Go Back Ivan O Mahoney Analysis

One of the main reasons Anh Do wrote this memoir was to humanise and break the dominant stereotypes of refugees. Many people in Australia call refugees “illegal immigrants”. This is not the case because seeking asylum is not illegal. He humanises refugees by talking about himself, a refugee. It helps to show people that not all asylum seekers are Muslim or terrorists. Many of these people can be friendly, and in his case, famous. He tries to show that all asylum seekers as good by not mentioning anything about the bad ones, including the mafia. Do plants the idea in the readers head that all refugees are good and should not be judged so quickly.

The text chosen for this unit id the book Refuge by prominent Australian writer Jackie French (2013). Refuge follows the story of Faris, a young refugee feeling from his homeland with his grandmother to Australia. On the dangerous boat journey from Indonesia to Australia, they encounter a terrible storm where Faris falls unconscious and wakes up living his dream life in Australia. However, he has no recollection of how he got there. Whilst on the beach, he meets a strange group of children all from different times and places. Faris soon discovers that each child is like him, a migrant who travelled to Australia searching for a better place. Each child is living in their own ‘dream’ Australia and the beach provides a sort of ‘refuge’ from reality for them. Eventually, Faris has to make the decision to either continue living in this dream land or face his reality. This book is interesting as unlike other refugee texts, this novel serves to tell the multicultural history of Australian immigration. French relays the more than 60 000 year old history of people travelling to Australia by boat and makes the statement that all immigrants and refugees need to be treated with empathy and understanding.

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

These constant reminders of differences as well as stereotyping made it incredibly hard for Gouvrnel, Wei-Lei and all migrants to belong somewhere other than what their physical appearance may indicate. By Gouvrnel recalling this story to the readers it make us think and learn about the impact and implications migrants have to face when coming to Australia and the teasing, bulling and hardships they were forced to face. On multiple occasions she recalls being in tears and asking herself why she “couldn’t move back to Delhi,” difference in physical appearance and were we originate serve as indicatory of difference that can result in very stereotypical grouping, making assumptions purely based on looks as well as exclusion, preventing migrants from feeling as if they belong.

Go Back To Where You Came From is an Australian documentary/reality show in which participants are given the opportunity to experience what the life of refugee and asylum seeker can be like, albeit edited and packaged for an audience. During the course of the three hour long series, the six individuals not only have the chance to get under the skin of a refugee in terms of achieving a greater degree of insight into what being a refugee really means, but also to get on the viewing audiences nerves in perhaps all or any of the of the first three senses described above. Moreover the refugees participating in the series may ‘get under the skin’ of the programme participants and the

It is through the confronting and provocative challenges that trigger individuals to reassess their past and present beliefs and attitudes leading to meaningful and transformative discoveries. Jane Harrison’s play ‘Rainbow’s end’, explores Gladys and Nan Dear’s transformative discoveries after they face racial segregations in the western community. This ultimately evokes them to reassess their negative and positive present attitudes towards the white Australians. Similarly, Sean penn’s film ‘into the wild’, exhibits Christopher’s discovery of humanity and basic human interaction to be truly free and happy after experiencing hardships whilst surviving in the wilderness.

Finally, camera angles and shots were used cleverly to draw the viewer into the journey of the six Australians and the lives of the refugees. Close-ups were used to capture emotions and feelings of the characters. For example, during the immigration raid in Malaysia, close-up camera shots showed the fear, confusion and also shock on the six Australians. Close-ups were also effective

The concepts of national identity is demonstrated through Felicity Castagna’s novel, ‘No More Boats’ as it conveys Antonio’s national identity as well as through Henry Lawson’s short story, ‘The Drover’s Wife”, as it depicts the concept of national identity in Australia through the Australian bush life. Fiona Allon’s novel, ‘Renovation Nation’, portrays the concepts of national identity through the context of migrant home construction in Australia. Throughout Felicity Castagna’s novel, ‘No More Boats’, it depicts the concept of national identity in Australia. Furthermore, through the quote, “white aluminium siding, aluminium eight-over-eights, yellow fibreboard shutters, high rectangular windows, crisp brown linoleum marking the path to the kitchen.

On the refugee council website, there are many truly stories by migrants and refugees about their experience of contact with Australian culture. They need to be classified and made the subject of academic research. Nevertheless, the area of interest to the present research project because of their testimony to the input of migrants’ culture into Australian

This view shows the shift from a fairly negative to positive attitude that migrant in the 21st century experiences and the changing relationships that the present migrant in Australia holds compared to a past migrant. The chance to express individuality is another form of the changing attitudes of the migrant experience in Australia. Fatima shows that here she is able to freely express herself and her opinions and is glad that she has left “Hell”; her country of origin (Pakistan) and a metaphor for a place that is torturous and evil. Referring back to “Migrant Woman on a Melbourne Tram”, the migrant revealed that her culture is different by wearing clothing that is unusual to the typical Australian woman. This established alienation and distance between her and the Australian people.

The poems of Skryznecki’s life about migration into Australia after the end of the atrocities, in 1945, gives us a valuable recognition of a unique cultural experience from the past. The poem ’10 Mary Street’, flashbacks to 1949, after migrating for a restart to pave the way for a new life in the Down

Joyful Strains is a collaboration of short memoirs written by a group of expatriates about their experiences moving to Australia, and the struggles they faced that shaped them into the people they are today. Deborah Carlyon moved to Australia from her birth country of Papua New Guinea when she was 12-years-old, and has written the story ‘Hidden by the Dream’. Paolo Totaro moved from Italy to Australia when she was only a child and has contributed to the book with her short story ‘Pointing North’. Joyful Strains follows the authors as they explain how they navigated the process of finding a sense of belonging in Australia and establishing their own identities.

Discovery is a paradoxical process which allows individuals to explore concealed and indefinite ideas, enabling a broader understanding of their world and its surroundings. This dichotomous process often occurs at the intersection of exploration and introspection, catalysing a social awakening that enlightens and positions individuals to consider new conceptions. The Logie Award-winning television show “Go Back to Where You Came From” directed by Ivan O’Mahony documents an intimidating refugee journey that was undertaken by six uniquely-characterised individuals representing the myriad perspectives of Australians, consequently challenging the antipathy and intolerance that has become the major characteristic of the wider refugee debate. Resonating with the historical Moreover, Shaun Tan’s post-colonialist picture book “The Rabbits” explores the devastating and demoralizing consequences of the discovery, depicting the obliteration of spiritual, emotional and cultural bonds underpinned by the hegemony imposed by British imperialism.

‘Australia’ also showed how the government controlled how children of Aboriginal descent were brought up with language used such as “The mixed raced children must be dislocated from their primitive full blooded Aborigine, how else are we to breed the black out of them”. This presented again the reason as to why the Aboriginal children were taken away from their own cultures to be raised in something completely different.

Before introducing any major events, or analysis, it’s important to note that this autobiographical work was only made possible with the aid of written documentation, and tales passed on from the family and the community. This is imperative because a great portion of the piece focuses on events that Edwidge didn’t experience first-hand, so she heavily stresses on the details being re-surfaced through friends and family to complete a holistic emigration story. Family history and the involvement of cherishing family moments is often an overlooked form of communication, but without this, this and many other important minority stories would have never been complied in a way where we can now discuss them in a culturally-reflective academic setting, like this course.