Thepphires Themes

The Sapphires directed by Wayne Blair represents the theme of war throughout the film with the use of cinematic techniques and setting. The Sapphires follows four aboriginal girls; Julie, Cynthia, Gail and Kay on their adventure to Vietnam in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War. The film follows the four girls on their journey around Vietnam performing for American troops while fulfilling their dreams of becoming a famous singing group. Throughout the film, Blair explores the theme of war through a variety of scenes and techniques. War ruins the lives of many people and this is demonstrated through the film with the use of cinematic techniques, setting and with the support of other themes. By exploring the theme of war, Blair is able to help the audience make connections to the film through the events and setting the character’s experience.

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.

The film “The Sapphires” directed by Wayne Blair, is based around and set in the era of the Vietnam war. Belonging whether it’s race or love is a big part of this film and constantly appears in different ways. One of the main characters, Dave Lovelace throughout the film is constantly rejected as he tries to belong and be a part of the group.

In the novel Out of My Mind there are major themes that are portrayed one is acceptance. From the beginning of the novel Melody’s family has to learn to accept Melody for the way she is despite her disease ,cerebral palsy, that is holding her back from doing normal things, like talk and walk. Melody herself also has to come to the realization that she is different from her friends and classmates and throughout the novel even if it's hard at times she has to accept that she's different and continue to live her life. Another message that is portrayed in this novel is that friends and family are important. In the novel Melodies family is very supportive the take care of her by feeding her, dressing her and making sure she's happy all the time

The 1960's was a decade of great change all around the globe. With social, political and economic changes, the decade bought forward numerous difficulties. From the assassination of Martin Luther King Junior, to the 1967 referendum, Australia, America and the rest of the world were consumed by both arduous and beneficial events. In the 2012 film 'The Sapphires' (Appendix A), the experiences of Indigenous Australians in the 1960's is outlined and discussed about. Set in 1968, and broadly based on a true story, it focuses on the lives of four Aboriginal women; Gail, Julie, Kay and Cynthia.

The Sapphires by Wayne Blair is an award-winning film, which explore the lives of four aboriginal women Gail (Deborah Mailman, Julie (Jessica Mauboy), Cynthia (Miranda Tapsell) and their cousin Kay (Shari Sebbens) throughout their journey and role in the Vietnam War. A range of film techniques such as settings, characters, conflicts and symbols are used to explore prejudice towards their indigenous heritage, with a variety of film techniques as well.

Wayne Blair, director of The Sapphires used a combination of cinematography, dialogue, flashbacks and voiceover throughout the film. These film techniques developed my understanding of the extent of prejudice and the consequence prejudice can have. The director used these techniques to show the prejudice by White Australians, Aborigines faced in Australia.

The film frequently demonstrates racism and prejudice within the small-town as gossip and rumours are spread based upon race or appearance. Jasper Jones is a young aboriginal boy who is accused of

I saw racism in the movie for example when the cops target a Suv because they saw a colored couple, but when a white coupled pass by they don’t stop them or anything. The cop takes advantage of the colored girl because the cops are white and know they

“The Sapphires” is a film that highlights and portrays a celebration of the Aboriginal culture in Australia. The film is set in Cummeragunja Australia in 1968, when racism was paramount. However, Wayne Blair the director of the film entertains the audience by the amusement in the film, whilst also connecting with the audience through emotion. “The Sapphires” positions the viewer to see Aboriginals point of view, of how they are perceived by others whilst celebrating the Aboriginal culture.

The film The Sapphires is set in the 1960’s and is based on a true story, portrays four young Aboriginal women singers who fight against egalitarianism and white society judgement in order to be

The drama-comedy film Mississippi Masala (1991) directed by Mira Nair explores an interracial love story between Meena, an Indian woman, and Demetrius, an African-American, portrayed by Sarita Choudhury and Denzel Washington, respectively. This is one of those movies that I had high hopes for and anticipated that by the end I would feel so empowered and moved that it would be impossible to not constantly hype up the motion picture to friends and strangers. To my relief, those expectations were met. I truly and deeply was so encapsulated and emotionally committed to this feature because it was massively progressive and transcended the norm of the time by depicting with such grace and tact, the power dynamics, racial hierarchy, colorism, and social contexts between the two racial groups in Uganda and the American south.

A mirror effect of racial discrimination is presented through a courthouse scene involving majority of Pleasantville as ‘colours’ that are fighting for rights, equality, acceptance.

There are age related conflicts, cultural conflicts, religious conflicts and value based conflicts.  This movie is a film highlighting many cultural conflicts.  These conflicts continuously erupt in a working class Michigan neighborhood.  We will first examine a scene with religious cultural conflict. In the same scene we will see age based cultural conflict as well.  Next, we will examine a racial cultural conflict between the Hmong people and an American. After examining cultural conflicts, we will show two examples of popular culture in the film.  Then, we will provide the conflict management styles we would have employed to bring the same result as the current ending without the bloodshed and a general opinion of the film.

Throughout time racist depictions in movies has been prominent in Hollywood, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries towards Indigenous peoples. With settlers beginning to realize the racist past of their ancestors, one would think that racism in film would come to a stop. Unfortunately this is false. Hollywood continues to produce racist films and profit off of their discriminatory pieces. This is particularly true about Adam Sandler’s newest movie “The Ridiculous 6” which premiered on Netflix in 2015. The film is made to be a depiction of “The Magnificent Seven” made in 1960. Although Sandler’s work is made to be a satire and not offend anyone, it does the complete opposite in regards in particular to Indigenous women. Sandler’s movie is a disgusting stereotypical representation that should never have been produced or released. It is clear more work needs to be done in recognizing our First People instead of mocking the way they lived.