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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Kenny And Australian Cinema In The Howard Era, Lisa Milner
Kenny And Australian Cinema In The Howard Era, Lisa Milner
Dr Lisa Milner
The “battler” figure has been a popular and enduring character in the Australian cultural imagination, of literature and screen, from the time of The Sentimental Bloke (1919) and then featured in the Dad and Dave films (1932-1995). It was later “ockerised” for Bazza McKenzie, “Crocodile” Dundee and others. It is a deeply engrained identifier in the national memory, this ordinary citizen, workingclass, well-intentioned, hard-working, the underdog who struggles against the world to overcome troubles through an essential integrity. The symbol of the battler has been used to reflect what we hope we are as Australians. My paper is about two …
Bastardising The Waterfront Dispute: Production And Critical Reception Of The Bastard Boys Mini-Series, Lisa Milner, Rebecca Coyle
Bastardising The Waterfront Dispute: Production And Critical Reception Of The Bastard Boys Mini-Series, Lisa Milner, Rebecca Coyle
Dr Lisa Milner
This article examines the production and reception of Bastard Boys, a television mini-series broadcast on ABC TV in May 2007 that depicted aspects of the 1998 Australian waterfront dispute. Our research concerns how the dramatisation of such a union dispute (and historical moment) informed the final outcome as a media product. Employing commonplace fictional devices as well as seemingly factual referents, the series offers a link to the original events via four 'personal' storylines. We scrutinise the critical reception of the series and argue that the supposed 'reality' and ethics of the dispute have been confused with those of the …
Kenny: The Evolution Of The Battler Figure In Howard's Australia, Lisa Milner
Kenny: The Evolution Of The Battler Figure In Howard's Australia, Lisa Milner
Dr Lisa Milner
This article explores ways in which the low-budget mockumentary film Kenny (Clayton Jacobson, 2006) evolves the figure of the Australian battler, from its earlier incarnation in The Castle (Rob Sitch, 1997). A surprise hit on Australian screens, Kenny is the quietly humorous story of a portaloo worker, one of the 'ordinary Australians' that the Howard government claimed it spoke for. But whilst Kenny brought some old-fashioned toilet humour to the box office, he was overworked, underappreciated and apprehensive. The article maps the film from the perspective of its Australian audience, to suggest ways in which this comic but uneasy version …
Fighting Through Their Filmwork: The Waterside Workers’ Federation Film Unit, Lisa Milner
Fighting Through Their Filmwork: The Waterside Workers’ Federation Film Unit, Lisa Milner
Dr Lisa Milner
This essay examines the origins and development of a radical Australian film unit of the Cold War, the Waterside Workers’ Federation Film Unit (WWFFU). With the active support of the Communist-led Waterside Workers’ Federation, it arose in the 1950s in response to the repressive policies of a conservative government.
The Waterside Workers Federation Film Unit: The Forgotten Frontier Of The Fifties, Martha Ansara, Lisa Milner
The Waterside Workers Federation Film Unit: The Forgotten Frontier Of The Fifties, Martha Ansara, Lisa Milner
Dr Lisa Milner
This paper, written for the Fifth International Documentary Conference, Brisbane, 1997, offers a reappraisal of the historical status of Australian documentary, and, more generally, suggests the value of a revised view of Australian Cinema. In particular, Ansara and Milner look at the work of the Waterside Workers’ Federation Film Unit in the context of the rapid expansion of Australian film-making which took place in the 1950s. At the time, the ‘wharfies’ Film Unit opened a new frontier in documentary film-making in Australia, an endeavour which, in retrospect, provides a source of reflection upon our own documentary practices of today.
Commos And Ratbags: The Origins Of Trade Union Cinema In Australia, Lisa Milner
Commos And Ratbags: The Origins Of Trade Union Cinema In Australia, Lisa Milner
Dr Lisa Milner
A cultural criticism of Australian films representing the 1950s is presented, focusing on Michel Foucault's theoretical work on the construction of history. Topics addressed include the social and cultural aspects of remembering the past, the ability of storytelling to deconstruct privileged versions of history, and the self-conscious representation of the 1950s by independent Australian filmmakers in the 1970s.
Showing Some Fight: Kemira’S Challenge To Industrial Relations, Rebecca Coyle, Lisa Milner
Showing Some Fight: Kemira’S Challenge To Industrial Relations, Rebecca Coyle, Lisa Milner
Dr Lisa Milner
Inspired by the ‘Work Choices’ policies initiated by the Coalition-led Australian Federal Government in 2006, this paper offers a historical overview of Australian documentaries associated with industrial relations. Our paper will case study the 1984 film Kemira: Diary Of A Strike (dir. Tom Zubrycki) documenting the 1982 BHP sacking of 400 miners, and the 16-day occupation of the Kemira pit by 31 miners. As a government-funded, union-sanctioned and award-winning film, Kemira holds a particular place in Australian documentary genre. We will outline how the perspective of the film, which focused attention on the miners' families, was conveyed via the diegesis, …
Commos And Ratbags: Left-Wing Images Of Urban Australia, Lisa Milner
Commos And Ratbags: Left-Wing Images Of Urban Australia, Lisa Milner
Dr Lisa Milner
The cultural construction of the past in Australia has a variety of sources. There are the authorised, official histories in print, in the form of books, newspapers, journals, biographies. There are memories of lived experiences, and the recalling of stories passed down to us. Some of the most potent sites of remembering our more recent history are, however, to be found in visual media. Films and video productions engender their own historical consciousness, and validate their own sites of memory. In this paper I wish to open up a set of memories we have about life in Australia within a …
Fighting Through Their Filmwork: The Waterside Workers’ Federation Film Unit, Lisa Milner
Fighting Through Their Filmwork: The Waterside Workers’ Federation Film Unit, Lisa Milner
Dr Lisa Milner
This essay examines the origins and development of a radical Australian film unit of the Cold War, the Waterside Workers’ Federation Film Unit (WWFFU). With the active support of the Communist-led Waterside Workers’ Federation, it arose in the 1950s in response to the repressive policies of a conservative government.
Fighting Through Their Filmwork: The Waterside Workers’ Federation Film Unit, Lisa Milner
Fighting Through Their Filmwork: The Waterside Workers’ Federation Film Unit, Lisa Milner
Dr Lisa Milner
This essay examines the origins and development of a radical Australian film unit of the Cold War, the Waterside Workers’ Federation Film Unit (WWFFU). With the active support of the Communist-led Waterside Workers’ Federation, it arose in the 1950s in response to the repressive policies of a conservative government.