oh wow!! I watched that last year for English! We were doing Australian Literature. Really, it was an amazing movie when you look at it historically. Very controversial. There were a few questions we had about it though, and i'd love your opinion. Let's hope I can remember it properly. We were looking at it, and we were wondering if we could see it as an Aboriginal Text or not. Because it does in fact tell a story that Aboriginal people can understand, on one side- woman goes with a man who she is not supposed to go with, and is punished for it, while learning about the strength of the land. At the same time it tells the White Person story- about race and class difference and superiority and so on. It can be seen as both stories. What do you think? Also we were interested by the fact that in the end, it wasn't the aboriginal people or the white people who killed her- it was the land
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Charles and Elsa wrote the script as the days went on. The story is based on folklore and they... made it their own.
The main reason Charles and Elsa made the movie was to show that the White Australia Policy and the assimilating of Aboriginal children into white culture wasn't going to work in the long run.
Charles and Elsa never got the admiration they truly deserved for this movie during their lifetime and Ric and Susan (grandson = Ric, daughter = Susan) still own the copyright to every movie he ever made. The movies themselves are in the Museum in Canberra for preservation.
The story was essentially a call to the land and the loss of a child - in both cultures. I am amazed at times the ... depth that is found within the subtext and text of the movie that were NOT intended when it was being made!
I'll let Ric know it's being studied at some schools in English Lit. He'll be very proud.
Ric was so surprised to know it's being studied in English Lit at a Uni and very proud to know that his grandfather and his work is being recognised. Thank you for telling us.
I hadn't thought about it from the Aboriginal side of pov. It certainly fits with their stories of 'the stolen generation' - which I know did occur.
This IS a landmark film of Australian cinema - but my knowledge of it has faded as I have only seen it when I did my BA over a decade ago. I remember there were some really compelling scenes, such as when Jedda is 'tamed' into the household, and then later when she feels the call of her heritage awakening her again. I also remember there was a really unfortunate bit of casting, with the Aboriginal 'hero' who was in love with Jedda being played by a white actor. It's such a shame that they resorted to that when they were so admirable in other things they did while making the film.
It's a beautiful looking film, though. Wish they would give it a proper release on DVD with special features about the making of it! Restored of course, I remember the print we watched was pretty beaten up.
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Charles and Elsa wrote the script as the days went on. The story is based on folklore and they... made it their own.
The main reason Charles and Elsa made the movie was to show that the White Australia Policy and the assimilating of Aboriginal children into white culture wasn't going to work in the long run.
Charles and Elsa never got the admiration they truly deserved for this movie during their lifetime and Ric and Susan (grandson = Ric, daughter = Susan) still own the copyright to every movie he ever made. The movies themselves are in the Museum in Canberra for preservation.
The story was essentially a call to the land and the loss of a child - in both cultures. I am amazed at times the ... depth that is found within the subtext and text of the movie that were NOT intended when it was being made!
I'll let Ric know it's being studied at some schools in English Lit. He'll be very proud.
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It's being studied very enthusiastically in my university. :) Our lecturer really likes it.
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I hadn't thought about it from the Aboriginal side of pov. It certainly fits with their stories of 'the stolen generation' - which I know did occur.
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It's a beautiful looking film, though. Wish they would give it a proper release on DVD with special features about the making of it! Restored of course, I remember the print we watched was pretty beaten up.
I agree, great post!
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Oh and it was also interesting how they did it because they had to film 'night' scenes, during the day...
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Gawd, it's been so long since I saw that movie, I can barely remember much of it.
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