduce a large number of foreign immigrants. Naturally, the immigration policy set by the white people also has standards. The first priority is Western Europeans, followed by the "blonde and fair-skinned" whites in Central and Northern Europe, then the darker-skinned whites in Southern and Eastern Europe, and then I wait for colored people such as yellow, black, blue, green and purple.
Australia today is a multi-racial and multi-cultural country. The "White Australia" policy has come to an end in the 1960s. Since the 1970s, the policy of "multiculturalism" has been pursued. Together, Australia and Canada have become one of the first countries in the world to implement this national policy. In other words, Australia has finally recognized its multi-ethnic origin, and no longer just abides by its own British background as the only legal historical source. On the contrary, the current policy is dedicated to encouraging ethnic minorities to pass on their own culture and join on this basis. Go into the status of "Australian".
In addition to the main theme of our country, good art works naturally know how to hide their own demands, and no one will so nakedly promote "multiculturalism" in their own works. This is implemented in "Australia", "hybrid" is really an image that cannot be ignored. Confusion and diversity echo today's multiculturalism, which emphasizes multiple colors, multiple sources, and unevenness.
Let's take a look at several protagonists in the film, all of which have an indissoluble bond with the "hybrid". Little Nara, the narrator of the story, is a mixed race himself, needless to say. The white cowboy married an indigenous wife and made a living with his wife and brother. This is a fact that the film does not deny. It's hard to imagine that such a plot would appear in a big Australian production before the 20th century. The villain Fletcher gave birth to Nara with an indigenous woman, also involving mixed blood. The cowboy’s diligent dream is to hybridize Mrs. Ashley’s famous horse "Magic Scorpion" with the local wild horse (brumby) to breed a new generation of famous horses! This is an obvious metaphor.
It can be said that "hybridity" is the status quo in Australia today, and it is also the history reflected in the film. The new generation of epics has not avoided the fact that Australia is multi-ethnic as before. It is a great progress to use "the honor of the British Empire" to cover up the truth of history. Of course, this progress is inseparable from the rising tide of global multiculturalism, and it is the official mainstream discourse in Australia today, and it does not contribute to the film.
Mrs. Ashley’s adoption of Little Nara can be regarded as a vision of Australian society, which is to achieve reconciliation between cultures and races under the dominance of Western culture (Khan), especially the British who have been involved in feuds for hundreds of years. The reconciliation between the Australians and the aboriginals will work together to create a harmonious society in the new era (this is not a joke, "harmonious society" is also the slogan of the Australian government).
The strange thing is that, although I fully understand the film’s desire to promote racial reconciliation, I also admit that this big production has taken a very high profile. In the end, Mrs. Ashley "released" Little Nara, but I was very uncomfortable. This seems to imply that only the natives who live in the wilderness are the real natives. Today, many social activists who sympathize with Aboriginal culture still hold this argument, completely ignoring the fact that most of the Australian Aborigines are already living in cities today. These "indigenous" who have lost tribal organizations, culture and even language actually need more care and support. Are the natives who have lost their magic and spiritual power still worthy of our respect? Behind the screen of "Australia", there seems to be a stereotyped indigenous view, which makes me deeply disturbed.
Gender
Watching this movie, I can’t help but remind me of another Australian film, Gallipoli, which is truly "epic". Men's social identity, then today's "Australia" brings a female perspective to this identity.
Regarding the Gallipoli battle in the First World War, I do not intend to introduce more here. In short, this is a major event in the history of Australia's founding, and it almost enjoys a mythical status in Australia. What happened was probably during the First World War. In order to open up the situation on the Western Front, the United Kingdom took the Allied ANZ troops and attacked Gallipoli in Turkey. However, the result was a feathered return and the sacrifice of tens of thousands of ANZ soldiers in vain.
Originally, a battle of this scale is not worth mentioning in the history of wars in China or even the world. But in the eyes of Australians, this battle has at least the following two unparalleled significance. The first is to let Australians understand that the home country is unreliable. At a critical moment, the British commanders didn't mind letting the colonial children die in the meat grinder of war in order to win a hopeless military adventure. Secondly, it has allowed tens of thousands of Australian and New Zealand children to forge comradeship. Their mutual support in the face of death has given Australia infinite spiritual strength. The ANZAC spirit has carried forward the "mateship" that once belonged to Australian pioneers, and has become a spiritual force that transcends the secular and Christian meaning. It has played an extremely important role in the construction of Australia’s national race, and it is not an exaggeration to call it a religion. The annual Anzac Festival is even more solemn than the National Day. In view of the cumbersome rituals and complex meanings in it, a book can't finish it, so let's stop here.
"Gallipoli" is about the encounters of two Australian children in the Battle of Gallipoli. Archie is a purebred British youth, a typical good citizen, and a long-distance runner (the status of sports in Australia is another good topic, let alone talk about it). He learned that his mother country had participated in the war and resolutely served in the military to serve the country. Fran was a prodigal son of Irish descent. Both his parents died in the hands of the British, so he hated Britain. However, the nature of pursuing vanity made him willing to join the army for a military uniform. The two people of different backgrounds forged a deep friendship on their way to the army. In the Battle of Gripoli, under the stupid order of the British commander, Archie was killed in a tragic charge. The film ended with Fran's scream and Archie's shot.
Peter Weir’s work put this "mythical" military operation on the screen for the first time, impressed countless Australians with its passionate stories and skilled skills, and became the first in the history of Australian film in the 1980s. A major event. Mel Gibson, the "wallaby" who was still a young man, "jumped" out of the southern hemisphere with the image of "Flange". I often say that Chinese films have no future because they only watch art films such as "Four Hundred Strikes" and "Guessing the Train". They should watch national epics such as "Galipoli" before they know "movies". "What the hell it should be.
It is very interesting to put "Australia" in the pedigree of the Australian national epic represented by "Galipoli". The latter shows the concept of the country and nation in the 1980s. The whole film eulogizes the "partnership" and "anzac spirit" featuring "friendship", "sacrifice", and "hostility to authority". However, women and people of color are completely excluded. On the one hand, Fran and Archie despised the authority of the British, and on the other hand they made no secret of their contempt for women and Middle Easterners. I once asked an Australian intellectual friend to recommend some local best films. He wrote down seven or eight titles and still didn't see Gallipoli. I was very surprised and reminded him. He was embarrassed to say: "This film is very patriarchal, very colonial, uh, of course it is the concept of the 1980s." I think it was probably his kind intentions, and he didn't want this side of Australia to be exposed to me. In front of this Chinese.
However, "Australia" identified a woman as the master at the beginning, which is obviously the result of deliberate highlighting. Western women are not as free and emancipated as we think. Although Australian women won the right to be elected as early as 1901, it was still after the outbreak of World War II that women’s status had been substantially improved by just a few dozen. It’s just a new phenomenon of the year. To this day, there are also many housewives who stay at home after giving birth. Of course, whether there is an inevitable connection between women's status and work is complicated. In short, at least in the era described in "Australia", it is extremely rare for a woman like Mrs. Ashley to run the ranch independently and daring to drive cattle like a man. The discussion of the women of the white ladies in the film illustrates this point. The pattern of "Australia" with female protagonists and male assistants can be said to be aimed at reversing the patriarchal side of the "Australian" identity in the past, focusing on highlighting women's self-esteem and courage. In connection with the storytelling of indigenous children, the film’s ambition to expand Australia’s national identity is obviously greater than its ambition to match Gone with the Wind. Rather, the so-called "turbulent situation" is nothing more than a commercial gimmick. The meaning of drunkard is far from here.
Where is hometown?
Regarding regional identity, this is relatively simple. British immigrants certainly regarded Britain as their hometown at the beginning, but Australians have always faced a dilemma, that is, they are in the southern hemisphere, and their culture and ideas have always been controlled by Europe. At the beginning of the founding of the nation, this white society, thousands of miles away, could only learn about and participate in current affairs in the home country through newspapers that were often out of date for several weeks. They are in Asia and their hearts are in Europe.
In Gallipoli, the British descendants represented by Archie heard that they could serve their motherland, and they were so excited that they couldn't hold on to themselves. That strength is quite similar to the fact that the Xinjiang Troops found that they could support inland construction. However, the relentless war told him that what he had to worry about was not in the Mediterranean, but between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, the land he used as a guest to live in was actually his homeland of Australia.
In "Australia", Mrs. Ashley was clearly endowed with the origin of a British noblewoman, and the story thereafter has no relationship with Britain. This is a sign that today Australia has already clearly defined its geographical identity. Although it is still proud of the branch of British society, what they have to worry about is their own doorstep. The difference between the upper and lower levels of the United Kingdom, the style of the British commander and the digger, were historical facts enthusiastically reflected in Gallipoli, while in Australia, the local trusts and the little people’s struggles, the aboriginals Problems and Japanese talents close to their homes are their concerns. Over the past two decades, the shift of this geographic center clearly shows that Australians are increasing their self-confidence in themselves and their identities are becoming more clear.
However, the relationship with Britain still left a shadow. The British aristocracy was shocked by Australia's culture, which is the content of the tireless performance in Australian art works. At the beginning of the film, Mrs. Ashley's surprise at the local people's "low moral standards" clearly continued this tradition. How neurotic and comic Kidman's performance is, how far-reaching this tradition is. That enthusiasm is like visiting a poor cousin who immigrated to Africa many years ago, and he has to let you taste the "food" of Africa before he will give up. It doesn't matter what you can afford.
"No place is better than home." The line from "The Wizard of Oz" quoted in the film is full of the pride of today's 20 million Australians in their hometown!
spirit
Uniformity brings xenophobia and unity. Diversity brings tolerance, but it also brings dullness. Multiculturalism is not a non-toxic, side-effect, and cure-all prescription for the treatment of social problems in Australia. At a time when the struggle against the legacy of "White Australia" is far from being successful, many people have now criticized multiculturalism for depleting the vitality of Australian society. Criticizing it has actually encouraged the ethnic minorities to stand on their feet and only talk about cultural inheritance. Don't talk about cultural exchanges. Today, Australia is a white person (especially the British) whose superiority and dominance have not yet been eliminated, and the new multiculturalism is facing an embarrassing situation. Movies are not designed to solve such problems, but there is no doubt that such domestic disputes in Australia will be reflected in this ambitious new "epic".
The key concept used by "Australia" to overcome the embarrassment caused by "hybridity" is spirit.
Nara's grandfather, King George, once said a word. Some white people are bad spirits. In the aboriginal pantheistic beliefs, everything between heaven and earth has spiritual power. Whether it is mountains, rivers, gravel, trees, and insects, it is gods who protect people, and evil spirits that trouble the world. Unlike the white gods, they do. Good things and bad things (Khan, friends who believe in the Lord don't hit me, "good things" and "bad things" are in a secular sense. I know that the Lord's will cannot be guessed by mortals). White colonialism brought a fatal blow to the natives, of course evil spirits. In white Christianity, the word holy spirit is one of the holy trinity, which is a unique attribute of mankind. The spirits of the natives are similar to the spirits of the white people, and they are more different.
Interestingly, since the whites began to come into contact with the indigenous people, Christian priests have systematically studied the belief systems of the indigenous people and what their "spirits" are. This is of course not out of pure academic interest, but from their missionary attempt. As for why they have to pass on Christianity to the natives... It is meaningless to ask questions. Just understand this as a peculiar quirk of Westerners. Simply put, Just to let yourself go to heaven after death. Today, a large number of indigenous people have converted to various sects of Christianity, and there is more mixing between indigenous beliefs and Christianity. Some open Australian Christian sects have begun to try to use the concept of "spirit" to communicate the two belief systems, conflating the spirit of aboriginal faith with the holy spirit of Christianity.
In "Australia", the difference in beliefs between the indigenous Australians and the whites is consciously blurred. Turn indigenous beliefs into a specious monotheistic religion. When Little Nara seriously recognized Mrs. Ashley as their creation god "Rainbow Snake", I couldn't help but think of the myth of "White God". In the process of white people colonizing the world, such myths are endless in books. The most typical is the discovery of Captain Cook on the Australian mainland. He himself was regarded by the natives of Hawaii as a god from the West, and he won the supreme worship during his stay in the local area. The "mythological structure" of "Australia" undoubtedly copied this tradition. On the one hand, white people began to approach indigenous gods and magic, and on the other hand, indigenous people regarded white people as gods. This kind of mutual understanding and awe seems to be the solution implied by "Australia"-to replace material entanglements and physical differences with spiritual and spiritual communication, and move towards tomorrow together. It's harmonious and superficial, but it's enough for a movie.
There is the following about the story of Captain Cook. Soon after they set sail, Cook and his entourage, full of food and drink, encountered a storm head on. The fleet had no choice but to return to Hawaii. This time, it was not flowers and wine that greeted them, but like forest shuttles. It turned out that the aboriginal thought that the gods who had been sent back returned, they became evil spirits and must be expelled. Just like when we burn the paper on the Lunar New Year’s Day and ask the ancestors to return to the door and send them away on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. "Father" Captain Cook died in Hawaii.
Of course, "Australia" will not mention this. I just borrowed such a legend to tell my own story. Well
beyond the vision of "Australian identity"
, I believe that the text above has at least fully revealed one point. "Australia" is by no means a soap opera of troubled men and women, but a social and cultural background in Australia. Trying to reconstruct the "Australian identity" works, instead of putting it in the traditional Hollywood clichés to denounce it as second-rate, it is better to put it in the context of the Australian national epic to understand, and to better taste the many cultural connotations in it. Australia is a geographical and national concept, and "Australia" is a vision in people's minds, full of hope and subjective ideas. Summarizing the above clues, we can say:
"Australia" denies the difference of race and gender, and firmly binds the identity of "Australian" to this land, hoping to reinvent a new one through the "spiritual" communication between people. The new "Australia".
Artistic achievement is still not my concern. Whether it expresses this appeal well or not, I believe people who study film will worry about it. Of course, I don't believe that he can understand the film without the cultural background I mentioned above. This is the biggest difference between my cultural research and the "artist" and "technical" films.
The last thing I want to care about is whether "Australia" has missed anything in the process of restating the identity of Australians.
As mentioned earlier, it is not only British and black people who make up Australians. Immigrants from other European countries, Middle Easterners, and Chinese have all contributed to the development of this country. So why does this movie only select the British and Aboriginals to tell the story of "Australia"?
The reason is simple. This fits with the hot spots of cultural contradictions in Australia today, such as the harm of the White Australia policy to the indigenous people, as well as the indigenous land rights, apologies to the slaughtered indigenous people, "the stolen generation" and other important issues. British culture represents the mainstream of white Australian culture, and indigenous peoples represent the native culture of this land. From the perspective of today's mainstream multiculturalism, the realization of the reconciliation of these two cultures solves the biggest difficulties faced by multiculturalism.
Another reason is that the British and Aboriginals represent the two sides of Australian characteristics. The mainstream Australian society is proud of the order and civilization inherited from the British Empire, but also proud of all kinds of strange local characteristics. To be honest, if there is no aboriginal culture, no strange hydrology, flora and fauna characteristics, the lack of creativity in Australian culture really can't find anything different from British culture. In order to emphasize their national identity, today's Australians have to show up even the small cultural variants such as accent and ute. You guess they will let go of tattoos on their faces, which are very different from whites. Is it indigenous culture?
In other words, the reason why "Australia" has to pick the British and indigenous people to develop the film, and the reason it has to pretend to let an indigenous child tell a story with a clear white protagonist, is ostensibly for their "reconciliation." In fact, it is for them to be "useful" and to express the "Australian characteristics" in the most concise way. And this "Australian characteristics" is a variant after the hybridization of British culture and local aboriginal culture. The horizon is still limited to the British and this land, and has nothing to do with other immigrants.
If you don't believe it, you can take a look at the character "Song Xing" in the film. At that time, many Chinese were cooks and laundry workers (Isn't that because white people occupied the most profitable animal husbandry and gold mining industry?), you don't have to let him cook and press clothes as soon as he comes out, right? You can prevent him from driving cattle, or you can set him not to shoot. But you don’t have to portray him so trivially and fearlessly, do you? Not even a drunkard! What is the difference between such a role and the Chinese coward in Hollywood movies 100 years ago?
Are Chinese actors not masculine? of course not. This actor himself is a master of kung fu, maybe some audiences did not pay attention, he is Yuan Hua!
There have been two scenes in the film where cowboys bring outsiders into the bar, once with Mrs. Ashley, and once with the cowboy's native wife and brother. Perhaps we can use this bar as a metaphor. Australian society is such a bar that is purely white for men. For the first time, it accepted white women, and the second time, it accepted Australian aborigines. If there is a third time, I hope that the one who walks in dignifiedly (not being taken in) is a Chinese!
Only on that day will Australian society usher in real reconciliation.
Please specify if you reprint the works of Hayabusa Kazama
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