ABORIGINAL ISSUES IN AUSTRALIA

Aboriginal Issues in Australia

Aboriginal Issues in Australia

Introduction

Indigenous film either portrays Indigenous people? issues and stories or is film made by Indigenous Australians. While Indigenous film is a small part? it is a highly significant part of Australia's culture. The portrayal of Indigenous issues and people in film provides a unique insight into Australia's relationship with its Indigenous peoples and heritage. Indigenous film can also be a means of expression for Indigenous experience and Indigenous culture. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people? issues and stories have often been stereotyped and marginalised in Australian society (Kaplan? 1999? 15). Australia's film history paints a similar picture. However? there are films that portray Indigenous people as self conscious and aware and not as a mysterious or dangerous 'other'. The portrayal of Indigenous issues goes hand in hand with real world measures to achieve reconciliation. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have been portrayed in film since the silent era of the 1920s (Graham? 1997? 17-18). Films from this time about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies were made from a European viewpoint. They were also condescending in their view of Indigenous Australians. Fictional film? dramas and feature films? often portrayed Aborigines as threatening? but also represented them as mysterious or playful (Kaplan? 1999? 15). However Indigenous people in both types of films were portrayed as primitive and inferior to the white settlers. (see Screening Indigenous Australia). An example of how Indigenous Australians were represented in early Australian film can be found in the newsreel: Australian Gazette 10?000 Miles Around Australia (1926). A caption states: 'The collection of native spears bears witness to the automobile's peaceful penetration of the primitive north'. The film portrays white European Australians as victorious over the wild and uncivilised land and consequently as conquerors of Indigenous peoples and their land (Ginsburg? 2006? 95-110).

Analysis

The conflict between white settlers and Indigenous peoples has frequently been a theme in Australian films. For example in the early Sound Era film Heritage 'black devils' attack a homestead. They are shown swarming across the landscape? killing a man and a mother with spears? before being scared off by men on horseback shooting guns. Both Uncivilised (Chauvel 1936) and Bitter Springs represent Aborigines as an undifferentiated and violent force of nature? rather than human. A later film by the same director as Heritage presents a different portrayal. Charles Chauvel's Jedda (1955) pays serious attention to the experiences and feelings of the title character Jedda (Ngarla Kunoth)? an Aboriginal girl raised by a white family. It is arguably the first film that does so? yet it is an ambivalent portrayal (Ginsburg? 2006? 95-110). The audience is led to identify with Jedda and her perspective? rather than the racist views of the white characters. Yet the tragic ending suggests that Aboriginal people and society are unable to be 'civilised' (in the context of European society at the time) (Annette? 2002? 33-41).

As the Australian film industry blossomed in the 1970's? Indigenous characters played a greater role in Australian ...