Gender, Sexuality, And Power In The Australian TV And Film - Essay Example

? Australian Film and TV Question One Introduction Gender is defined as the of being male or female based on biological attributes and behavioral norms of individuals. These attributes are the following: dressing; the type of hairstyle; application of make-up; ability to endure certain constraints; associated daily chores and the like. Sexuality, on the other hand, is the state of being male or female based purely on physical attributes. These attributes are the following: intimate organs; breast size; facial and chest hair; hip size; bicep muscles and the like. Power is the level of dominance or control that a certain individual, group or attribute have over the others. Over the years the Australian TV and film industry has portrayed an interesting relationship between gender, sexuality and power (AUSTRALIAN FILM COMMISSION, 2000). This relationship has been changing from time to time over the years in the real world in Australia and the change has equally been manifested in the TV and film shows produced in Australia (Khamis, 2009). Discussion From the screened texts of weeks four, the relationship between gender, sexuality and power has been intertwined within the constraints of cultural diversity. The TV and film industry portray Australia as a nation where all the people are immigrants from foreign nations and hence share a rich heritage of cultural diversity. Initially, the nation was against any form of immigrants from nations outside of Europe. In a bid to enforce this, the country adopted the Immigrant Restriction Act in 1902 which required that the immigrants into the nation had to prove that they had a command of at least one of the languages spoken in Europe (Jabukowicz, 1994). This effectively bared immigrants from Asia and Africa. It favored the development of the Anglo-Australian from the early years and in turn implied that they became the dominant population of the nation. This dominance translates to power as the Anglo-Australians are the most powerful in the nation even up to date. The TV and film industry have demonstrated this dominance and power over the years (AUSTRALIAN FILM COMMISSION; SMYTH & ASSOCIATES, 1994). The power enjoyed by the Caucasian community has been portrayed in the TV and film industry in Australia as being related to gender and sexuality. This relationship is in the sense that the powerful Caucasians intermarry amongst themselves while the minority groups comprising of the Orientals and the blacks also intermarry amongst themselves. The policy in Australia which encouraged the immigration of strictly the Europeans was abolished following the end of the Second World War and this saw the incoming of other nationalities into Australia. The throngs of the policy were however felt till sometime around 1970 (Khamis, 2009). The immigrant communities were compelled to have their cultures swollen into the mainstream Anglo-Australian community. This implied that the power of the Anglo-Australian dominance compelled the new immigrants to share in a common sexuality and gender interaction as dictated by the mainstream Anglo-Australian culture. The TV and film of Australia has made this evident in the recent past. In 1989, the Commonwealth Government endorsed the principles of the report titled National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia: Sharing Our Future. One of the key principles of this report was the principle of Cultural identity. This principle protects all Australians’ rights, in the constraints of limits that are carefully defined, to share and express their distinct cultural tradition. This implied that the immigrants would be freed from the dominance and power of the Anglo-Australian culture and, hence, could stick to their traditions in relation to sexuality and gender within the context of their native cultures. Another principle was the principle of Social justice which protects the right of every Australian to equity in opportunity and treatment, besides the elimination of barricades of ethnicity, race, religion, culture, gender, language and disability (Jabukowicz, 1994). This categorically empowers all genders and promotes gender parity which eliminates the element of male dominance and power of females. Another principle is the principle of Economic efficiency. This principle promotes the necessity to develop, maintain and effectively use the talents and skills of every Australian, irrespective of gender. It is also a principle that gives power to the purportedly weaker gender and sex. In pursuit of these historical changes that have taken place regarding sexuality, gender and power in Australia, the Australian TV and film has been in the forefront in manifesting the changes to the world (AUSTRALIAN FILM COMMISSION, 1993). In accordance to the screened texts of week nine, power is vested upon the nation as it is the supreme force of the land and this is related to sexuality and gender in a number of ways. The relationship between the nation and sexuality and gender is through Histories where the history of gender and sexuality in the nation is vital in giving the way forward in the process of nation building. The relationship is also through the Medical aspect where gender and sexuality are vital medical attributes that determine various components for an effectively healthy nation. The relationship is also through Legal regulations where gender and sexuality are represented differently in accordance to the laws of the nation for its effective running (McKinnon, 2012). The relationship is also through Industrial aspects as the different sexual behaviors are a key component of all industries and they are vital for nation building (AUSTRALIAN FILM AND TELEVISION SCHOOL, 1978). The relationship is realized through science/health context, bio power and bioethics, which are key issues for national growth and development and are subjected to gender and sexuality variation. The relationship is also through Religious, moral and ethical codes which are crucial in nation building and also subjected to gender and sexuality variation. Cultural symbols, iconography and mythology are other subjects through which the relationship between the all-powerful nation and gender and sexuality is manifested. The relationships in all these regards have been outlined within the Australian TV and film industry over the years. One emerging aspect of gender and sexuality is the attribute of gay tendencies or lesbian tendencies and heterosexuality. The traditional straight tendencies are slowly being marred by increasing cases of gay, lesbian and heterosexuality. These are related to the aspect off power in that in the straight framework, the masculinity is regarded as being the dominant one and the all-powerful one as opposed to feminism (King, 2005). Contrary to that, in the gay and lesbian framework, either sex can be the dominant one and in that regard either one of them can be the powerful one. This development has seen the rise of numerous films and TV shows which have elements of gay and lesbian behavior (AUSTRALIAN FILM COMMISSION, 2005). In fact some of them are actually all about gay and lesbian relationship with some of them even concentrating on such marriages and weddings. The Television and film industry of Australia has also seen the development of the “not suitable for children” aspect. In this regard, several parents have been outraged and in turn complained concerning the shooting and the airing of certain TV shows and films which portray gross sexual tendencies to the children. In this case, the government which has the powers over all the produced material in the land has been called upon to exercise its powers over the production and airing of such gross sexual material in protection of the children of the land. Sexuality and power are seen to knock horns as the outraged parents who are also the electorates of the government pull on one side to burn the airing and production of gross sexual material and on the other side pulls the principle of sex sells which avails money to the producers and hence power to manipulate the government to rule in their favor. In 2005 the Prime Minister of the day, John Howard, and his Parliament changed the Marriage Act in Australia so that marriage was finally defined as a bond between a man and a woman ‘to the exclusion of all others. This has had a great impact in the sexual tendencies of the people of Australia (McKinnon, 2012). It is now official that no legal proceedings would be entertained which are based on same sex marriages. It is a perfect attribute which manifests the relation between power, gender and sexuality. The government exercised its powers to influence the attributes of gender and sexuality. The film and TV industry has in turn followed suit as it now shoots and airs material bearing in mind that legally speaking in Australia same sex marriage is not allowed (AUSTRALIAN FILM COMMISSION, 2001). Conclusion The Australian TV and film industry has been in a constant state of metamorphosis. The country has had a great deal of historical changes over the years. These changes have seen the country change politically, socially and economically. The country did not encourage the immigration of non-Europeans but later did. The country was also open to same sex marriages but later set laws against it. These changes among others have seen the relationship between power, sexuality and gender change over the years. These changes have affected the TV and film industry of Australia (King, 2005). The shooting and airing of TV shows and films has been compelled to change over the years so as to conform to the expectations of the contemporary practices regarding the relationship between power, sexuality and gender. The relationship is a key aspect of the TV and film industry of Australia. Bibliography Jabukowicz, A. (1994) Australian (dis)contents: film, mass media and multiculturalism, in F Rizvi and S Gunew (eds) Arts for a Multicultural Australia: Issues and Strategies, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, pp. 86-107. Khamis, S. (2009) ‘Lebanese Muslims Speak Back’, in Simpson, C. Murawska, R. and A. Lambert (eds) Diasporas of Australian Cinema, Bristol: Intellect, pp.147-158 McKinnon, S. (2012) ‘The Emerald City of Oz: The city of Sydney as a gay space in Australian feature films’, Studies in Australasian Cinema, Volume 5: 3, pp. 307-319.? King, A. (2005) ‘Reconciling Nicci Lane: The ‘Unspeakable’ Significance of Australia's First Indigenous Porn Star’, Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies 19: 4, pp. 523-543. AUSTRALIAN FILM COMMISSION. (2000). National survey of feature film and TV drama production. Woolloomooloo, N.S.W., The Commission. USTRALIAN FILM COMMISSION. (2001). Australian Film Commission. [Australia], Australian Film Commission. USTRALIAN FILM COMMISSION, & MERVYN SMYTHE & ASSOCIATES. (1994). TV and cinema advertising production in Australia and New Zealand: a report for the Australian Film Commission. Sydney, Australian Film Commission. AUSTRALIAN FILM AND TELEVISION SCHOOL. (1978). Employment and training needs in Australian film television industry: [a survey]. [Sydney, N.S.W.?], The Unit. AUSTRALIAN FILM COMMISSION. (1993). National survey of feature film and independent TV drama production. North Sydney, N.S.W., Australian Film Commission. AUSTRALIAN FILM COMMISSION. (2005). Australian TV drama and documentary catalogue. [Sydney, NSW], Australian Film Commission. Read More