When nine-year-old Celia's socialist grandmother dies, she is left to the care of her largely disinterested parents and her own imagination, which peoples the world around her with Hobyahs, the threatening bogeymen from the story read by her schoolteacher. When the openly Communist Tanner family move in next door, Celia finds some comfort in their friendship. But in small-town Australia in the 1950s, in the midst of anti-Communist backlash and a rabbit plague, neither the Tanners nor Celia's pet rabbit Murgatroyd are safe from the patriarchal authorities that constrain Celia's life.
For a detailed analysis of the film, see Ruthless Culture (http://ruthlessculture.com/2009/10/07/celia-1989-against-the-world-of-men/). (Sighted: 7/6/2012).
'From a film made in Adelaide for less than $10,000 to gory and haunting classics, here are some flicks that will keep you up at night'
'Since its first collection and publication in 1891, the gothic fairy tale ‘The Hobyahs’ has inspired various incarnations in Australian literature and film. This paper explores the trajectory of ‘The Hobyahs’ from its proposed Scottish ori-genesis and adaptation within the context of Victorian (Australian) primary school education, to its revisioning in Australian director Ann Turner’s debut film Celia (1988). In so doing, the paper raises questions about what was misplaced, or lost, as this British tale evolved within Australia’s changing historical contexts and argues that re-visions of the tale made possible through the process of filmic re-contextualisation engaged more authentically with its original gendered undercurrents. Examining the evolution of ‘The Hobyahs’ from print to film also expands upon previous scholarship that has acknowledged the tale’s distinct Australianness and suggests a broader contention regarding the cyclical nature of Australia’s relationship to British fairy-tale traditions: that re-visions have the potential to destabilise earlier twentieth-century Australian adaptations and, in the process, critique the notion of Australian fairy-tale formation itself.' (Publication abstract)
'Ann Turner’s 1989 debut film Celia has often been classified as horror, due in large part to the presence of the monstrous Hobyahs that haunt Celia’s dreams. While Celia is not a horror film per se, this is complicated by the film’s application of horror tropes. Film scholars acknowledge the family as a common site of the horror film and for the character of Celia, who lives in an oppressive home environment, the Hobyahs clearly signify one of horror’s key concerns: the return of the repressed. In addition, Celia shares numerous narrative similarities with Mervyn LeRoy’s 1956 monster child film The Bad Seed, leading some commentators to compare the two films. Like Rhoda in The Bad Seed, Celia and her spiteful cousin Stephanie, can both be read as monster children. Through close analysis of key scenes in Turner’s film and a reconsideration of genre, this essay concludes that the close relationship Celia shares with the horror genre justifies its reception by some audiences as horror.'
Source: Abstract.
'Ann Turner’s 1989 debut film Celia has often been classified as horror, due in large part to the presence of the monstrous Hobyahs that haunt Celia’s dreams. While Celia is not a horror film per se, this is complicated by the film’s application of horror tropes. Film scholars acknowledge the family as a common site of the horror film and for the character of Celia, who lives in an oppressive home environment, the Hobyahs clearly signify one of horror’s key concerns: the return of the repressed. In addition, Celia shares numerous narrative similarities with Mervyn LeRoy’s 1956 monster child film The Bad Seed, leading some commentators to compare the two films. Like Rhoda in The Bad Seed, Celia and her spiteful cousin Stephanie, can both be read as monster children. Through close analysis of key scenes in Turner’s film and a reconsideration of genre, this essay concludes that the close relationship Celia shares with the horror genre justifies its reception by some audiences as horror.'
Source: Abstract.
'Since its first collection and publication in 1891, the gothic fairy tale ‘The Hobyahs’ has inspired various incarnations in Australian literature and film. This paper explores the trajectory of ‘The Hobyahs’ from its proposed Scottish ori-genesis and adaptation within the context of Victorian (Australian) primary school education, to its revisioning in Australian director Ann Turner’s debut film Celia (1988). In so doing, the paper raises questions about what was misplaced, or lost, as this British tale evolved within Australia’s changing historical contexts and argues that re-visions of the tale made possible through the process of filmic re-contextualisation engaged more authentically with its original gendered undercurrents. Examining the evolution of ‘The Hobyahs’ from print to film also expands upon previous scholarship that has acknowledged the tale’s distinct Australianness and suggests a broader contention regarding the cyclical nature of Australia’s relationship to British fairy-tale traditions: that re-visions have the potential to destabilise earlier twentieth-century Australian adaptations and, in the process, critique the notion of Australian fairy-tale formation itself.' (Publication abstract)
