Final Assessment Outcome Film Festival

Program Annotation
National and International depictions and representation of Australia and
Australian culture in animation and non-traditional filmic forms

Content
1. Tiga (1987)
2. Dot and The Kangaroo (1977)
3. The Rescuers Down Under (1990)
4. The Magic Pudding (2000)
5. Harvey Krumpet (2003)
6. Mary and Max (2009)
7. Lil Elvis & The Truckstoppers (Episode 1, 1997)
8. Ada (2001)
9. $9.99 (2008)
10. Indefinable Moods (2001)
11. Dads Clock (2002)
Australia has a rich and successful history of pioneering and creating works of animation and
non-traditional forms of visual narrative fiction, with these works having often been
overlooked as cornerstones of understanding how national identity can be represented in film.
Dating back as early as the 1970s, many successful and popular animated features and short
films have come from Australian studios, and while most earlier works of animation during
the 70s and early 80s saw mostly only national success or recognition, examples such as
Dot and The Kangaroo (1977) and Tiga (1987), Australia in recent years has begun to gain
recognition in the animation field as an internationally reclaimed country for creating
successful and bankable works, but also works that convey our national identity through
visuals and means that may not be as prominent in traditional film modes. This program is a
celebration of those studios who have put their hearts and souls into mesmerising us and
breaking new ground into what the potential and limitations of animation can achieve, as well
as highlighting how our national identity is depicted through animation and how it differs
from internationally developed animated works and their representations of Australia. While
the variance in how much each of these films go to depict Australia life and culture can be
through nuanced visual and audio queues or the polar opposite, it is important to note that
most of these films have been chosen for not having the Polarizing effect of the outsider
looking in, as outlined by Constantine Verevis in Screen Theory goes to Australia, but
instead a retrospectively inward lens built in historically established stereotypes and
synonymy of expectations and reality of Australia culture for both international and national
audiences. This being said two pieces chosen: Lil Elvis and The Truckstoppers (1997), as
well as The Rescuers Down Under (1990), have been chosen for having the opposite effect
of being outsider views looking inwards towards Australia and have been chosen with the
intent of distinguishing between an outsider and insider gaze. This festival implores the
audience to focus more on the visual side of each piece to attain this understanding of how
animated film showcases many different aspects of Australian life.

In order of attaining an understanding of how or

what it is that establishes or defines national
identity, the larger question is raised of what lens is
each work trying to present. In the case of many
selected films for this festival, both Australia
animators and writers worked on creating pieces
that depict Australia life, so naturally the
assumption can be made that such works will have
a more heightened sense realism and authenticity
coming from Australian writers and studios, for
example; Mary and Max (2009) and Harvie
Krumpet (2004). Both of these works were praised
critically and commercial as being introspectively
authentic depictions of Australia, as well as in the
case of Mary and Max, having the narrative quality
of being able to highlight both national and
international perspectives of Australia through the
characters Mary and Max. With both of these characters living in different countries,
Australia and America respectively, serving as a narrative means of contrasting and exploring
national identity. Paul Grainge writes in his 2007 Film Histories: An Introduction and
Reader in the chapter marked Realism, Nationalism and Film Culture that cinema itself is
coalesced in the larger formation of modernity (p. 165). Thus suggesting a pertinent
depiction of national identity is one that blends both views as an insider and an outsider to
match or challenge expectations and reality of national culture, which both of Adam Elliots
works; Mary and Max and Harvie Krumpet, achieve through key themes of national
identity and duality.

But the important question when delving into this vastly unexplored niche of film is how in
particular do Australian animated films differ in their attempts to show Australia and its
culture from those of international inception and production. The shorter response to this
being through visually depiction but in certain cases that is a largely inaccurate and an
uninformed assumption. The Rescuers Down Under is a prime example of how an
internationally developed feature can have an entirely different understanding of Australia
and the culture. The film focusing heavily on already established (yet inaccurate) stereotypes
of how foreigners expect Australians to speak such as: a heavy emphasis on slang, synonymy
with hunting and wearing hats with corks, necklaces with crocodile teeth and other laughable
inaccurate stereotypes. As well as the land, fauna and flora itself, and how it differs from
reality. These choices having no real authentic means of justifying these visual choices other
than the fact that international audiences will be agreeable and accepting of these stereotypes
since this will likely be their predisposed view also, and alternatively an accurate visual and
aural depictions of Australia would be relatable to Australians but be jarring for the
international audience. Having this film screen directly before The Magic Pudding, a 2000
film that was developed with a national audience in mind rather than being international and
how this developmental process differs or in some cases stays the same, is an interesting area
to observe, and while neither film proposes an inherently valid gaze of nationality, it at the
very least distinguishes two very different views on Australian culture and stereotypes that
helps to highlight the different kinds of depictions and views of Australia from an
international and national perspective.
While animation is often synonyms with the visuals and
what is shown rather than told, sound is a prominent
feature of importance in reference to depicting Australia.
Many if not all of the films for this festival, feature folly
and sounds of entities associated or progenitive to
Australia. Steve J. Wurtzler correctly assesses that sound
itself is a horizon of pre-existing anxieties, utopian
goals, and overlapping categories of social experiences.
(Making Sound Meaningful: Commerce, Culture and
Politics p169). This assessment of composing sound
presents the idea that sound itself is linked with
familiarity and emotion, in the specific case of these
films, as something the audience may or may not
recognize to further an understanding. Specific
examples shown in these films being that of Mary and
Max which is riddled with sounds of native Australian
wildlife such as Magpies, Flies and more specific folly sounds to represent lower class
suburban Australia life with the sounds of rusted fences, creaking floors and a score that
evokes feelings of isolation but also a subtle tone of superfluous optimism. Tatia Rosenthals
2008 stop motion animated feature $9.99, presents these exact same visual and audio
elements into her work. The intent of this chosen feature being to potentially formulate
questions as viewers into what it is or was in that film that made it feel authentic, while not
necessarily providing an answer but instead allowing viewers of the festival to hone in on an
understanding of the differences between the nationalistic and international depictions of
Australia as the festival continues.
One of the more unique aspects when observing Australias depiction in animated works as
opposed to any other country, are the national depictions of Australias rich history of having
multi-culturalism as the epicenter of the nation foundation. In light of this, many of the
selected films in some way or another show multiple native lens of Australian culture and
life, specifically showing not only neo-cultural Australia but traditional aboriginal Australian
life, Indefinable Moods (2001), is the best example of this. Being shown as it mixes visual
and sounds of both aboriginal artwork and The Dreamtime with visuals that any Australian,
regardless of upbringing or heritage, will find little challenge in finding relatability within the
short film. This expands into most if not all of the nationally developed films and short films
of this festival. Giorgio Bertellinis Early Cinema and The National furthers this
assessment by stating that Less often is the notion of national difference articulated with
racial difference (p27), going on to suggest that this is actually a fundamental part of
understanding nationalistic filmmaking. This point naturally lends itself to animation as its
often through highlighting differences rather than similarities in areas like culture, landscape
and setting, that helps us make sense of what is happening visually in animation as well as in
a wider sense of the term, Australian or any nationalistic film.

Kuniyoshi Kataoka, a renowned

linguist outlines in Language in
Society (2005) that language seeks
to elucidate the underlying principles
for guiding viewers from a signpost
to a destination (p. 593), and while
directly this may appear to have no
observable links or relevance to this
festival or film theory in particular, it
is important to understand that
Kataokas notion of guiding viewers is perfectly relevant to film festival culture as
intended with this festival as with any other, ordering of pieces is indispensably important. In
this particular case the chosen order for the features assists in guiding the viewer in observing
the different lens and views of national representation as highlighted in paragraphs above.
The first two features: Tiga & Dot and Kangaroo presenting a classical-nationalistic
lens. The third and fourth feature The Rescuers Down Under & The Magic Pudding
presenting contrary depictions of Australia with an international studios perspective of
stereotypes and culture followed by a nationalistic perspective of stereotypes done by an
Australian film team. Harvie Krumpet & Mary and Max being the following two
features, each depicting dualistic nationality both internal in Harvie Krumpet (ethnicity vs.
nation of upbringing) and Mary and Max (two characters from different nations interacting).
Features seven and eight, Lil Elvis and The Truckstompers and Ada, paralleling the
same differences between The Rescuers Down Under & The Magic Pudding, with the
first being a malignly crude stereotype of Australian life and the next being an honest and
heartfelt depiction. The final three features: $9.99, Indefinable Moods and Dads
Clock respectively each highlight a neo-national lens of Australia in visuals and dialogue.
In conclusion, whether it be a dualistic view as both an insider and outsider on Australia, or a
true nationalistic lens of Australia film developed and produced solely with a national
audience in mind. This festival proposes a variance of outlooks on Australia and while there
is no proposition as to how to validate or invalidate which views hold truer or not, through
animation viewers can ascertain a less nuanced and subtle look at varying representation of
Australia, Australian culture and stereotypes associated with the nation.

Bibliography

- Wurtzler, Steve J. "Making Sound Media Meaningful: Commerce, Culture,

Politics." Electric Sounds: Technological Change and the Rise of Corporate Mass
Media. Columbia UP, 2007. 169-228. Web.

- "National and Racial Landscapes and the Photographic Form." Early Cinema and the
"National" Ed. Giorgio Bertellini, Richard Abel, Giorgio Bertellini, and Rob King.
Indiana UP, 2016. 27-41. Web.

- Verevis, Constantine. "Screen Theory Goes to Australia." Framework: The Journal of

Cinema and Media 51.2 (2010): 420-37. Web.

- Buscombe, Edward. "Some Thoughts on Film History." Film Quarterly 61.2 (2007):
74-77. Web.

- Kuniyoshi Kataoka. "Variability of Spatial Frames of Reference in Wayfinding

Discourse on Commercial Signboards." Language in Society 34.4 (2005): 593-632.
Web.

- Tiga, Lucinda Clutterbuck, 1987, Piccolo Films. -

http://aso.gov.au/titles/shorts/tiga/clip1/

- Dot and The Kangaroo, Yoram Gross, 1977, Yoram Gross Films, Australian Film
Commission

- The Rescuers Down Under, Hendel Butoy, 1990, Disney

- The Magic Pudding, Karl Zwicky, 2000, ABC, Energee Entertainment

- Harvey Krumpet, Adam Elliot, 2003, Australian Film Commission, SBS, Film
Victoria

- Mary and Max, Adam Elliot, 2009, Melodrama Pictures

- Lil Elvis & The Truckstoppers [S01, E01], Peter Viska, Jan Van Rijsselberge,
Robbert Smit, 1997, ABC http://aso.gov.au/titles/tv/lil-elvis-and-truckstopppers/clip2/

- Ada, 2001, Lee Whitmore, Ada Productions, Australian Film Commission,

http://aso.gov.au/titles/shorts/ada/

- $9.99, 2008, Tatia Rosenthal, Lama Films, Australian Film Finance Corporation
- Indefinable Moods, 2001, Kathy Smith, Australian Film Commission

- Dads Clock, 2002, Dick Jarman, Australian Film Commission, SBS

http://aso.gov.au/titles/shorts/dads-clock/clip1/

- http://miff.com.au/festival-archive