Cirrus@Austlit

This article traces the reception of the films Australia (2008) and Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) in German-speaking countries. Both films were dubbed and shown in well over one thousand cinemas across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The release of these films has introduced many aspects of Australian culture and history to a broader, non-academic, consciousness in these countries. The two films have had very different levels of success among German-speaking audiences, both in economic and in intellectual terms.
This article endeavours to scrutinize some aspects of their reception. It is organized into three main parts: first, it expounds some of the broader discourses about Australia in German-speaking countries; second, it critiques German reviews and marketing of both films and elaborates on the crucial context of their reception in German; third, it presents and analyses the results of empirical research on the reception of both films by these German-speaking audiences (Author abstract)