107-087 Contemporary Australian Cinema

Credit Points

HECS Band

Coordinator

Prerequisites

Usually 12.5 points of First Year Cinema Studies, see Prerequisites.

Semester

Subject Description

This subject explores the relationship between national identity and international film culture and specifically questions how filmic structures operate in Australian cinema to produce identities which have both local and international resonance. Students will examine the success of films such as Crocodile Dundee and Mad Max within the context of mass culture; the emergence of a popular alternative cinema, The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Dallas Doll, The Sum of Us, in the context of queer theory; films such as Romper Stomper within a context of teen films; Strictly Ballroom within questions of multiculturalism and ethnicity. The representation of race will form an additional focus of study, with a discussion of Night Cries and a range of other films made by Aboriginals. The films of Australian directors working in Hollywood such as Gillian Armstrong and Bruce Beresford will also form a major area of study.