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Issue Details: First known date: 2004... 2004 Australian Cinema after Mabo
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

This book is a study of Australian national cinema in the 1990s. Felicity Collins and Therese Davis explore the role of Australian cinema in reviewing and reproducing the colonial past in relation to the 1992 Mabo decision which overturned the national founding myth of terra nullius and 'changed the meaning of landscape and identity in Australian films'. Source : Australian Cinema After Mabo (2004).

Contents

* Contents derived from the Cambridge, Cambridgeshire,
c
England,
c
c
United Kingdom (UK),
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Western Europe, Europe,
:
Cambridge University Press , 2004 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Backtracking after Mabo, single work criticism
In this chapter Collins and Davis argue that the paradigm shift caused by the Mabo decision impacted on Australian historical consciousness forcing a reassessment of 'race relations', the colonial past and the moral legitimacy of non-Aboriginal national identity. In the aftermath of Mabo the authors examine how cinema is implicated in the process of reviewing and understanding the Australian past.
(p. 3-21)
Home and Abroad in Moulin Rouge, The Dish and Lantana, Felicity Collins , Therese Davis , single work criticism
In this chapter Collins and Davis locate Australian Film within an international context in order to examine the interplay between globalisation, local industry strategies and national cinema in three Australian films. The films are analysed 'in terms of their industrial-commercial strategies within a national economic and cultural policy framework which positions Australian film as an international genre'. Source : Australian Cinema After Mabo (2004)
(p. 22-40)
Elites and Battlers in Australian Rules and Walking on Water, Felicity Collins , Therese Davis , single work criticism
In this chapter Davis and Collins examine how the national 'imaginary' is shaped by new conditions involving the politics of identity 'informed by the tension between the claims of history and social mobility in the new economy.' The authors imply that the 'contemporary experiences of dislocated identities' underpinned by particular cultural notions regarding 'nation, class, race, ethnicity or gender' also involve the politics of memory based on a 'whitewashed version of British heritage.' Source : Australian Cinema After Mabo (2004).
(p. 41-58)
Mediating Memory in Mabo - Life of an Island Man, Felicity Collins , Therese Davis , single work criticism
In this chapter Collins and Davis analyse how the documentary Mabo : Life of an Island Man mediates 'public recognition of both the Mabo decision and Mabo 'the man'.' The authors also explore how the film 'has become a popular history of Mabo and what this success tells us about shifts in documentary filmmaking in the 1990s and the forms of spectatorship they can enable.' Source : Australian Cinema After Mabo (2004).
(p. 59-72)
Aftershock and the Desert Landscape in Heaven's Burning, The Last Days of Chez Nous, Holy Smoke, Serenades, Yolgnu Boy and The Missing, Felicity Collins , Therese Davis , single work criticism
In this chapter Collins and Davis 'are intersted in how a familiar icon of Australian cinema, the landscape (in particular the desert landscape, the outback), is suddenly made strange (unbearable even) by a historic event and how this raises questions to do with historical amnesia, shock and memory in a national cinema. In order to sneak up on on this post-Mabo experience of aftershock, we want to place these films in relation to threee critical categories which have been important in making sense of the ad hoc diversity of Australian films.' Source : Australian Cinema After Mabo (2004)
(p. 75-93)
Coming from the Country in Heartland, Cunnamulla and Message from Moree, Felicity Collins , Therese Davis , single work criticism
'The foucs of this chapter is on the ways that the films Heartland, Cunamulla and Message from Moree send a message to the viewer about what's going on in the country. The asssunption that life in the the country is shaped by what happened after the frontier wars is axiomatic for these programs. In the 1990s, reconciliation policies at the national level have influenced film narratives about the survival of Aboriginal communities and the various ways that settler and Indigenous Australians have intermingled in the country.' The authors argue that 'these narratives have found their way through the public film-funding bodies to ABC Television and can thus be construed as contributing to the national interest rather than to the sphere of entertainment.' Source : Australian Cinema after Mabo (2004).
(p. 94-111)
Coming from the City in the Castle, Vacant Possession, Strange Planet and Radiance, Felicity Collins , Therese Davis , single work criticism
In this chapter, Collins and Davis analyse how emergent themes within contemporary Australian cultural studies, repudiate 'the 19th century bush as the template for a British-derived national identity, turning instead to the cosmopolitan city , the multi-cultural suburbs, and the hedonistic holiday coast as templates for the a dynamic, post-national, post-multi-cultural identity in the 21st century.' The authors argue that 'the problem of belonging and of being at home in Australia is evident in the afterwardness of the history wars that followed the Mabo decision.' Source : Australian Cinema after Mabo (2004).
(p. 112-130)
Lost Stolen and Found in Rabbit-Proof Fence, Felicity Collins , Therese Davis , single work criticism
In this chapter Collins and Davis argue that in bringing the story of enforced child removal to life, the film Rabbit-Proof Fence is a vehicle for retracing, reworking and recovering 'stolen histories.' According to the authors the films 'rhetorical elements of testimony and witnessing are best understood in terms of international screen studies debates about memory, history and trauma.' Source : Australian Cinema after Mabo (2004).
(p. 133-151)
Escaping History and Shame in Looking for Alibrandi, Head On and Beneath the Clouds, Felicity Collins , Therese Davis , single work criticism
In this chapter Collins and Davis analyse how the films, Looking for Alibrandi, Head On and Beneath the Clouds 'invites us to consider the relation between the past and the present .' The authors argue that the stories these films tell, regarding 'coming of age, reveal a picture of young Australians as the inheritors of a nation divided on issues of race relations, land politics, national security, and how best to deal with the shameful episodes from our colonial past.' Although these films differ in style and content they express a common 'form of teen mobility fuelled by the desire to 'escape history' ... that is symptomatic of the specific difficulties of coming of age in post-Mabo Australia.' Source : Australian Cinema after Mabo (2004).
(p. 152-171)
Sustaining Grief in Japanese Story and Dreaming in Motion, Felicity Collins , Therese Davis , single work criticism
The proposal presented by Collins and Davis throughout this book is 'that the post-Mabo era in Australian cinema can be read through the metaphor of backtracking. This intermittent activity of reviewing, mulling over and renewing icons, landscapes, characters and stories defines contemporary Australian national cinema.' The conclusion that the authors draw from their analysis of Australian cinema is that 'in the post-Mabo context, this brooding passion for raking the national repetoire of icons serves as a vernacular mode of collective mourning, a process involving both grief-work and testimony.' Source : Australian Cinema after Mabo (2004).
(p. 172-204)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

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Works about this Work

Hybridity, Power Discourse and Evolving Representations of Aboriginality (1970s - Today) Sue Ryan-Fazilleau , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 26 no. 1 2012; (p. 29-34)
'This essay examines the changing role played by the politicized concept of hybridity in filmic representations of Aboriginal identity over the past four decades...' (29)
Redrawing the Map : An Interdisciplinary Geocritical Approach to Australian Cultural Narratives Peta Mitchell , Jane Stadler , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Geocritical Explorations : Space, Place, and Mapping in Literary and Cultural Studies 2011; (p. 47-62)
Indigenous or Exotic? Trees in Australian Cinema Chris Mann , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Etropic : Electronic Journal of Studies in the Tropics , no. 10 2011; (p. 141-152)
'This article examines trees in three Australian films to assess if they are seen from a white point of view or an Indigenous point of view.' (Author's abstract)
Samson & Delilah : Herstory, Trauma and Survival Susan Ryan-Fazileau , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 11 no. 2 2011;
'The historical trauma of the Aborigines and white Australian nation-building are not simply contemporaneous - the latter is part of what made the former possible. The subject of black-on-black violence within Aboriginal communities has been a hot issue in Australia for the past few years, more specifically that perpetrated by Indigenous men against Indigenous women and children. The situation of many Aborigines today demonstrates a paradoxical relation between destruction and survival, the incomprehensibility at the heart of traumatic experience. Aboriginal film-maker Warwick Thornton's 2009 movie, "Samson & Delilah", tells the story of two teenagers caught up in this situation. Trauma theory, which focuses on the destructive repetition of violence is used as a tool for the analysis of this film, repetition being a structural principle in the narrative. For example, after repeating the same self-defeating ritual every day, Samson sniffs petrol to escape from the desolation and neglect, in the throes of what appears to be a post-traumatic death drive. Delilah's life is equally repetitive but less desolate until her grandmother's death plunges her into a cycle of violence and horror that also leads to petrol-sniffing and near death. But, in Thornton's fictional world, the women are the Samsons. Delilah defends herself and her intended against both white and black violence and, through 'herstory', the film-maker passes on not only the story of a crisis but that of a survival.' (Author's abstract)
Not Reconciled : Australian Cinema after Mabo Eva Rueschmann , 2006 single work review
— Appears in: Senses of Cinema , January - March no. 38 2006;

— Review of Australian Cinema after Mabo Felicity Collins , Therese Davis , 2004 single work criticism
Beyond Glitter to Grief Catherine Simpson , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Humanities Review , January-February no. 34 2005;

— Review of Australian Cinema after Mabo Felicity Collins , Therese Davis , 2004 single work criticism
Book Reviews Jennifer Debenham , 2006 single work review
— Appears in: Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies , January vol. 10 no. 1 2006; (p. 146-148)

— Review of Australian Cinema after Mabo Felicity Collins , Therese Davis , 2004 single work criticism
Politicising Australian Cinema Elizabeth Avram , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: Traffic , no. 7 2005; (p. 165-167)

— Review of Australian Cinema after Mabo Felicity Collins , Therese Davis , 2004 single work criticism
Not Reconciled : Australian Cinema after Mabo Eva Rueschmann , 2006 single work review
— Appears in: Senses of Cinema , January - March no. 38 2006;

— Review of Australian Cinema after Mabo Felicity Collins , Therese Davis , 2004 single work criticism
Samson & Delilah : Herstory, Trauma and Survival Susan Ryan-Fazileau , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 11 no. 2 2011;
'The historical trauma of the Aborigines and white Australian nation-building are not simply contemporaneous - the latter is part of what made the former possible. The subject of black-on-black violence within Aboriginal communities has been a hot issue in Australia for the past few years, more specifically that perpetrated by Indigenous men against Indigenous women and children. The situation of many Aborigines today demonstrates a paradoxical relation between destruction and survival, the incomprehensibility at the heart of traumatic experience. Aboriginal film-maker Warwick Thornton's 2009 movie, "Samson & Delilah", tells the story of two teenagers caught up in this situation. Trauma theory, which focuses on the destructive repetition of violence is used as a tool for the analysis of this film, repetition being a structural principle in the narrative. For example, after repeating the same self-defeating ritual every day, Samson sniffs petrol to escape from the desolation and neglect, in the throes of what appears to be a post-traumatic death drive. Delilah's life is equally repetitive but less desolate until her grandmother's death plunges her into a cycle of violence and horror that also leads to petrol-sniffing and near death. But, in Thornton's fictional world, the women are the Samsons. Delilah defends herself and her intended against both white and black violence and, through 'herstory', the film-maker passes on not only the story of a crisis but that of a survival.' (Author's abstract)
Indigenous or Exotic? Trees in Australian Cinema Chris Mann , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Etropic : Electronic Journal of Studies in the Tropics , no. 10 2011; (p. 141-152)
'This article examines trees in three Australian films to assess if they are seen from a white point of view or an Indigenous point of view.' (Author's abstract)
Hybridity, Power Discourse and Evolving Representations of Aboriginality (1970s - Today) Sue Ryan-Fazilleau , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 26 no. 1 2012; (p. 29-34)
'This essay examines the changing role played by the politicized concept of hybridity in filmic representations of Aboriginal identity over the past four decades...' (29)
Redrawing the Map : An Interdisciplinary Geocritical Approach to Australian Cultural Narratives Peta Mitchell , Jane Stadler , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Geocritical Explorations : Space, Place, and Mapping in Literary and Cultural Studies 2011; (p. 47-62)
Last amended 7 Dec 2015 08:35:58
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