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Issue Details: First known date: 2012... 2012 Through an Australian Lens
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'In the half-light, a black man’s hand strokes Ruth’s neck. She flicks him away like an insect, oblivious to the sensual energy she radiates. This is how filmmaker Jane Campion introduces Ruth (Kate Winslet), the central character of her 1999 film, Holy Smoke! This opening scene, of Ruth on a bus amidst the colour and vigour of a busy Indian city can be read not only as representing an experience common to Western women abroad in Southeast Asia but also as emphasising that Ruth is a luminous and irresistible beauty. This chapter begins by outlining the role India plays in Holy Smoke! (the film and the novel), then gives an overview of what makes this an Australian film (despite being made with international stars and money), followed by a discussion of how Campion uses the luminousness of her film’s central character to explore Western female experience,and finally, examines how the film explores ideas of how men and women might exist together in the world—or, what it is to be human.' (Introduction)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Wanderings in India : Australian Perspectives Rick Hosking (editor), Amit Sarwal (editor), Clayton : Monash University Publishing , 2012 Z1869298 2012 anthology criticism extract autobiography prose travel 'Wanderings in India: Australian Perceptions, sharing its title with a curious and entertaining travel book written by the first Australian-born writer John Lang, is a collection of essays about diverse encounters between Australians and Indians in both South Asia and the Antipodes. The chapters—creative, reflective and academic—meet the objectives of a volume that provide snapshots of the wide range of interests and issues that Australians have shown towards India. Taken as a whole, the chapters represent a range of responses, reactions and experiences that chart the course of the ongoing engagement between Australia and India, between Australians and Indians. While there is something of an emphasis on literary responses, charting the ebb and flow of writers' reactions to India from the 1850s onwards, this volume also includes historical, political, sporting and other writings about the complex "magnetic amalgams" that link Australia and India. The basic idea is to encourage on-going research and other kinds of writing about cross-cultural engagements between India and Australia; it is hoped that this volume will contribute to discussions about Australia-India relations in the coming century.' (Publisher's blurb)
    Clayton : Monash University Publishing , 2012
    pg. 149-164
    Note: Includes list of works cited.
Last amended 17 Jan 2020 09:08:59
149-164 Through an Australian Lenssmall AustLit logo
Subjects:
  • Holy Smoke Jane Campion , Anna Campion , 1999 single work film/TV
  • c
    India,
    c
    South Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
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