Indigenous Australians by examining the portrayal of Aboriginality by Indigenous and Non-Indigenous peoples through the use of Films. The films that were used for this study were Stephen Johnsons Yolngu Boy, Bruce Beresfords Fringe Dwellers and Rachel Perkins Radiance. Throughout the years many Australian films have been made depicting Aboriginal people and their Aboriginality. Three such films are Stephen Johnsons Yolngu Boy, Rachel Perkins, who is an Indigenous person, Radiance and Bruce Beresfords Fringe Dwellers.
These three films all demonstrate differing portrayals of Aboriginality and the way in which it is presented. One element that notably affects the portrayal of Aboriginality is the era in which the films were made and if the film makers were Indigenous or non-Indigenous. In Yolngu Boy, Aboriginality is presented in the forms of sacred ceremonies and the use of stereotypes. These stereotypes are portrayed through images of Botjs petrol sniffing incidents and the association between this substance abuse and his alcoholic father, who abandoned his traditional life and family and caused the family unit to break down.
Johnson: 2001) The use of traditional ceremonies and totemic symbols shows that Aboriginality is something that connects the films Aboriginal people to each other, their communities and country. In contrast Bruce Beresfords Fringe Dwellers has depicted Aboriginality in a more discriminative and negative way. He has portrayed Aboriginality as being an undesired element of European society.
One who views Fringe Dwellers comes away with the impression that to be Aboriginal is to live in corrugated iron dwellings, squander money, be unreliable, and by living on the edge of town they are living on the outer edge of the main society (Beresford: 1986). Finally Rachel Perkins Radiance portrays Aboriginality as being bound by kinship and through the underlying political issues of her era. Her portrayal of Aboriginality is understood after the womens childhood house is burnt down; they appear to have released the ties that have bound them to secrets pertaining to their individual childhood memories.
The underlying political issues that show through in Perkins Aboriginality portrayal are those of Native title and Stolen generations. Rachel Perkins addresses these issues by demonstrating that Aboriginality is not where a person dwells or what their dwellings consist of, it is what the personal beliefs of the person are and their own bodily feelings or spiritual knowledge are. In Stephen Johnsons 2000 film Yolngu Boy, Aboriginality is primarily portrayed through the importance of traditional ceremonies and totems.
However, this film also looks at the stereotypical view of Aboriginality, which is substance abuse and addiction, which takes the form of petrol sniffing. While the film does this, it is not in a discriminative or negative way, but rather as an insight to the turmoil that this addiction can bring to a person. Yolngu Boy has to work against the stereotypes that are formed when one mentions the word Aboriginal Film. Australian films have become known for a narrow range of things: peoples, stereotypes, myths and settings. They are known as Outback types, freaks, Aboriginal peoples and convicts, (Anonymous 2001: murdoch. u. au)
Yolngu Boy avoids displaying the stereotypical images of the “primitive” Aborigine; or as Colin Johnson states, “The noble-savage, a stereotype familiar to us from Tarzan. ” (Anonymous 2001: Part 1 Yolngu Boy: murdoch. edu. au) Yolngu Boy is set in contemporary Arnhem Land and whilst the boys may uphold traditional values, they are still in the present as they wear modern clothing and use mainstream products( Johnson:2001). Yolngu Boy highlights the inter-relation of two cultures in one country and does not play upon the stereotypes that are evident in a lot of films that feature Aborigines.
Although the film does not use a lot of typical stereotypes, there are still some that are portrayed and these portrayals of Aboriginality are presented in the forms of substance abuse, alcoholism, crime, family breakdown and Europeanization. Substance abuse is portrayed in the film through images of Botjs petrol sniffing incidents. (Johnson:2001) The viewer also witnesses the distrust and disappointment felt by the Elders as to his trustworthiness and his ability to follow traditional pathways, especially as he has been in the European jail system.
Although Botj is now viewed as a bad influence on his childhood friends Lorrpu and Milika, Lorrpu believes that because they share the same totemic symbol that Botj can be brought back to his place within the community. Throughout the film Lorrpu is continually having flash backs to their boyhood initiation ceremony, Lorrpu continually refers to the three boys as having the same totemic symbol Baru, which is what binds them together.
They were three boys with three bodies, joined by one skin and one blood. (Johnson: 2001) Lorrpu believes that by taking Botj on a journey using only traditional methods of survival that he can be healed and accepted back into his community, he will once again be guided by his totem Baru. Through the allowing of the use of traditional ceremonies, Lorrpus body art and the portrayal of traditional hunting, clothing and weaponry Johnson has portrayed Aboriginality in a typical stereotypical way.
This portrayal shows that Aboriginality is something that something that is with a person from birth to death and no matter how much westernization or europeanisation is seeped into a community this Aboriginality can not be broken or changed. Although Stephen Johnson is a non-indigenous filmmaker, he had an indigenous film crew, whom he collaborated with and was therefore able to reveal to the audience that Aboriginality is something that truly cannot be stereotyped, that it is something that is sacred and that Aboriginality is an individual entity.
Europeanization is an underlying factor within the film. It is evident in every scene as the majority of the dialogue is in English; as Johnson felt that this would be encourage more non-indigenous people to view the film. Through the use of two differing cultures the filmmaker has revealed to the viewer that there are two forms of Aboriginality. One form is a learnt prejudice and a fear of the truth, the other is an understanding and a willingness to be taught or to learn about different races and their beliefs.
Even though the film was produced by a non-indigenous person, he attempts to educate the viewer to the traditional meaning of Aboriginality and perhaps without his collaboration with Aboriginal Elders this film may have had a totally different Aboriginality perspective. In contrast to Yolngu Boy, Bruce Beresfords Fringe Dwellers has depicted Aboriginality in a more discriminative and negative way. Beresford has directed the movie in such a way that Aboriginality is highlighted as being an undesired element of European society.
In a society, people who are seen to be unreliable, unemployed, gamblers or poor are often outcaste to live on the outer edges of the main society and, although they are part of the society, they never truly fit in. Beresford appears to use all these negative traits when portraying Aboriginality. One who views Fringe Dwellers comes away with the impression that to be Aboriginal is to live in corrugated iron dwellings, squander money, be unreliable, and by living on the edge of town they are living on the outer edge of the main society.
Beresford: 1986) Aboriginality in this film is portrayed as an undesirable element of the wider European community. Trilby Comeaway, an Aboriginal girl that the film is based around, appears to want to distance herself and her family from the edge of society. It is clear to the viewer that Trilby Comeaway cannot wait to assimilate and become accepted into the white part of towns community as a person, and not just another Aboriginal.
This is evident when Trilby states that she does not wish to end up like others, get married live in some humpy by the river or some place full of relations, or living in shearers quarters where she is just one of the black wives with dirty snotty nosed children running around with no pants. (Beresford: 1986) Although Bruce Beresford is a non-indigenous filmmaker and claims to fight against prejudice, he portrayed Aboriginality in Australia from the mainstream discriminative political and societal attitudes of the era.
By making the character Trilby say this statement about Aboriginality, Beresford demonstrates that even Aboriginal people sometimes see themselves as outcastes and undesirables within not only their own community but also the wider community. Although this is a film about Aboriginal people living and surviving on the edge of society, Beresford has been influenced about his portrayal of Aboriginality by strong societal influences of his era. These Influences focused on assimilation, and trying to conform to a way of life that is different, and which places different ideals and expectations on its members.