Rabbit Proof Fence is based on a true story about three aboriginal girls who are forcibly abducted from their home and taken to an institution for mixed-race children. They are educated and trained as domestic servants as part of an official Australian government policy. Children who were taken were taught to reject their Indigenous heritage, and forced to adopt white culture. Their names were changed, and they were forbidden to speak their traditional languages. The three children escape and make a 1500mile journey home on foot, while following the rabbit-proof fence that bisects Australian. Included in the film are the vast and open outback landscapes which signifies the freedom of aboriginals land and how they belong to it as the are physically and emotionally affected when they are taken away from it. The rabbit fence was built to keep the Aboriginals in one place therefore symbolising the division between the Aboriginals and the Europeans. Also a representation of a map, as it is a symbol of home for the girls and provides a way in order for them to get home (by following the fence). The eagle guides the girls home, they believed that it was the spirt of the wind. There is a clear that the link aboriginals have to the land is spiritual. The clothing the aboriginals wore was dirty, while the white people had fancy, clean clothes. The presentation Mr Neville makes to the women explains why his intentions are educated and rational. The film deliberately underplayed how
Since the European settlement of Australia, the Indigenous people have been represented in a myriad of ways. The Rabbits (1998), an allegorical picture book by John Marsden (writer) and Shaun Tan (illustrator) and Rabbit Proof Fence (2002), a film directed by Phillip Noyce, are just two examples of this. Techniques such as music, changing camera angles and symbolism are utilised in Rabbit Proof Fence to represent the Aboriginal people as strong-willed and spiritual and in The Rabbits, exaggeration, different colour themes and perspective are used to portray the Aborigines as technologically inferior and overwhelmed against the Europeans. In both texts, the Indigenous people are represented as
Lives are lead with anxiety over certain issues and with apprehension towards certain events. This play, Fences written by the playwright August Wilson deals with the progression of a family through the struggles of oppression and the inability to obtain the American Dream. The characters in the play develop throughout the story and can be viewed or interpreted in many different ways, but one man remains constant during the play and that is Troy. Due to certain events that transpired as he was growing up, Troy is shaped into a very stubborn yet proud man. To be a man who was black and proud ran the risk of getting destroyed, both physically and mentally. The world of the 1950s and 60s was rapidly changing and
Rabbit Proof Fence is a great film based on the real tale and experiences of three young Aboriginal girls, Molly, Gracie and Daisy, who were taken against their will from their families in Jigalong, Western Australia in 1931. The film puts a human face on the "Stolen Generation", an event which categorized links between the government and Aborigines in Australia for a lot of the 20th century.
The ideas of borders, boundaries and border crossings are increasingly employed in a metaphorical sense that does not always refer to the physical border. These borders are progressively used to represent social and cultural boundaries. A cultural border indicates that a more powerful side constructs it’s own cultural knowledge and has added political power and privileges. When understanding the concept of borders, it is important to understand that borders are being referred to in a literal sense and in a figurative sense. The term literal can be referred to as taking words in their most basic sense without adding exaggeration or metaphorical meaning. The term figurative can be described to as departing from the literal use of words and adding metaphorical meaning. Figurative notions of borders within race have been a primary concern for the novels Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington and Remembering Babylon by David Malouf. This essay will discuss and analyze the concept of figurative borders and what these borders represent. Lastly, this essay will explore in detail the concept of figurative borders within the two novels. Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence and Remembering Babylon have numerous
Rabbit Proof Fence has been published both as a book and as a movie. Being a reader or a viewer entirely changes our point of view on the story. As a reader, we get descriptive insight on the situations and emotions of the characters. We are then able to re-create these visually using our imagination and have endless freedom doing so. As a viewer, our creativity is somewhat restricted. We do not imagine the characters’ physical appearance, the locations or the overall situations in the same way as in a book. These elements are already given to us. Throughout this essay I will be exploring how the music and the filming creates a contrast between reading the book with elaborate descriptions.
In the orientation of the film Blair uses techniques such as setting, this is an important technique as different settings can either show a rise of reduction of prejudice towards indigenous people. The film begins in the Australian outback, where the audience is first introduce to two characters Gail and Kay. The two girls are cousins and are running across the scene, they make up about 10% of the height of the screen. Blair uses long-shot contrasting their vulnerability. Establishment shots of the homes and buildings and also seen, we as the audience understand that the girls are relatively poor as there are many family member sharing minimal houses, they are living in close proximity to each other and live in a remote area. Already Blair has expressed the theme of prejudice by depicting the isolation indigenous people have with white communities. The aboriginal families seem to be living in a mission environment contrasting that they were disadvantaged from the European settlers. After seeing the earlier setting of the
Symbolism is used in many different ways to represent the colonisation of Australia. Numbats are a benign native species and are used to symbolise the indigenous Australians who loved in harmony with the land for more than 50 000 years, whereas rabbits symbolise the British as a destructive pest that devastates the land. Towards the end of the story, kites are used to symbolise the stolen generations, the white kites with tails are those with baby numbats in them symbolise the destruction of
In the opening of the film, the three girls are learning how to hunt for lizards by their mother. It highlights the traditional Aboriginal culture in contrast with the Western culture (shown later in the film). When the children arrive back home, they are carefully observed by a police officer from afar. They are seen chatting to a man who is working on one of three rabbit proof fences. These fences were 3,253 kilometres in length and spans across Western Australia. It is here that we learn Molly’s father is white and has left their mother to work on another section of the rabbit proof fence. Suddenly, a white constable, under the command of the Chief Protector of Aborigines, A.O Neville, arrives and forces the three girls in an automobile with their family chasing after the car
‘Rabbit Proof Fence’ was the story of a 3 young Aboriginal girls who were taken from their homes because they were ‘half castes’ and then their long walk home following the rabbit proof fence. The idea of the government taking children from their homes and placing them into the care of white people in the hope of them losing their cultural beliefs was stronger. This idea of them being changed was evident with quotes such as “This is your new home. We don't use that jabber here. You speak English” providing the idea of whites being dominant through their values.
The “Rabbit Proof Fence” plays two vital roles throughout the journey of Molly, Daisy and Gracie, and is reflective of the importance of the journey. The fence is a representation of a map, as it is a symbol of home for the girls and provides a way in order for them to get home (following the fence). What is later revealed is that the fence has actually proven to be an obstacle, and that they have followed the wrong fence, and must change direction to get home. The ability of the girls to overcome this hurdle, and arrive home is again indicative of the notion that it is the journey – not the destination – that matters when undertaking a physical journey.
Rabbit Proof Fence is a movie directed by Phillip Noyce based on the novel by Doris Pilkington Garimara. In the excerpt, ‘The Stealing of Children,’ it shows the offspring of the indigenous people being taken away from their parents as the white settlers thought they weren’t being treated properly. Events like these occurred from 1910-1970 in Australia’s history. Many aboriginal children didn’t want to be taken away and the fictional story, based on real events, of Rabbit Proof Fence has been created from the point of view of those people living at this time. The director has created many representations of Aboriginal people through the use of language features, visual elements and the audio components.
The film "Rabbit-Proof Fence" conveys the importance of home and country to indigenous peoples. The director Phillip Noyce refers to home in different ways. He has symbolised home by repeatedly showing images of the Spirit Bird and the Rabbit Proof Fence, since it is a connection to their home. The movie shows Molly's determination to get home and back to her family by escaping from Moore River and finding her way back home to her country, Jigalong.
The rabbit proof fence is the central motif. It runs from North to South of Western Australia and was built to keep rabbits away from farmland. It is very symbolic as when it was built it kept the Aboriginals in one place and therefore shows how they were restricted in their movement, unlike the freedom of the spirit bird. It symbolises the division between the Aboriginals and the Europeans. The girls are pictured as frightened rabbits trapped on the wrong side of the fence, the same feeling as
When planning the escape, Molly knew that the fence ran from the north to the south. Therefore, she was sure it would lead them back home. In this context, the Rabbit fence symbolizes a map that would show them the way home. Throughout the movie the girls’ use the fence as a guide for their journey home. The existence of the fence is of great importance to the girls’ escape mission.
The audience is made aware of this when dolly begins to complain about the lack of facilities with in the house. “Oh gawd. I wish we had a decent place to live in. no hot water, no locks on the doors ” these examples reinforce the need for the standard of living that most aboriginal people endure. This is also reinforced to the audience when dolly compares her house to a concentration camp. ”Worse than living in a bloody camp”. This shows that they are willing to accept change and progress to a more positive and comfortable environment.