Myth of Oz: Film and Fiction (ENGL131)
Semester 2 / 2012

Texts

y separately published work icon The Silver Donkey : A Novel for Children Sonya Hartnett , Camberwell : Penguin , 2004 Z1153478 2004 single work children's fiction children's (taught in 1 units) In France during World War I, four French children learn about honesty, loyalty, and courage from an English army deserter who tells them a series of stories related to his small, silver donkey charm. (Source: Trove)
y separately published work icon Our Sunshine Robert Drewe , Sydney : Picador , 1991 Z305264 1991 single work novel historical fiction (taught in 2 units) 'An imaginative recreation of the inner life of Ned Kelly, hero and devil of the Australian outback, which carries the reader into a landscape of murder, prejudice, sexuality, persecution, robbery, vanity, religion, greed, politics and corruption.' (Publication summary)
y separately published work icon Once in Broome Sally Bin Demin , Broome : Magabala Books , 2007 Z1424609 2007 single work autobiography (taught in 2 units) The story is of chilhood memories of love and freedom in a culturally mixed pearling town unique in Australia. The memoirs convey an impression of great richness, sensuousness and diversity. Bin Demin's account is not completely idyllic, Broome is a town where people were classified into racial groups and given status accordingly and the more you had Aboriginal ancestry the less you were accepted. Full-blood Aboriginal people were not allowed within the town without proper permission. The Sun picture theatre was segregated and mixed race people were classified using terms such as octoroon.
form y separately published work icon Bran Nue Dae Reg Cribb , Rachel Perkins , Jimmy Chi , Jimmy Chi (composer), Kuckles (composer), ( dir. Rachel Perkins ) 2009 Australia : Robyn Kershaw Productions Mayfan , 2009 Z1562265 2009 single work film/TV (taught in 5 units)

Based on the stage musical of the same name by Jimmy Chi and the band Kuckles, Bran Nue Dae is set in 1969 and follows Willie, a young man who struggles to find a balance between the three things that drive his life: his love for his girl Rosie, his respect for his mother, and his religious faith. Willie's uncomplicated life of fishing and hanging out with his mates and his girl in the idyllic world of Broome is turned upside down when his mother returns him to the religious mission for further schooling and entry into the priesthood. After being punished for an act of youthful rebellion, he runs away from the mission on a journey that leads him to meet his 'Uncle Tadpole' and eventually return to Broome. Along the way, Willie and Uncle Tadpole meet a couple of hippies, spend the night in gaol, and meet a gun-toting roadhouse operator, while managing to stay one step ahead of Father Benedictus, who wants to bring Willie back to the mission.

form y separately published work icon Animal Kingdom David Michôd , ( dir. David Michôd ) Australia : Porchlight Films , 2010 Z1686698 2010 single work film/TV crime (taught in 2 units)

Inspired in part by Melbourne's 1988 Walsh Street murders, Animal Kingdom is a story about the battle between Melbourne's underworld and the police. The story tracks seventeen-year-old Joshua 'J' Cody, a troubled teenager perilously caught between his own criminal family and Detective Leckie, a compromised cop who thinks that he can save 'J'. 'J' comes to realise that in order to survive, he must determine how the game is played. This involves not only writing his own rule book but also choosing his place in the cunning and brutal animal kingdom in which his family lives.

y separately published work icon Five Bells Gail Jones , North Sydney : Vintage Australia , 2011 Z1735512 2011 single work novel (taught in 19 units)

'On a radiant day in Sydney, four adults converge on Circular Quay, site of the iconic Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Crowds of tourists mix with the locals, enjoying the glorious surroundings and the play of light on water.

'But each of the four carries a complicated history from elsewhere; each is haunted by past intimacies, secrets and guilt: Ellie is preoccupied by her sexual experiences as a girl, James by a tragedy for which he feels responsible, Catherine by the loss of her beloved brother in Dublin and Pei Xing by her imprisonment during China's Cultural Revolution.

'Told over the course of a single Saturday, Five Bells describes four lives which chime and resonate, sharing mysterious patterns and symbols. But it is a fifth person, a child, whose presence at the Quay haunts the day and who will overshadow everything that unfolds. By night-time, when Sydney is drenched in a rainstorm, each life has been transformed.' (From the publisher's website.)

Description

This subject will introduce students to a diverse body of contemporary Australian cultural texts, ranging from literary fiction and non-fiction to film. The subject will provide students with key critical and analytical skills acquired through close textual readings and discussions in class. Students will be taught to consider the implications of the use by an author of a particular genre and to explore ways of responding to it confidently and persuasively. This introductory subject will provide a foundation for further studies within the discipline of English and will give all students with strong written and verbal communication skills.

Subject Objectives:

On successful completion of this subject, students will be able to: 1. Demonstrate detailed and critically sensitive mastery of a significant national body of literary and visual culture. 2. Comprehensive knowledge of the historical background to the creation of a distinct Australian culture, particularly as it has been shaped and absorbed the impact of diverse aesthetic influences across various waves of migration. 3. Detailed critical thinking about form and how it relates to historical context, notably to a postcolonial understanding of the novel, the social self, the material and the aesthetic. 4. Use of bibliographic and electronic resources in the formulation and debate of theses, presentation of evidence, oral and written presentation, and the production of a bibliography. 5. Ability to assess and apply current and historical cultural critical and theoretical reading to primary texts to reach an understanding of the complex relations between text and context.

Assessment

Tutorial preparation (15%) Bibliographical quiz (15%) Research essay (40%) Examination (30%)

Other Details

Not available in 2009

Offered in: 2011, 2010
Current Campus: Wollongong
Levels: Undergraduate
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