BUCH
The Adolescent Nation
Re-Imagining Youth and Coming of Age in Contemporary Australian Film
Anglistische Forschungen, Bd. 465
2021
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Bibliografische Daten
Abstract
Deeply rooted in Australia’s construction as a young nation, ‘coming of age’ has been the defining narrative of Australia’s national cinema. This book provides the first study which systematically explores the ‘coming of age’ theme in Australian feature films produced since the turn of the millennium, foregrounding how films use a range of diverse (his)stories to respond to the centrality of this theme. Rather than focussing on ‘coming of age’ mainly in its portrayal of a (successful) maturation process, this study explores the possibilities inherent in what is conceived of as a ‘permanently’ transitional ‘coming of age’ process, providing a crucial starting point for the re-definition of national fictions. A range of cinematic genres, including the road movie, crime film, sport film, romance and musical, is used to challenge and (to varying degrees) destabilise the national myth of Australia as a youthful, egalitarian society with a chance and ‘fair go’ for everyone.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
| Zwischenüberschrift | Seite | Aktion | Preis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover | C | ||
| Title Page | 3 | ||
| Imprint | 4 | ||
| Acknowledgements | 7 | ||
| Table of Contents | 9 | ||
| Illustrations | 11 | ||
| I ADOLESCENCE – NATION – FILM: THEORETICAL AND HISTORICAL CONSTRUCTIONS | 13 | ||
| 1 Introduction – Adolescence and the Nation | 15 | ||
| 1.1 The Adolescent Nation: National Fictions of Becoming | 16 | ||
| 1.2 The Adolescent Nation: Coming of Age in Film | 23 | ||
| 2 Young Australia and the Potential of Adolescence | 31 | ||
| 2.1 Concepts of the ‘Child’ in a Colonial and Postcolonial Context | 31 | ||
| 2.2 The History of Young Australia | 34 | ||
| 2.3 Colonial Cartoon Images: The Little Boy from Manly | 36 | ||
| 2.4 Constructions of the ‘Poor Child’ | 44 | ||
| 2.5 Conceptualising the Liminal: Classical Theories of Coming of Age | 48 | ||
| 2.6 Coming of Age in Australian Films | 51 | ||
| 2.7 Coming of Age in ‚Toomelah‘ | 53 | ||
| 3 The Coming of Age Narrative in Australian Film History | 59 | ||
| 3.1 Australian National Cinema | 60 | ||
| 3.2 Before the Australian New Wave | 63 | ||
| 3.3 The 1970s: Australianness and History | 65 | ||
| 3.3.1 The Period Films | 67 | ||
| 3.3.2 The Ocker Films | 72 | ||
| 3.4 The 1980s: Nationalism and Nostalgia | 74 | ||
| 3.4.1 The Male Ensemble Film and its Other | 75 | ||
| 3.4.2 The Nostalgic Teen Film | 78 | ||
| 3.5 The 1990s: Eccentricity and Individuality | 80 | ||
| 3.5.1 The “quota quirky” | 80 | ||
| 3.5.2 Internationalising the Teen Film | 82 | ||
| 3.5.3 The Multicultural Moment | 85 | ||
| 3.6 The 2000s: Cinema after Mabo | 87 | ||
| II COMING OF AGE IN TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY AUSTRALIA | 95 | ||
| 1 A Journey In-Between: The Road Movie | 99 | ||
| 1.1 The Road in Cinema | 100 | ||
| 1.1.1 The Role of the Landscape | 104 | ||
| 1.1.2 Children on the Road | 105 | ||
| 1.2 The Indigenous ‘No Road’ Film | 107 | ||
| 1.2.1 The Road to Sovereignty in ‚Beneath Clouds‘ | 109 | ||
| 1.2.2 The Indigenous Buddy Road Comedy ‚Stone Bros.‘ | 114 | ||
| 1.3 Stories of Migration in Asian Australian Film | 118 | ||
| 1.3.1 The Role of Cars and Mobility in ‚Lucky Miles‘ | 120 | ||
| 1.3.2 In-Between Lands: Boat People in ‚Mother Fish‘ | 123 | ||
| 2 Disrupted Families and Delinquent Youth: Stories of Crime | 129 | ||
| 2.1 Crime and Youth in Australian Cinema | 130 | ||
| 2.2 Larrikins and the City in ‚Two Hands‘ | 135 | ||
| 2.3 The Criminal Family in ‚Animal Kingdom‘ | 138 | ||
| 2.4 Suburban Nightmares in ‚Snowtown‘ | 144 | ||
| 3 Rewriting National Icons: Sports in Film | 151 | ||
| 3.1 Sports and Australian National Identity | 152 | ||
| 3.2 Racism and the Football Ground: ‚Australian Rules‘ | 156 | ||
| 3.3 Australian Beach Culture and Masculinity | 161 | ||
| 3.3.1 Sports and Masculinities | 162 | ||
| 3.3.2 The Beach in the Australian Imaginary | 164 | ||
| 3.3.3 Lifesavers and Homophobia in ‚Drown‘ | 167 | ||
| 4 ‘Messed-up’ Girls and Sexual Attraction: Romance | 171 | ||
| 4.1 Becoming Girl: Female Desire and ‚Beautiful Kate‘ | 175 | ||
| 4.2 Performing the Girl: ‚Somersault‘ | 180 | ||
| 4.3 ‚Adoration‘ and Becoming Woman: The May-December Romance | 184 | ||
| 5 Coming of Age and the ‘Mainstream’: The Musical Film | 189 | ||
| 5.1 Musicals and Indigenous Australian ‘Mainstreaming’ | 189 | ||
| 5.2 Transnational Cinema: ‚The Sapphires‘ | 195 | ||
| 5.3 Towards Reconciliation: ‚Bran Nue Dae‘ | 202 | ||
| 6 Instead of a Conclusion | 207 | ||
| III SOURCE MATERIAL | 215 | ||
| Bibliography | 217 | ||
| Filmography | 235 | ||
| Appendix: Film List – Coming of Age in Australian Cinema | 237 | ||
| Index | 247 | ||
| Backcover | 253 |
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