I left the lecture theatre mulling over the notion of what makes an Australian film? Evidently, I believe this questioning is analogous to questioning the nature of Australian identity, and perhaps the former is inextricably linked to the latter. For me, the definition of an Australian film will depend, in conjunction with details of the film itself, on who is asking the question; what their position is, what their motives are. A film funding board, for instance, has nationalistic intentions; they want to see as much "Australian content" as possible, and the maximum amount of Australian involvement in the production. A film critic, perhaps would take a more sociological point of view. How is Australia depicted in the film, from whose point of view is Austraia viewed?
In the tutorial a tautology was raised; that the reason we watch films is because there is an inherent human instinct which makes us worry for the characters. Students protested, citing many film genres, whose conventional make-up suggest a happy ending. In these cases, although we know consciously that all will be well in the end, the worry becomes about how this resolution will happen.
The second proposition to arise from the tutorial was that all films have a premise. Good films will not state this premise too blatantly, and instead will provide audiences with "a fair fight".
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