image of person or book cover 429877751028989471.jpg
Screen cap from promotional trailer
form y separately published work icon Cleverman series - publisher   film/TV   science fiction  
Issue Details: First known date: 2016... 2016 Cleverman
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Two Indigenous brothers fight for survival in a world in which humans and non-humans clash.

Notes

  • The 'Hairies' speak Gumbaynggirr; the remainder of the dialogue is in English.
  • Award-winning and individually published episodes are indexed on AustLit.

Includes

1.5
form y separately published work icon Terra Nullius Michael Miller , Jane Allen , Australia : Goalpost Pictures Pukeko Pictures , 2016 11075392 2016 single work film/TV Australia : Goalpost Pictures Pukeko Pictures , 2016

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Language: Aboriginal Gumbaynggirr AIATSIS ref. (E7) (NSW SH56-11) , English

Works about this Work

Blackfella Futurism : Speculative Fiction Grounded in Grassroots Sovereignty Politics Mykaela Saunders , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Routledge Handbook of Cofuturisms 2023; (p. 100-110)
Queering the Dreaming : Representations of the 'Other' in the Indigenous Australian Speculative Television Series Cleverman Victoria Herche , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: Gender Forum , no. 81 2023; (p. 30-47)

'This essay analyzes queer representations in the context of Indigenous Australian discourses by looking at the two-season Australian science fiction series Cleverman (2016-2017). Cleverman aims to combine the conventions of the science fiction and superhero genres with ancient Indigenous stories. Cleverman's compelling introduction of the Hairypeople, an alternative humanoid species with extraordinary strength inspired by Aboriginal mythology, provides the context to explore queer identities in regards to otherness, marginality, and culturally constructed boundaries between the normal and the abnormal. Through the series engagement with the subjectivity and queering of the monstrous other, the binary construct of good versus evil is challenged. The series representation of boundary creatures highlights the constraints within which racially marked bodies operate, however misses the potential to equally engage with gendered bodies. While the series invites ambivalent readings of the role of community belonging and the nuclear family, the representation of female agency fails to similarly redefine discursively constituted identities and shows less potential to re-write normative codes of sex and sexuality.'

Source: ProQuest.

The Future is Indigenous Bronwyn Carlson , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Routledge Handbook of Australian Indigenous Peoples and Futures 2023; (p. 9-25)
From Captain Invincible to Cleverman : The Weird and Wild History of Australian Superheroes Luke Buckmaster , 2021 single work column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 30 August 2021;
Dark Lands : Setting as a Generic Feature of Dystopian Fiction Ellen Rees , 2020 single work criticism
— Appears in: Beyond the Dark : Dystopian Texts in the Secondary English Classroom 2020; (p. 85-103)
TV Fantasy Based on Aboriginal Stories Premieres in Berlin 2016 single work review
— Appears in: Land Rights News , April vol. 6 no. 1 2016; (p. 29)

— Review of Cleverman Jon Bell , Jonathan Gavin , Ryan Griffen , Michael Miller , Jane Allen , Stuart Page , Justine Gillmer , 2016 series - publisher film/TV
'Cleverman an X-men-like fantasy inspired by Aboriginal peoples' history and mythology, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival to great acclaim ...'
Cleverman First Look Review – Wickedly Exciting Indigenous Superhero Story Luke Buckmaster , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 16 May 2016;

— Review of Cleverman Jon Bell , Jonathan Gavin , Ryan Griffen , Michael Miller , Jane Allen , Stuart Page , Justine Gillmer , 2016 series - publisher film/TV
'Early this year one great big why-haven't-we-seen-that-before box was ticked with the arrival of Spear, the world's first Indigenous Australian dance movie. A similarly irresistible milestone lies at the heart of ABC TV's soon-to-air program Cleverman, the first Indigenous Australian superhero series. ...'
Superheroes' Dream the Future Dreaming of the Future Vanessa Williams , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 25 May 2016; (p. 1, 5)

— Review of Cleverman Jon Bell , Jonathan Gavin , Ryan Griffen , Michael Miller , Jane Allen , Stuart Page , Justine Gillmer , 2016 series - publisher film/TV
Home Grown Super Heroes Lenny Ann Low , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 26 May 2016; (p. 7) The Sydney Morning Herald , 30 May 2016; (p. 5)

— Review of Cleverman Jon Bell , Jonathan Gavin , Ryan Griffen , Michael Miller , Jane Allen , Stuart Page , Justine Gillmer , 2016 series - publisher film/TV
Hungry for Success Shannon Molloy , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Sunday Mail , 29 May 2016; (p. 3)

— Review of Cleverman Jon Bell , Jonathan Gavin , Ryan Griffen , Michael Miller , Jane Allen , Stuart Page , Justine Gillmer , 2016 series - publisher film/TV
Ex PM Joins ABC in 2016 Antimo Iannella , Anna Vlach , Matt Gilbertson , 2015 single work column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 25 November 2015; (p. 28)
With 80% Indigenous Cast Cleverman Becomes First Australian Show to Premiere at Berlinale Megan Spencer , 2016 single work column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 18 February 2016;
'Set in urban Sydney in a dystopian near future, the sci-fi series brings timely issues of race relations, border protection and refugees to Berlin film festival.'
Indigenous Series Shines at Surreal Berlinale Stephanie Bunbury , 2016 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 24 February 2016; (p. 47)
Cleverman, Crowdfunding, and Kudos Alexandra Pierce , 2016 single work column
— Appears in: Aurora Australis , February 2016;
We're Not Living in a Multiracial Television Utopia yet. Here's What Still Has to Change Monica Tan , 2016 single work column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 13 May 2016;
'Waleed Aly winning the Gold Logie was a win for racial diversity on television, but the true measure of change is banality, not superstar exceptions.'

Awards

X