Youth and the City

1
Youth and the City

• Week 3

2
The Bush

• Preferred signifier for Australia
• Romanticised, classless, epic battles of man
  against nature
• Preferred way to think through issues of
  Australianness

3
The Australian City

• In the Australian spatial imagination, suburbia
  runs in bands around an urban core. Like the
  rings of Saturn, they are finely graded orbits of
  particles, surrounding an urban ball of hot air.
  Out beyond that lies empty space. The larger and
  richer and denser particles cluster close in the
  inner rings, and by finely graded degrees they
  become less rich and more spase on the way out to
  nothingness.
• McKenzie Wark, Celebrities, Culture and
  Cyberspace The Light on the Hill in a
  Postmodern World.

4
The Suburbs

• Often a gendered space with womens stories being
  told from the space of the home
• A site of conflict and corruption - Romper
  Stomper, The Boys

5
Suburbia

• In-between space geographically and in cultural
  psyche
• Parochialism, the move to the city is envisaged
  more often as a positive
• Location not strongly geographically located
• Generalised locations - explore perceptions of
  class and status, Australian Identity
• Backdrop for suburban angst and aspiration

6
The Castle 1997, 35mm, Rob Sitch
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Beyond location

• Metaphorically, suburbia comes to stand for
  narrowness of views, a place where residents
  attempt to make sense of city life
• Envisaged through vulgarity, class (see the
  living room), conformity

8
Manifestations

• Move on from period films of early
  renaissance Australian film
• Avoidance of costume dramas
• No shots of rural beauty, or the harshness of the
  Bush
• Dialogue less European arthouse, earthier, use of
  colloquialisms

9
Youth in the City

• Locations reflect environment most young people
  live in
• Newer films reflect the move away from earlier
  models of filmmaking to incorporate
  international music clip styles of
  representation (MTV Generation)

10
Garage Days 2002, 35mm, Alex Proyas
11
Death In Brunswick (1991), 35mm, John Ruane

• Funding Australian Film Finance Corp.
• Film Victoria, Meridian Films, Overseas FilmGroup
  (US)
• Awards APRA Music Award for Best Film Score
• AFI - nominated - Best achievement in
  cinematography, Best Actor in a lead role, Best
  director, Best Film, Best Screenplay

12
Death In Brunswick (1991), 35mm, John Ruane

• Location
• Brunswick, Melbourne,
• Victoria