There is no doubt that the power of language is a major component in influencing Australia’s contemporary society. Documentary film texts such as Brian Knappenberger’s 2014 expository style documentary ‘The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz’ as well as Alex Gibney’s 2013, ‘We Steal Secrets’, position Australian audiences to feel a certain way about privileged social and cultural issues. The texts do this through their use of language features and devices such as editing, non-diegetic sound, emotive language. Through the texts incorporation of these language features and devices, they are able to appeal to our societies values of the truth and anti-authoritarianism.
The true power of language in Australian contemporary society
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This anti-authoritarianism has stemmed from the Irish, who made up close to one third of the colonies that came to Australia in 1788. There are many historic pieces that highlight Irish heritage as a major reason for Australia’s anti-authoritarian traits and values, and an example of this is Professor Thomas Bartlett’s article on the Irish rebellion of 1798. According to Barlett, ‘The Irish rebelled against government, and this lead to weeks of rioting and social un-rest.’ The ideology that government figures were not the be all and end all of society bled into Australian culture, and so to this day, we remain strong in our anti-authoritarian values. Because of the documentary’s appeal to this traditional Australian value, through its use of non- diagetic sound, we align ourselves with the documentaries major reading: To see the secrecy and idiocy of government. It is clear that Knappenberger’s ability to position his audience comes largely from his incorporation language features throughout his documentary, this inturn highlights the true power that language features have on Australia’s Contemporary society.
Similarly, Gibney’s documentary, ‘We Steal Secrets’, positions Australian audiences to align with the documentary’s major reading: To see the secrecy of government, through their use of editing. Andy Grieve, the editor of the documentary, positions the viewer through his selection of sequenced clips. In the film,
Since Federation in 1901, Australia was largely monolingual, with a vast majority of the populace of British descent. Decades later, the ‘White Australia Policy’ was implemented, where ‘All newcomers will have to learn to speak Australian.’ (AA Caldwell) was largely due to arising xenophobic sentiment and further escalated the monolingual ideal in Australian culture. European migrants arriving before the reversal of the policy experienced significant social pressure to change, which resulted in significant phonological shifts to integrate with the mainstream society. In her 1985 study, Horvath described this phenomenon as ‘Ethnic Broad’. Similarly, second generation migrants had tried to avoid using ethnolects and instead opting for SAE to integrate into society. Although X did not arrive in Australia in the period of extreme monolinguist ideals, she has adopted a Broad Austrian accent; which is demonstrated by the accentuation of vowels. Even now, ‘monolingual community will generally view the multilingual individual in particular ways that are prejudicial to that
Now, an iconic, non-judgmental documentary Cronulla Riots voices the untold story. We are invited to believe their voices as they believe the riots as “un-Australian”, just like John Howard.
A key element of what is presented to be the Australian character is that of camaraderie, base friendliness towards everybody, and egalitarianism, the belief that everybody is equal and should have the same opportunities, treatment, etc. as everybody else. As such, Australians are very supportive of democracy, compulsory voting, and are generally, in most cases, unprejudiced towards each other based on such trivialities as, for example, social class everybody will kick back together at the pub for a coldie' in that typical Aussie scene', described so well in the quote by Australian legend Henry Lawson, one of the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial
Today as first speaker I will be talking to you about how Grenville’s characterisation of both Smasher and Saggity are both exemplary portrayals of the loss of culture for Indigenous Australians, as they both provide the narrative basis of the quintessential evil white coloniser. As the second speaker I will be talking about how the characterisation
One thing I want to do by the time I have finished 8th grade is learn how to code. Coding is and always has been very interesting to me. If i learn how to code before or after 8th grade I will be super happy since i will be able to figure out what problems a computer or electronic might have. If there is one thing i like the most it is helping other people. But coding is definitely something i want to do.
The origins of contemporary Australia is relevant to any consideration of Australian attitudes to power and conflict, to the ways through which the conflict is resolved, the rights and entitlements of others and the role played by the third parties.
The world abounds in the diversity of places, which attracts attention of millions of people. Some of them are fond of history and nature while the others are interested in social and political order. However, everyone attains the required piece of information via travelling, TV programs, periodical press, or books. Thus, Bill Bryson’s work In a Sunburned Country reveals the mystery of the faraway land, Australia. Although it can be associated with many things since it is a country, an island, and a continent at the same time, the writer focuses on the distinctive characteristics of Australia as a nation with its own government, the particular features that make it unique – different, and the political and social problems, which exist there.
“Those with access to private resources and information — students, librarians, scientists — you have been given a privilege. You get to feed at this banquet of knowledge while the rest of the world is locked out.”(Swartz). Two days after learning of the United States decision on Aaron Swartz’s “hacking” at MIT, he took his life, due to his potential sentence of 35+ years in prison and $1,000,000.00 dollar fine in his court case against the United States Government. Aaron was convicted and soon to be charged with 13 counts of computer fraud because he had downloaded too many documents from the giant online and digital publishing company JSTOR, while using Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Internet servers in
Australia is a very interesting, complex and understood country. This country is as diverse as its landscape and its people. Australia’s political evolution is a story of aborigines, criminals, aristocracy, sheep and gold. To understand Australia’s political socialization and culture and their impacts on current levels and types of political participation requires a discussion on Australia’s history. As with all colonized lands, there are many sides to the same story. This diversity resulted in a journey to independence that is very different than that of the United States. In this paper I will discuss key points in Australia’s history, what the current political structure looks like, and a general idea of the type and volume of citizen participation.
Marshall McLuhan says, “The medium is the message”. The way media represent the message can have huge impact on people’s everyday life. According to Korstanje Maximiliano (2012) “Movies, films and documental TV programs not only reflect the gaze of directors and players, but also the mind of whole society. Social anthropology discovered from many years ago that movies are associated to the construction of narratives and archetypes which exerts considerable influence in public opinion.” Movies and TV episodes could quietly and deeply influence people’s mind and people were hard to control it.
In this text, a distinct Australian voice showing perceptions towards a distinctly Australian issue is communicated to me, which enables a further understanding of the historical issue happened in the Australian history as well as the main stream voices of Australia about that
Many cultures have come to know and love Australia since the country’s liberty due to federation back in 1901. However this was not always the case, the Aboriginal people, the original inhabitants of the land and their ancestors had their land taken away from them by force due to the efforts to establish colonies by the British. The most immediate was consequence of the British invasion was a wave of diseases the Europeans brought with them, Through the power of speech and words as a whole, it allowed for the Aboriginal people to embrace their culture for who they are and leave their former selves in the dust of their forefathers who have come
Especially television and now the Internet have "[...] been described as a 'cultural forum ' reflecting various themes in society which are subjected to selective readings or interpretations by viewers" (Drummond and Paterson, 1986: 125) which is why studies not only often focus on its distribution of analytic power and potential but also target the questions about analysing media texts, and the critical response and participation of its audience.
More than seventy-five percent of the world’s population have had their lives shaped by colonisation. It is clear to distinguish how significant this influence has played within the political and economic spheres, though its general impact on the perceptual contexts of contemporary peoples is often less obvious (Ashcroft 2004, p. 1) . Through the perceptive acquisitions of literature, deeper insight toward past expression and thought can be attained. This offers incomparable understanding toward the conflicting ideologies and experiences held by those before, and furthermore describe the sociocultural influences that may have assisted with the establishment of British colonisation. Through the enquiry of colonisation and historic observation, this paper aims to explore issues relating to Australian-ness, authenticity, ethnicity and identity, to further reveal perceptual understanding through the literary confides of Kim Scott’s ‘That Deadman dance’ (2010), and ‘My life as a fake’ by Peter Carey (2004).
Rumsey, Alan. Language and Territoriality in Aboriginal Australia. (1993). Language and Culture in Aboriginal Australia. Canberra, A.C.T.: Aboriginal Studies Press,