Australian Identity free essay sample

Australians are perceived in text as, beer-drinking larrikins, people who use kangaroos as a transportation, crocodile wrestlers, lack in fashion, foster beers, desert, sparsely populated and bushmans and mateship. However these representations are not true. Stereotype is a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. National identity is a persons identity and sense of belonging to one state or to one nation, a feeling one shares with a group of people, regardless of ones citizenship status. Some examples of national identity in Australia are beer-drinking larrikins, country Folk, convicts, racists, bogen/ocker Australian slang for example g’day. I strongly believe that Australia does have a distinctive stereotype, however they are not perceived in text accurately in modern days in Australia. The three arguments will include movies such as: Crocodile Dundee, Muriels Wedding and Australia. These specific movies starr’s Australian actors of how they have a portrayal of Australian stereotypes. We will write a custom essay sample on Australian Identity or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page To begin with the representations of Australian people in the film Crocodile Dundee are not entirely fair or relevant to contemporary Australians. The film producers portray Australians as beer-drinking larrikins and people with a sense of humor, This is exemplified at the beginning of the movie when Crocodile Dundee enters the pub full of loud beer-drinking larrikins, It is apparent that stereotypical representations trivialise most typical Australians who may not relate to maintain working in the outback. Consequently, the representations in the film are not particularly relevant for most modern Australian people. Crocodile Dundee shows a portrayal of how Australians are bushmans, and how they have to be tough enough to handle the harsh, barren outback. However modern days in Australians, there is a small quantity of bushmans. One of the Australian stereotypes used in Crocodile Dundee were crocodile-wrestling, Steve Irwin was really brave to do it, Paul Hogan was really talented to show it, but most Australians don’t know squat about it. Yes, there have been some significant crocodile and alligator references to Australia on an international level. As a result Australians may have had an identity back then but modern days people don’t use these stereotypes in society. Therefore this film is out of date. Furthermore, the representations of Australian people in this film, Muriels Wedding portrays the stereotypes of how Australians speak/ slang, the way Australians dress, the way they act. The film producers portray Australians as a fair dinkum, culturally diverse, also how dysfunctional family oriented,open minded and naturally humored Australian are. This is exemplified when Muriel was caught stealing money and leaves her family and when Muriel always give an open mind speech about anything. However this film was made in the 90’s where Aussies may have many stereotypes, but nowadays hardly any Aussies show stereotypes used this film. The people in this film were dressed very precisely, however Australians now where different clothing than what is shown in this movie. The characters played in this film had a distinctive ocker that you can tell from other cultures, although today you can’t really tell because all Australians don’t have the same ocker. In other words these stereotypes portrayed in this film is irrelevant to Australians in modern day. As a result, stereotypes shown in this film is irrelevant to Australian today. Finally, In the 2011 Australian film ‘Red Dog’ directed by Kriv Stenders many issues relating to Australian identity are addressed including the stereotypical Australian values such as conflict with authority and mateship. Stenders uses skilful camera and visual techniques to portray a realistic 1970’s context throughout the movie. Throughout the movie it is evident that Stenders portrays his values and attitudes such as rebellion against authority that abuses power and independence.