Issue Details: First known date: 2009... 2009 'Now You Blokes Own the Place' : Representations of Japanese Culture in Recent Australian Cinema
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'A minor character in the Australian film Japanese Story (Sue Brooks 2003) ruminates on the ambivalence of many Australians towards Japanese people:

In the war we thought you blokes were coming after us - we had stuff stashed away up in the hills, evacuation plans, people tying knives to the end of broomsticks - ridiculous really... Now you blokes own the place. There was a time there when nobody would buy anything made in Japan. Wife, she'd go into the shop and turn the thing over and if it said made in Japan she put it back on the shelf - she wouldn't buy it. Still don't, I guess. Only country to have a trading surplus with you lot. Funny life, isn't it? (DVD transcript)

'These observations signal various perceptions of Australia -Japan relations for Anglo-Celtic Australians, and the monologue suggests how these can be articulated in Australian cinema. This chapter offers an overview of historical and contemporary relations between Australia and Japan as a framework for analyzing the diasporic cultures represented in two early millennial Australian films, Japanese Story and Bondi Tsunami (Rachael Lucas 2004). These depict Japanese visitors to Australia, however the approach (as well as the style) is significantly different in the two films, one concentrating on middle-class Euro-Australian cultural contact and the other on youthful transnational surf culture. In contrast to each other, the films raise issues about the practices deployed to represent Australian perspectives on Japanese culture.' (Introduction)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Diasporas of Australian Cinema Catherine Simpson (editor), Renata Murawska (editor), Anthony Lambert (editor), Bristol : Intellect , 2009 Z1762587 2009 anthology criticism (taught in 1 units) 'Diasporas of Australian Cinema is the first volume of essays to focus on diasporic hybridity and cultural diversity in Australian film-making over the past century. Topics include, post-war documentaries and migration, Asian-Australian subjectivity, cross-cultural romance, 'wogsploitation' comedy, and post-ethnic cinema. This collection also provides a comprehensive filmography making it a useful reference text for scholars of Australian film and cultural studies. The book is a vital contribution to the burgeoning international body of critical work on diasporic cinemas.' (Publisher's blurb) Bristol : Intellect , 2009 pg. 103-114
Last amended 13 Jan 2017 09:43:16
103-114 'Now You Blokes Own the Place' : Representations of Japanese Culture in Recent Australian Cinemasmall AustLit logo
Subjects:
  • Japanese Story Alison Tilson , 2002 single work film/TV
  • Paradise Road David Giles , Martin Meader , Bruce Beresford , 1997 single work film/TV
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