y separately published work icon Studies in Australasian Cinema periodical issue   peer reviewed assertion
Alternative title: Australian Horror and Ozploitation Subtheme
Issue Details: First known date: 2017... vol. 11 no. 1 2017 of Studies in Australasian Cinema est. 2007 Studies in Australasian Cinema
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Welcome to the first issue of Studies in Australasian Cinema for 2017.

'This issue comprises three articles that form a special section on horror themed films, edited by Mark Ryan and Ben Goldsmith, which have developed from their editorial work last year on papers from the conference of the Screen Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand. Taken together, both Buerger’s and Balenzatugui’s varied readings of The Babadook, and Speed’s timely revisiting of White Death, constitute the Australasian screen’s role in marking an unsettled period in contemporary culture.

'As always, please enjoy this issue of Studies in Australasian Cinema.' (Anthony Lambert Journal editor’s note)

Contents

* Contents derived from the 2017 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Returning to Australian Horror Film and Ozploitation Cinema Debate, Mark David Ryan , Ben Goldsmith , single work criticism

'The three articles in this subsection return to scholarly debates at the core of research into Australian horror movies and Ozploitation cinema. In terms of the former, the horror film remains under-researched in Australian film studies. This is not surprising. On the one hand, since the mid-2000s the Australian film industry has produced a handful of popular, and internationally influential horror movies such as The Babadook (2014), Daybreakers (2009), and Wolf Creek (2005). On the other hand, the majority of Australian horror films rarely receive critical acclaim, nor are they widely discussed in mainstream film criticism; and for every Wolf Creek, there is a long list of movies such as Red Billabong (2016), The Pack (2015), Me and My Mates vs. The Zombie Apocalypse (2015), and There’s Something in the Pilliga (2014) that disappear into the long-tail of the market. Few local horror movies released each year secure cinema release and the average title circulates in home video markets, and/or subscription and pay-per-download services. As a conceptual category, Australian horror movies emerge at the intersection of cult cinema; Australia-international cinema that can be difficult to evaluate on the basis of cultural value (the setting of Triangle [2009, Christopher Smith] for instance is never specified although Australian actors play characters who speak with American accents); and genre film-making long associated with Hollywood-inspired film-making. As a consequence, until quite recently the subject has rarely been central to dominant discourses in Australian film studies concerned with distinguishing Australian cinema as a national cinema.' (Introduction)

(p. 2-4)
Fishing the Waters of Life : Zane Grey’s White Death, Exploitation Film and the Great Barrier Reef, Lesley Speed , single work criticism

'Edwin G. Bowen’s White Death (1936) is an Australian–American film about shark fishing that stars the American novelist and fisherman Zane Grey as himself. Set mainly at the Great Barrier Reef, it has a semi-fictional plot about Grey’s quest to kill a shark in the face of opposition from an anti-fishing activist, Newton Smith (Alfred Frith). Although White Death was financially unsuccessful and has received little attention in histories of Australian film or Grey’s life, it is significant in several ways. The film is unusual among early Australian productions for combining elements of the genres of travelogue documentary, fictional adventure film and exotic exploitation film. It reflects an American perspective of Australia as an exotic location. White Death is also linked to the interwar development of tourism at the Great Barrier Reef and foreshadows the growth of the environmental conservation movement.' (Publication abstract)

(p. 5-17)
The Babadook and the Haunted Space between High and Low Genres in the Australian Horror Tradition, Jessica Balanzategui , single work criticism
'The horror genre is a particularly fraught category in academic and mainstream critical discourse about Australian film genres. Australian horror films are often framed as either ‘Australian Gothic’ or ‘Ozploitation,’ terms that prioritise issues of national identity, class and taste rather than genre. The oppositional relationship of these terms presents an obstacle to the widespread acceptance – both scholarly and popular – of local horror films. This is illuminated by a comparison of two recent Australian horror releases and their domestic receptions, Wolf Creek 2 (McLean, Greg. 2014. Wolf Creek 2. Film. Adelaide: Duo Art Productions and Emu Creek Pictures) and The Babadook (Kent, Jennifer. 2014. The Babadook. Blu-Ray DVD. Melbourne: Umbrella Entertainment). Wolf Creek 2 was one of the most lucrative Australian films of 2014, however it was critically panned in large part due to its perceived commercialism and low-genre status. By contrast, The Babadook was the most critically praised Australian film of 2014, however the film received a limited domestic release. This paper explores how both The Babadook’s meagre domestic release and its near-universal critical praise can be related to its association with the high-art Australian Gothic tradition. Yet the film unsettles firmly entrenched art/genre, nationalism/commercialism dichotomies.' (Publication abstract)
(p. 18-32)
The Beak That Grips : Maternal Indifference, Ambivalence and the Abject in The Babadook, Shelley Buerger , single work criticism
'This article investigates the depiction of maternal indifference and ambivalence in Jennifer Kent’s film The Babadook. Using the techniques of psychoanalytical criticism I draw on Kristeva’s [1982. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. Translated by Leon S. Roudiez. New York: Columbia University Press] theory of abjection and Barbara Creed’s [1993. The Monstrous Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis. London: Routledge] application of this to the horror genre to explore the film’s portrayal of repressed grief and the resulting traumatic disruption to the mother/child bond. Taking the protagonist’s troubled relationship with both her son and her bereaved status as my starting point, I argue that The Babadook represents a reimagining of maternal abjection. Both Kristeva and Creed posit that abjection is first experienced as the result of the mother’s refusal to relinquish her hold on the child and to move past the intense dyadic relationship of the infant period. The Babadook inverts this psychic narrative by positioning Amelia’s refusal of this relationship and her lack of proper maternal feeling as the site of her abjection. In this reimagining of maternal abjection, The Babadook presents audiences with a representation of maternal experience that is shocking and confronting. While the narrative arc is ultimately one of redemption the ambiguous ending emphasises the lingering unease inspired by maternal indifference.' (Publication abstract)
(p. 33-44)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Last amended 12 Dec 2017 10:35:03
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