Essay on Mateship in Australian Films

Mateship is a key Australian characteristic: always having your mates back through thick and thin is vital. Mateship embodies the loyalty and friendship especially between men and women. The sense of mateship is demonstrated throughout the film, “The Last Cab to Darwin”, when Tilly travels with Rex to Darwin. Tilly does this out of genuine kindness, Rex was traveling to Darwin to get a procedure done to end his life. Along the way Tilly makes him realise the worth of life, and how having a mate to confine in helps with the choices we make. This can be shown in Australia today through ANZAC spirit, mateship is a

Australian people and culture are often stereotyped in the media in different forms, one of them being film. The two films being examined, ‘Red dog’ (2011) and the ‘Sapphires’ (2012), are an example of the Australian identity but from different points of view. ‘Red dog’ shows the kind and positive side which exemplifies mateship and loyalty. The film ‘Sapphires’ ,which takes place in the 1950’s through to the 1960’s, shows a negative and racist view towards the indigenous people. Both the films show different aspects of the Australian identity, not all insights of the films accurately represent contemporary Australian identity as the Australian identity has changed by the evolution of people and their lifestyle.

Australian Film allows the rest of the world to have an insight into our way of life, our communities and our land. Australian film usually provides a hard-working and hardy stereotype who lives in the outback and takes pride in his mates, and for a lot of the country, this is mostly true. The typical Australian is a laid back, hard-working community member who prides the relationship they have with their mates, who may not even be a person. The saying ‘a man’s best friend is his dog’ is incredibly true for many, especially Australians, where dogs can be found in all walks of life. At least, this is Kriv Stender’s perspective of Australian identity, seen in his 2011 film Red Dog.

Rarely has a film impacted an audience and held the test of time as the film Gone with the Wind. I have always been curious if director, Victor Fleming and producer, David O. Selznick and screenplay writer, Sidney Howard knew what they were creating a masterpiece and how this film would have such an enormous impact on audiences for years to come. Interestingly enough there were some who thought the film should not be made, as Irving Thalberg said to Louis B. Meyer in 1936, “Forget it Louis, no Civil War picture ever made a nickel” (Ten Films that Shook the World).

In his article, The Strategies of Finding a Mate, David M. Buss discusses the act of finding a mate and the characteristics that people are drawn to in a mate. He begins the article with a brief look at the history of mating and the theories that have previously been proposed. In particular he addressed Charles Darwin’s theory of sexual evolution and belief in preferential mate choice. Buss proposes that there are three components to human mating. He states that “human mating is inherently strategic… mating strategies are context-dependent… [and that] men and women have faced different mating problems over the course of human evolution and, as a consequence, have evolved different strategies” (Buss, 1994, p. 241). He uses this theory to propose nine different hypotheses to prove that despite humans being varied and different from each other, all humans look for similar characteristics when trying to find a mate (Buss, 1994).

Australian’s have a unique proud culture. This culture differentiates them from the British motherland. Through many decades Australia has formed a unique, which at its foundation is made from mateship. Mateship or friendship is the core of Australian identity as this was instilled into them through events such as war. WWII in particular demonstrates the level of mateship shown by Australians as many made the ultimate sacrifice in order to save a mate. The stories of ‘The Magic Pudding’ by Gary Crew & Shaun Tan and ‘Memorial’ by Norman Lindsay will demonstrate how mateship is a significant part of how Australians see

The perception of masculinity within Australian films is a reflection of our society’s views and opinions of what it is to be considered masculine. It is continually reinforced in our society by the constructions of the male character in movies, just like Archie and Frank, in Gallipoli and particular male figures within our nation’s history, such as Ned Kelly. Peter Weir’s reflection of masculinity through the use of his two main characters Archie and Frank, in his 1981 film Gallipoli, helped to perpetuate this construction of the Aussie male stereotype

An auspisticism occurs when two feuding trolls are mediated by a third, to prevent the two from dipping into more torrid of emotions and creating a kismesissitude. Auspisticisms exist as to inhibit black infidelity, which would occur widespread if warring trolls were left to their own devices,1 forming multiple kismesissitudes instead of focusing on their One True Kismesis.2 It is unclear whether the auspistice is the only one in the triad that feels anything towards the other two,1 but these feelings must be ashen. If an auspistice feels anything else towards another in the triad, then the entire balance of it could be unsettled, sending the feuding pair into caliginous quadrant or anything else, and, therefore, this should be thoroughly avoided.3 Auspisticisms are also the most unlike any human relationship.

Since the 1940’s, movies have predominately portrayed women as sex symbols. Beginning in the 1940’s and continuing though the 1980’s, women did not have major roles in movies. When they did have a leading role the women was either pretreated as unintelligent and beautiful, or as conniving and beautiful: But she was always beautiful. Before the 1990’s, men alone, wrote and directed all the movies, and the movies were written for men. In comparison, movies of the 90’s are not only written and directed by women, but leading roles are also held by older and unattractive women. In this paper I will show the variations and growth of women’s roles in movies from the 1940’s though the 1990’s.

With both twins now asleep Rae and Will laid them in their bassinets. Will was smiling down on Shimmer’s sleeping face. “I hope my labor and delivery is as stress-free as yours.” Rae reached over taking Will’s arm directing her back to the settee. “I found out that as a Mate all my labors and deliveries will be tranquil, River has theorized that it is because Saint Valentine had created the Mate specifically to have the Vampire’s babies, in order for his creation to prosper.” Rae patted Will’s hand, “besides four of my grandmothers are mid-wives. Please don’t be apprehensive; besides your immortal.” Will started laughing, she kept forgetting that little detail it was hard getting used to the idea she could not die, harder than a person could

“ You cannot talk about genre without talking about gender.” Initially, this would appear to be a simplistic statement. On closer analysis, however, one fact becomes evident. It is the representation of gender which informs the genre of the text. Ismay Barwell , in her essay ‘ Feminist perspectives and narrative points of view’ states that “ Every text is gendered since every act of narration…..involves a process of selection….and the nature of that selection implies certain values” ( p.99). She makes the point that “ The desires, attitudes and interests which guide any choices made must be either male or female”( p.98 ). It is within this frame of reference, that the two texts will be analysed.

There is constantly cessation why women and men cohabitate, nurture, desire, and endure. Many shrug the similarities and differences to the side due to the complex nature that is involved in understanding the progression. Since the beginning of time, according to the bible, man was placed as the dominant sex, fending for the families well being. The woman has tended to the important jobs around the homestead as situations arose. Often in society, one will find himself in a battle depending on the views of the receiving recipients. Following is a dialogue explaining a safe and metro sexual view as a general whole.

Today, romance is one of the most popular genres to watch on television. Unlike most, romance is a genre where the plot revolves around the love between two main characters as they experience the highs and lows of love. “Common themes that revolve around romantic movies are kissing, love at first sight, tragic love, destructive love, and sentimental love” (Taylor). These themes appear in many historical films and the pattern still continues in modern films as well. Watching romantic movies has a giant negative influence on the viewer's analysis of what love and relationships should really be like. These films give the wrong impression of reality when it comes to dating, marriage, having children, and even how to manage a relationship in

My mother used to tell me the definition of mate was your destined love- true love to say the least. A person that will stick with you through the thick and thin, no matter the destination.

In contemporary societies, modern mate selection processes do not seem to be working favourably. There are so many different ways to meet people and Nock (1995) believes that it is "the marriage