The Australian National Cinema - Essay Example

The Australian National Cinema In the 70s and the 80s, the Australian films were set in the Australian bush landscape. The films that satisfied that role were the Crocodile Dundee, Picnic at Hanging rock, Evil Angels, My Brillant Career,the Mad Max triology,The Man from the Snowy River, Gallipoli,and there has been a gradual trend in the mainstream Australian film away from the suburbia and the inner city. The films from Australia has been found to be having high popularity in British and European audiences and the standard that is generally followed is to compare all forms of cinema with Hollywood. The History of Australian Cinema Nations having good film cultures and having successful film industries and having good production and direction in film making all tend to share a relationship that is loaded with problems and that too with the dominant America film culture of production and consumption. The Australian film industries in the 70s were underdeveloped like an oppressed minority group (Jonathan Rayner). The history of film making in Australia can be termed as nostalgia, pride and regret and the biggest achievement that the Australian film has been able to achieve was ‘The story of Kelly Gang’, which can be termed as the thrilling and the sensational film to be taken. The film had taken six months to be completed and ‘Soldiers of the cross’ which was produced by Salvation Army also enjoys a higher status in the history of Australian Cinema (Jonathan Rayner). The Australian cinema was supposed to be more productive before the First World War and that had a high quantitative peak that had not been equaled since. The production had been on decline from 1913 and it had picked the pace after the 70s due to the finance being pumped by the Australian Government.The failure of feature film industry in Australia has been blamed purely at the stranglehold that has been made by American and European films over the theatres in Australia. That had denied the local film makers to access the screen which was needed for production. It has been found out that the collapse had nothing to do with the quality of the content as spread by many people. There was a rumor that has been spread like Australian films were below standard and Australian audience was reluctant to see it and the reality was contrary to the same. The feature film industry was considered as a power struggle between the distributors and exhibitors. There was steady flow of actors and technicians to outside the Australia and that had dented the industry as a whole. There was a voice of erosion of cultural and moral values due to inflow of Hollywood films which were making a presence thanks to the fight between distributors and exhibitors. The government was forced to intervene in the year 1927 by a Royal commission of enquiry that has been set and their role was to examine film industry organization and practice. There was a quota system that had been proposed and that had been supplemented by taxation and duties imposed on the imports. The benefits of the initiative taken by the government were negated by factors inside the country. The year 1928 saw the production of Australian films picking the pace in a decade old time. There have been huge technological and financial barriers that produced the production to come down. The film production were continuing but in low pace and there were studios in the Hollywood pattern that has come and they had influenced production in such a way that small producers were feeling the heat. The Second World War has seen Australian film production being handled over to newsreels, propangada and government and thereby creating a period of boom which had not sustained for long period. The British and the American companies had made the most of production after the World War second and that phase has been seen as considering Australia as exotic locale. That had created a situation by which Australian films being disappearing in the year 1950s.There was a phase of cultural revision or cultural impearlism, technological advances and restrictive industrial practice and that had gone against the maintenance of the film and that had prevented the expansion of indigenous production. There were profits from Australian exhibition and the patterns for Australian cinema were encouraging for foreign concerns. The American companies had formed the subsidiary Australian companies and they had dominated the exhibition. That was a type of vertical integration with US film distributors. In the year 1965, Australia had thousand picture theaters and they were grossing more than 50 dollar million for exhibitors. Fifty percent or half of the amount was directly remitted to the overseas and that had been a case of all the film distributors being owned by American counterparts and the exception was BEF.The government had been asked for commitment to create a national cinema and Australian television that were colonized by American products were urged to be made free. There was an increased need for transmitting Australian image that were needed to counterbalance of the sociological influence of imported material. That was needed to create a local talent that was more creative and more ability. Australia was in search of national identity and by the end of the 60s the funds were coming. There was increased financial grants for the production of the film in Australia and Australian Film Development Corporation was established in the year 1970s and 54 cinema and 42 television projects were financed .The Australian viewers were learned to understand the products that were being offered. There was a debate of the role of commercialization over artistry. The feature of this debate has been that it had dominated the Australian filmmaking and that had been continued for even this time. The aim of the Australian cinema was to form the forum for telling the uncomfortable truth about the society and Australian films and film institutions has been negating the ethnicity, gender and race class and nation. The cinema had shown the interest that is needed for mass participation. The year 1970s saw the emergence of Australian directors like Gillian Armstring, Peter Weir, Noyce, Beresford and had the many actors emerging like Judy Davis, Sam Neill and Mel Gibson. The film making was set in the background of historical stories and the obsession with Australian film maker’s obsession with exploring Australian identity. There was huge tax concessions in the 80s that led to some dubious film making which was consolidated into diverse film making and the successful films in those periods were Mad Max (Road Warrior),Crocodile Dundee ,and there was quiet style of John Duigan and Paul Cox. The 90s had seen some good directors hitting the screen of Australian film ad they had been able to produce highly successful international films like Shine which was award winning, Muriels wedding ,Priscilla and Queen of Desert. In the 1990s another new wave of Australian directors hit the screens producing internationally successful films like the Academy Award winning Shine and 'quirky' features including Muriel's Wedding and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Contemporary Australian Cinema Contemporary Australian cinema is more diverse than ever and having more complex nature. It has been exploring Australian people and culture from a wide range of viewpoints. There were films like Looking for Alibrandi,Two Hands,The Boys,Head on and Radiance. The share of the Australian film industry has risen from 4 % in the 98s to 8% to 2001.There has been stories like Rabbit Proof fence and Till Human Voices Wake us. The Cinema Facts from Australia Box office and admissions Box office in 2008 $945.4m Australian films’ share $35.5m Admissions in 2008 84.6m Admissions per capita 4 Proportion of Australians who went to the cinema at least once in 2007 67% Average number of times they went 7.2 Average ticket price in 2008 $11.17 Screens and theatres Theatres as at February 2009 493 Multiplexes (4+ screens) as at February 2009 206 Capacity as at February 2009 456,000 Screens as at February 2009 1,980 Digital projectors as at February 2009 54 Films Number of titles released in Australian cinemas in 2008 301 From Australia 33 From New Zealand 0 From Asia 40 From France 20 From the United Kingdom 24 From Europe (excl. France and UK) 15 From Canada 7 From the United States 158 From other countries/regions 4 Top-grossing films All-time highest-grossing film Titanic All-time highest-grossing documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 2008’s highest-grossing film The Dark Knight 2008’s highest-grossing Australian film Australia (Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia (MPDAA)) Shine was an internationally acclaimed picture from Australia (Ian Craven). The feature of the contemporary Australian film is the effort to not get tied down to any categorization and diversification. The appeal was both national and international. The films that will be taken for discussion in report will be the films that have captured the mind of the audience and that has to be understood. There have been several films that have been running on patterns like in the film Malcom in which the lead central character is disabled intellectually and succeeds by ingenuinty.That helps him to help the lead actor to pull off a series of bank raids. There is another film in the form of Proof in which the lead central character is blind. The character is damaged psychologically by parents but still manages to take unseen photographs of the world and for the character is the aesthetic solution to the problems of world. In the film cosi the patients has been successful in performing an opera. In the film Shine and Bad Boy Bubby, the central character has been disturbed products of extreme psychological and physical abuse that can be termed as very bad parents and they still end up as successful parents. In the film Strictly Ballroom, it has been shown two unconventional isolated young people. They have been misunderstood by the dancing fraternity and their families and they manage to get together and express themselves through dance and manage to succeed in a major competition. The creativity of one of the character has been shown to be thwarted by the dancing fraternity. There is lot of creative expression in the characters. In the film Muriel’s Wedding the heroine is presented as an oddball due to bad parenting and the character is more of social misfit rather than literally disabled and this disability is overcome by performance. The feature of disability is apparent elsewhere and there is literally sub plot covering her best friend. The character expresses or becomes beautiful the moment the character expresses creatively. In the film An Angel at My Table, it is an young woman that is disadvantaged because of the sensitive artistic temperament and that had been misdiagnosed and the character has been mistreated as schizophrenic and the character express creatively and gets the acclimation through creative writing. The heroine of the Lillian’s Story is labeled as a mad character and becomes or is treated as a social outcast and the character expresses herself though the writing of Shakespeare and through the reciting of poetry. The heroine is not portrayed as succeeding through this but acquires a legendary status that helps the heroine to reach wider audience. In the film Pianos Ada,the character is mute and the disabled figure is prominent in the cycle. The expression of the character has been shown through playing of piano and the keys have been tapped by a false silver finger. The effect may be seen as grotesque in the description of the film. The characters sympathetic vulnerability has been shown more in the film Piano. There are lot of films that has been revolving around the themes of disablement and vulnerability. There has been theory of isolation and incarenation.There has been more stress on the bad parenting and the passive nature of the central lead character when they face conflict. The outstanding creativity of the lead character and the artistic nature of the character. The performance has been used as a tool of self expression and there has been desirability of trying to reach a wider audience. The success is due to self expression rather than pragmatism. The success of the character has been due to pure than commercial orgins.The characters are presented as vulnerable artists who are showing more interest to culture. In the film The Glass that has been released in the year 1989, the flower seller has been shown as looking up at the sky scraper and that has been faced with sheet of glass. At the end of the film, the flower seller has been shown as a killer and the activities of the flower seller have driven the narrative. The film revolves transformation of flower seller to a killer that has been triggered by new building developers. The flower seller is being shown as full of charm and there are many meanings for the character .The main thing that the character highlights is the problems faced by immigrants. The immigrants have been disposed by their territory. The story has been based on the country’s history. There is no power for the flower seller to determine the boundary for selling as he is Italian .This shows the ethnicity within the nation in an operating manner. The Australian film has attained international acclaim in the year 1990s and that has been achieved through local and imported materials. Ballroom had become the highest gross film in the year 1992 and Muriel’s Wedding has become the AFI award for best feature film in the year 1994.Muriel,Strictly Ballroom and Priscilla has been the films that have been shown at the Cannes. Bad Baby Bubby has won four awards at the Venice film festival. The internalization of the film in Australia has been shown as the synthesis of popular American genres like music, the road movie .The success of the movies like Priscilla,Chez Nous,Death in Brunswick, Bad Baby Bubby, Strictly Balloom,Heavens Burning and Sirens can be said as the AFFC funding. That has been more of contemporary social issues. The passage narrative has been slow and foregrounding multiculturalism in the family context. There are many low budget films that have been made in Australia.”Dead Letters Office “is one of that types( Rutger Penne )and it has not been able to generate much buzz. It has not been rated into the top 100 films though the concept was innovative or creative. The story revolves around Alice Walsh who has been writing to her father regularly about the dream of reuniting with her father and living happily forever. The letter has been shown as coming back and the seal of the dead letter office. The character has been shown as losing hope and stopped writing. The character having reached the adult stage and has decided to job as a clerk in the post office in the hope that she can track her father. The character has been shown as meeting strange people who has been able to strike her life. Frank had been one of these who were head of operation. The character has been intrigued by the mysterious past in Chile and the relationship with Frank grows. Frank has been told about the plight that Alice has been going and Alice receives a letter from her father one day. Alice has been able to meet the father and she was not impressed by her father. Alice comes to know that Frank had written the letter and Frank asks Alice to travel with him. The movie has been a fun romantic movie and entertaining. It can be termed as irrational by the concept but the love that Alice shows is not irrational and the movie scores high points on this. The film had scored points on the light heartedness. The film had received mixed reviews(Urban Cinefile) at the time of release and there were some who believed that the film was a beautiful conceived one and the film had everything to hook the viewers to it. There were few who believed that the film had not been successful in engaging the viewer. There were certain critics against the role of actors. There were certain critics who felt that the performance was stunning while for some the performance was not up to the level. The film had been nominated for many awards and had bagged the best screenplay award in the AFI and the best female actor in the Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards. The best original feature film award was also won in the Australian Writer’s Guild. The film can be said as coming of age story and Alice has been shown as an adult who had gone huge changes in her life. Alice finds a job in quest of her father and she has been able to come out of this adventure as a new person. The relationship that has been shown as between Alice and Frank can be termed as romantic and film ends in such a way that the relationship with her father can be closed and Alice can move forward in her new life. This can be also said as a woman film and love film. Conclusion Australian movies sometimes do lack the backing power financially like that of Hollywood movies and that would have made the Australian movies more famous. Australia has been seen as lacking in having many recognizable productions and at certain points a lack of new creative ideas. Australia had many highs and lows in the history of cinema and of late Australia has been seen as winning more award and recognitions internationally. Reference Rutgers Penne, 1999,”International Index to Film Periodicals”, International Federation of Film Archives, Vol. 27,pp. 229; 495. Urban Cinefile.Andrew L. Urban. 1997. “Dead Letter Office”, viewed on June 5, 2009, retrieved from http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?a=1430&s=Reviews . Ian Craven,2001, “Contemporary Australian Cinema”, Australian cinema in the 1990s,pp.57-79 Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia (MPDAA), 2008, viewed on June 5, 2009, retrieved from http://www.afc.gov.au/GTP/fastcinema.html. Jonathan Rayner,2000, “pre history of Australian cinema”,Contemporary Australian cinema: an introduction,pp.3-8 Read More