Contained under the rubric of Indigenous Cinema, are discourses which exceed the framework of cinema, and constantly demand attention within Australian society itself.
The issue of the indigenous people of this country is a prickly one, to say the least. Needless to say, the events of the past cast a dark cloud over our present and future relations with those who have inhabited this land for the longest period of time. European settlers came to this land only two hundred years ago and declared it 'terra nullius' because there was no apparent agriculture. The British staunchly believed that they deserved the land, and established settlements here, despite their encroachments onto tribal land. The articles of desire introduced by the white-skins; alcohol, tobacco, gunpowder; not to mention the contingencies of disease and disenfranchisement created severe differences (if nothing else, in numerical terms) between the aborigines and the colonisers.
Things only got worse in the twentieth century, with pieces of governmental policy (both Federal and State) - for instance the Aboriginal Protection Act of 1869 in Victoria. Now the government was legitimately in control of the destiny of this (once romanticised) noble race. Of course, one of the problems with this scenario (this was really the tip of the iceberg), was that the Aboriginal people were disenfranchised, and so played no role in the democracy of Australia (a democracy which was so liberal as to share the vote with women - Australia was quite revolutionary in this respect at the turn of the twentieth century).
Some of the darkest days were to follow; namely the Stolen Generation. The story need not be told, needless to say its horrors speak for themselves.
Lets jump to the present day. There is a pink elephant in the metaphorical room of Australian society. Sure, aboriginals constitute a small fraction of the Australian population, and as is exemplified in Australian cinema (I refer here to Marcia Langton), their absence is as notable as their presence.
Post-colonial thought, expressed by writers such as Franz Fanon and Edward Said, argues that the trauma of the past must be faced in order for it to be overcome. I cannot help but agree with this to a large extent. Films like Rabbit Proof Fence are crucial in educating Australians to the realities of the past. However, how heavy handed are representations such as this? The didactic undercurrent of this film reaches fever pitch at times.
Another problem emerges I believe, in that great changes have taken place since the final intrusions by the Australian government in 1970 (the intrusion I refer to is the forceable removal of children...unfortunately successive Australian governments have dropped the ball on the issue). Different struggles face the Aboriginal people today, and while they may be an accumulation based on the injustices of the past, these new concerns deserve a fresh approach (I want to tread lightly here, because the "Aboriginal problem" is not monolithic).
And how is any of this relevant to our study of cinema?
Do stereotypes of the Aborigines exist/persist? How have they changed? Can the stories of aboriginal people be told by non-Indigenous filmmakers? Are films autonomous of the political concerns of the nation at large?
I would have to argue that stereotypes still exist and I would argue that perhaps recently, an ambivalence has emerged in how they are represented. At once noble, and yet primitive and spiritual, and even downcast, the perpetual underdog, the positioning of the aboriginal in recent films is problematic. This complexity is compounded by the fact that recent films look both to our own backyard, and back one or even two hundred years.
Of course the stories of aboriginal people can be told by non-aboriginal filmmakers. And furhter, along a similar track, I think it is vital that indigenous filmmaker's output not instantly be labelled as 'indigenous' cinema. The notion that utopia for us would be an aboriginal man or woman being cast in a role where their aboriginality is not an issue. The ramifications of this are that white Australians have accepted responsibility for the atrocities of the past, the discrepancies in contemporary society, and aboriginal people have overcome their own personal trauma. The past should never be forgotten, but nor should it act as an anchor restricting real progress in social equality in this nation, and its cinema.
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