Michelle Arrow Michelle Arrow i(A5266 works by)
Gender: Female
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Works By

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1 Well-Behaved Women : This Cabaret-esque Celebration of Women Icons Is Musically Delightful – but Historically Lacking Michelle Arrow , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 3 October 2024;

— Review of Well-Behaved Women Carmel Dean , 2021 single work musical theatre

'Women have long turned to the past to understand their place in the present. Many “great women” of history have served as role models and sources of inspiration –though the specific women celebrated have changed over time.' (Introduction)

1 Media Monsters: The Transformation of Australia's Newspaper Empires: By Sally Young Michelle Arrow , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Historical Studies , vol. 55 no. 3 2024; (p. 611-612)

— Review of Media Monsters : The Transformation of Australia’s Newspaper Empires Sally Young , 2023 multi chapter work criticism
'"Media Monsters: The Transformation of Australia's Newspaper Empires" by Sally Young is a comprehensive and authoritative book that explores the accumulation and deployment of power by Australia's media barons during the mid-20th century. The book highlights the highly concentrated ownership of media in Australia and its impact on democracy, society, and culture. It serves as an essential resource for scholars of Australian history and politics, providing rich biographical details and vivid portraits of influential figures such as Frank Packer and Rupert Murdoch. The book also includes helpful features such as textboxes and tables to enhance accessibility and understanding. Overall, "Media Monsters" sheds light on the historical context and political influence of Australian newspapers and is recommended for anyone interested in Australian politics and history.' (Introduction)
1 Alvin Purple at 50 : How ‘boobs and Pubes’ Led Australian Screen’s Sexual (and Sexist) Revolution Michelle Arrow , 2023 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 19 December 2023;

'Fifty years ago this week, the first blockbuster of the Australian new wave hit Australian cinemas. Directed by Tim Burstall and starring Graeme Blundell, Alvin Purple was a bawdy sex comedy about an unprepossessing young man who was irresistible to women.' (Introduction)          

1 Asher Keddie Is Outstanding in Strife – but the Show Gives Us an Uneven Look at Girlboss Feminism Michelle Arrow , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 6 December 2023;

— Review of Strife Sarah Scheller , 2023 series - publisher film/TV

'The inner workings of magazines, television stations and newspapers have been rich fodder for film and television for decades.' 

1 ‘An Extremely Serious Musical Comedy’ about Whitlam? Yes. The Dismissal Is Great Fun, Witty and Sharply Observed Michelle Arrow , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 6 September 2023;

— Review of The Dismissal Blake Erickson , Jay James-Moody , 2021 single work musical theatre
1 The Mother and Son Reboot Has Fresh Things to Say about Adult Children and Their Ageing Parents Michelle Arrow , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 29 August 2023;

— Review of Mother and Son Matt Okine , Sarah Walker , Tristram Baumber , Geoffrey Atherden , 2023 series - publisher film/TV

'Mother and Son has long been regarded as one of Australia’s greatest sitcoms. First airing in 1984, the tale of the ageing Maggie Beare and her hapless son, Arthur, was not only very funny, but revealed the pain, frustration and love that underpinned their relationship.'(Introduction)

1 2 y separately published work icon Women and Whitlam : Revisiting the Revolution Michelle Arrow (editor), Sydney : NewSouth Publishing , 2023 25674562 2023 anthology autobiography

'The Whitlam government transformed Australia. And yet the scope and scale of the reforms for Australian women are often overlooked.

'The Whitlam government of 1972- 75 appointed a women's advisor to national government - a world first - and reopened the equal pay case. It extended the minimum wage for women, introduced the single mother's benefit and paid maternity leave in the public service, ensured cheap and accessible contraception, funded women's refuges and women's health centres, introduced accessible, no-fault divorce and the Family Court, and much more.

'Women and Whitlam brings together three generations - including Elizabeth Evatt, Eva Cox, Patricia Amphlett, Elizabeth Reid, Tanya Plibersek, Heidi Norman, Blair Williams and Ranuka Tandan - to revisit the Whitlam revolution and to build on it for the future.' (Publication summary) 

1 Belvoir’s Tell Me I’m Here Looks at the Impact of Mental Illness on the Whole Family. It Is a Wrenching and Beautiful Work Michelle Arrow , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 26 August 2022;

— Review of Tell Me I'm Here Veronica Nadine Gleeson , 2022 single work drama

'Released in 1991, the memoir Tell Me I’m Here remains a landmark examination of the experience of mental illness in Australia. Journalist Anne Deveson offered a raw and painful account of her eldest son Jonathan’s experience with schizophrenia, her family’s attempts to weather the storms of his illness, and her research into the condition.'

1 “Smash Sexist Movies” : Gender, Culture and Ocker Cinema in 1970s Australia Michelle Arrow , 2022 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , vol. 46 no. 2 2022; (p. 181-195)

'The 1970s is often characterised as the decade of Australia’s “new nationalism”, expressed most potently in a wave of cultural activity nurtured by government funding. The figure of the ocker was central to this new nationalism, particularly in film. The ocker, a contemporary masculine archetype devoted to beer, sex and swearing, was a star of Australian films such as The Adventures of Barry McKenzieAlvin PurplePetersen and Don’s Party. Yet few scholars have considered the ocker in a gendered context, remarkable when we consider that while the ocker films were being produced, the women’s liberation movement was mounting a radical challenge to Australian cultural, social and political norms. What new understandings of 1970s society and culture might result if we read the new nationalist ocker and women’s liberation in the same frame? This article examines the relationship between ocker culture and women’s liberation in the 1970s. It argues that we can read new nationalist popular culture as a site of gendered cultural contest, with a particular focus on feminist responses to ocker culture, including Alvin Purple, and a reading of the film Petersen.' (Publication abstract)

1 [Review] Sound Citizens : Australian Women Broadcasters Claim Their Voice, 1923–1956 Michelle Arrow , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Historical Studies , vol. 53 no. 1 2022; (p. 167-168)

— Review of Sound Citizens : Australian Women Broadcasters Claim their Voice, 1923-1956 Catherine Fisher , 2021 single work biography

'Dame Enid Lyons, the first woman elected to the House of Representatives, was appointed as a Commissioner of the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1951. Lyons had already proved to be an adept broadcaster, using radio as part of her campaigns for office, and she was a keen believer in radio’s utility for Australian women. Lyons maintained that radio meant that ‘a woman could do two things at once: cultivate her mind and do her housework’ (1). Women might be largely confined to the private sphere, but radio offered a window on the world beyond, and as Catherine Fisher’s polished, compact study demonstrates, many women broadcasters used radio to build an engaged form of citizenship amongst their listeners in the years between the introduction of radio in the early 1920s and the development of television in the mid-1950s.' (Publication abstract)

1 Michelle Arrow Review of Iola Mathews, Winning for Women : A Personal Story Michelle Arrow , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Biography and History , August no. 5 2021; (p. 233-237)

— Review of Winning for Women : A Personal Story Iola Mathews , 2019 single work autobiography
1 Noice. Different. Unusual. Watching Kath and Kim as a (Locked Down) Historian Michelle Arrow , 2021 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 25 August 2021;

'Our writers nominate the TV series keeping them entertained during a time of COVID.

'In our household, watching comedy in the evenings has been a crucial part of our lockdown survival strategy. We powered through a lot of comedy series last year, and watched some more than once. (I’m looking at you, Schitt’s Creek). Stuck in lockdown for the foreseeable future, I suggested we might re-watch those Fountain Gate foxymorons, Kath and Kim, and my 12-year-old daughter’s eyes lit up.' (Introduction)

1 Our History up in Flames? Why the Crisis at the National Archives Must Be Urgently Addressed Michelle Arrow , 2021 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 27 April 2021;
1 Oriel Gray Makes Her Mark Michelle Arrow , 2020 single work essay
— Appears in: Inside Story , October 2020;

'The playwright and screenwriter’s widely praised memoir returns to print'

1 A Critical Introduction to The Nightingale : Gender, Race and Troubled Histories on Screen Michelle Arrow , 2020 single work criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Australasian Cinema , vol. 14 no. 1 2020; (p. 3-14)

'Acclaimed Australian filmmaker Jennifer Kent’s film The Nightingale has generated intense debate since its premiere at the 2018 Venice Film Festival. Set during the Black War in Van Diemen’s Land in 1825, the film is an unflinching depiction of colonial and sexual violence. Kent told The Saturday Paper that she ‘wanted to tell a story that is relevant to my history and my country’. Her vision of British colonisation, and its consequences for those caught in its wake, taps into a conversation with a strong presence in Australia’s public, political and cultural life over the last three decades. This article critically introduces The Nightingale as an historical film; that is, a film set in the past which offers an interpretation of history. We ask: how does The Nightingale represent the past? How might we situate it within longer traditions of historical representation of frontier conflict, and the convict experience? How did audiences respond to the film? And finally, how might we situate The Nightingale in the moment of its reception? What does it mean to make a film about colonial violence at the same moment as the Uluru statement called for truth-telling about our history?' (Publication abstract)

1 Helen Reddy’s Music Made Women Feel Invincible Michelle Arrow , 2020 single work obituary (for Helen Reddy )
— Appears in: The Conversation , 1 October 2020;

'The singer and actress best known for her trailblazing feminist anthem I Am Woman has died in Los Angeles, aged 78. She was one of the most famous Australians in the world during the 1970s, and an icon of women’s liberation.'

1 A Play That Came in from the Cold Michelle Arrow , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: Inside Story , August 2019;

— Review of The Torrents Oriel Gray , 1955 single work drama
'A new staging of Oriel Gray’s The Torrents allows its ideas to shine'
1 2 y separately published work icon Small Screens : Essays on Contemporary Australian Television Michelle Arrow (editor), Jeannine Baker (editor), Clare Monagle (editor), Clayton : Monash University Publishing , 2016 9466669 2016 anthology criticism

'There has been a lot happening on Australia’s small screens. Neighbours turned 30. Struggle Street was accused of poverty porn. Pete evangelised Paleo. Gina got litigious. Netflix muscled in. The Bachelor spawned The Bachelorette. Peter Allen’s maraccas were exhumed. The Labor Party ate itself. Anzac was an anti-climax. And so much more...

'Join us as we survey the Australian televisual landscape, and try to make sense of the myriad changes transforming what and how we watch. We’ve come a long way since Bruce Gyngell welcomed us to television in 1956. We now watch on demand and wherever we want, in our lounge rooms and on our devices.

'But some things stay the same. The small screen is still a place for imagining Australia, for better or for worse. Small Screens challenges and celebrates our contemporary TV worlds.' (Publication summary)

1 Blue Hills Michelle Arrow , 2014 single work companion entry
— Appears in: A Companion to the Australian Media : B 2014; (p. 68)
1 Untitled Michelle Arrow , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Politics & History , September vol. 58 no. 3 2012; (p. 455-456)

— Review of Colonial Voices : A Cultural History of English in Australia, 1840-1940 Joy Damousi , 2010 single work criticism
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