Individual sign in
Create Profile
Sign in via Institution
You're not logged in.
You're not logged in.
Sign in via Institution
Individual sign in
Create Profile
You're not logged in.
You're not logged in.
Benjin Pollock
Benjin Pollock
University of Kent
Search for other papers by Benjin Pollock in
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Benjin Pollock in
Google Scholar
PubMed
Beyond the Burden of History in Indigenous Australian Cinema
Understanding Production, Humour and Political Context through Nice
Coloured Girls (1987) and The Sapphires
(2012)
in
Film Studies
How Indigenous Australian history has been portrayed and who has been empowered to define it is a complex and controversial subject in contemporary Australian society. This article critically examines these issues through two Indigenous Australian films: Nice Coloured Girls (1987) and The Sapphires (2012). These two films contrast in style, theme and purpose, but each reclaims Indigenous history on its own terms. Nice Coloured Girls offers a highly fragmented and experimental history reclaiming Indigenous female agency through the appropriation of the colonial archive. The Sapphires eschews such experimentation. It instead celebrates Indigenous socio-political links with African American culture, ‘Black is beautiful’, and the American Civil Rights movements of the 1960s. Crucially, both these films challenge notions of a singular and tragic history for Indigenous Australia. Placing the films within their wider cultural contexts, this article highlights the diversity of Indigenous Australian cinematic expression and the varied ways in which history can be reclaimed on film. However, it also shows that the content, form and accessibility of both works are inextricably linked to the industry concerns and material circumstances of the day. This is a crucial and overlooked aspect of film analysis and has implications for a more nuanced appreciation of Indigenous film as a cultural archive.
All of MUP's digital content including Open Access books and journals is now available on manchesterhive.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1931 | 726 | 183 |
| Full Text Views | 63 | 10 | 0 |
| PDF Downloads | 66 | 11 | 0 |
‘All the evidence is that Cobargo is slipping’
An ecological approach to rural cinema-going
Author:
This paper considers the impact of extra-filmic elements on the cultural decision-making behaviours of a small rural Australian cinema audience, focusing on the rural New South Wales village of Cobargo in the late 1920s. In considering how why such fragile rural picture show operations either failed or became successful, it is critical to take account of rural geographies, particularly in terms of early road development, and the nature and state of road bridges in flood-prone areas. The paper argues that these elements are part of a broad ecosystemic framework for cultural decision-making which can assist in our interpretation of early newspaper advertising and promotion for picture show programs.
Cinemas in the City
Berlin‘s Public Space in the 1910s and 1920s
Author:
In the early years of the cinema and into the 1910s and 1920s, it was less the film than cinema-going itself that attracted urban publics. In this era, people were enthusiastic about technology and the achievements of modernity; while at the same time they felt anxious about the rapid and radical changes in their social and economic life. In Germany, this contradictory experience was especially harsh and perceptible in the urban metropolis of Berlin. The article demonstrates how within city life, Berlin cinemas – offering the excitement of innovation as well as optimal distraction and entertainment – provided an urban space where, by cinema-going, appeal and uncertainty could be positively reconciled.
Kissing and Killing
A Short History of Brighton on Film
Author:
Over fifty feature films have been made either in or about Brighton and they have all contributed to popular understandings of Brighton‘s history and its character. Collectively, they present the city as a site for extreme emotions and conflicts found within narratives that are always set either on the seafront or at the Royal Pavilion. It can be argued that these Brighton films are not about Brighton at all but instead serve as vehicles for the expression of popular anxieties, concerns and desires. As such, they transcend the specificities of place and history and become projections of what could be described as a national unconscious.