David Williamson

1
Intertextuality
Relating to or deriving meaning from the
interdependent ways in which texts stand in
relation to each other. 1
David Williamsons Dead White Males and Helen
Garners The First Stone
Click To Begin
2
Introduction

• David Williamson sardonically titled his play
  Dead White Males, referring to the patriarchal
  giants of literature which were often
  misrepresented as the cause of all gender
  inequality within society. In his play, he
  enslaves sarcasm and ire to privilege his view
  that this school of thinking, or philosophy, is
  ill conceived.
• Similarly, Helen Garner, in The First Stone,
  writes scornfully of a Melbourne Court Case
  concerning sexual harassment which split the
  feminist groups of Australia down a fault line,
  between those representing the modern evolutions
  of the movement, and her own compatriots, the
  first wave feminists.
• Pictured below is Sir William aBeckett a man
  who could be said to be one of Melbournes dead
  white males. He was an integral force in
  establishing the Victorian Court System 2. It
  could easily be said that Sir William is a
  meeting point of Williamsons and Garners work.
  He is not responsible for todays inequalities
  anymore than the Dead White Males of Elizabethan
  times, and there is little doubt that he would
  have supported Garners view that the sexual
  harassment court case was undeserving of court
  hours.

Click To Continue
3
Table of Contents
Return to Entrance
Synopsis Dead White Males
Synopsis The First Stone
Representations of Academia
Victim Feminism
Biography Helen Garner
Biography David Williamson
The Feminist Movement
Glossary
References
End Slide Show
4
Synopsis Dead White Males
Anyone with the slightest interest in the
theoretical issues dominating the faculties of
arts and humanities today will find Dead White
Males compelling. Williamson has drawn on the
academic scene for a number of his dramas, and he
set The Department (1974) and the film Petersen
on the campus itself. Dead White Males goes far
beyond departmental politics, however. It is a
play about the value of literature itself and is
also a direct intervention in an intellectual
debate. The three central characters are Angela
Judd, a student of literature, Dr Grant Swain,
her lecturer in literary theory, and William
Shakespeare, who comes to life via Angelas
imagination. Williamsons central theme is the
shift that has taken place in the past
twenty-five years in the humanities. The play is
concerned with the notion that French
post-structuralist philosophy and literary theory
have toppled the old certainties of Western
culture. Moreover, the canon of great works of
the Western intellectual and literary tradition
is no longer regarded as the expression of
universal values but is simply the out-of-date
ideology of the dead white males of the
Eurocentric capitalist patriarchy. Using Swain as
a mouthpiece, Williamson portrays late
twentieth-century academic fashions with deadly
accuracy. One of the funniest scenes sees a
student, Melissa, attempting to pass her literary
theory course through a hilarious take-off of
Helene Cixous, one that lays bare the pretensions
of academic feminism. As well as a contest
between Shakespeare and French theory, Dead White
Males also deals with the impact of feminism on a
typical suburban middle class family. Angelas
father is one of the thousands of middle-aged
males who have been made redundant in an era of
recession while her mother is a successful
corporate executive. Williamsons most moving
treatment is given to Col Judd, the grandfather,
whose authoritarian male chauvinist behaviour is
attacked by members of his family. Later, in a
speech of great power and eloquence, Col tells
the story of his life and defends himself from
the charges levelled at him. Most memorable of
all is how Williamson weaves some of the great
scenes from Shakespeares work into Dead White
Males, with the Bards characters coming on stage
to combat the literary theorists.
3
Table of Contents
5
Synopsis The First Stone
The subject of Helen Garner's new book, The First
Stone, is ostensibly a sexual harassment case at
Melbourne University's Ormond College in 1992.
Two young women who alleged sexual harassment by
a college master sought redress, initially within
the university's own grievance and counselling
procedures. Unsatisfied with the result, they
eventually went to the police. A much publicised
court case resulted, and the accused lost his
job. Garner has manipulated some bare -- in
fact minimal -- facts of the case into a cause
conflict. Although admitting that very few of the
people involved in the case would actually talk
to her -- a major exception being the accused
college master -- she took it upon herself to set
the record straight in 222 pages of vitriol
against young women and young feminists. Her
accusations have drawn much acclaim. Four Corners
devoted a program to her views. The establishment
press has hardly been able to contain its joy. A
feminist, a champion of the second wave, is
castigating young women and feminism in phrases
such as, Has feminism come to this?. What is
the book about? Is it really a lone call for
sanity from an older, wiser feminist feeling
disturbed by the confused and confusing reality
of gone-astray feminism today? This is what it
claims to be. Garner says she was appalled by
the idea that these women had taken their case to
court. In the process they ruined the reputation
and career of an agreeable-looking middle-aged
man with a soft face. She deplores the fact
that they did not just sort him out later, and
asks, What sort of people could these be?. The
day she first read of the case in the Age, she
wrote immediately to the man accused, saying how
upset she was and that it's heartbreaking for a
feminist of nearly fifty like me, to see our
ideals of so many years distorted into this
ghastly punitive ness.
4
Table of Contents
6
Representations of Academia
The representations of academia in Dead White
Males and The First Stone contrast strongly.
Williamson portrays tertiary education as
occupied by facetious lecturers not only
promoting dogmatic adulation by their students in
their theories, but also promoting theories which
are extensibly ridiculous and clearly not
enlightening at all. In contrast Helen Garner
chooses to favourably represent academia such as
Colin Shepherd (Master of Ormond College).
However she does not favourably represent the
institution of Ormond College, revealing its
halls as a warren of committees led by
overzealous feminists attempting to seize control
using sex as a tool. Firstly, Williamson
portrays the matter taught in tertiary education
as ridiculous. He does this through short
tutorials in which both students and lecturer, Dr
Swain, converse. In one such scene, Melissa
regurgitates a theory supported by Dr Swain
concerning the benefits of the creation of a
solely female language Melissa You big. You
ugly. You poor dick. You stupid dick. Why? Why?
Why? Why you shout? Zweee. Zweeebub. You think
you smart but you dumb. I smarter. Someday.
Someday soon. Just wait. Zweee. Zweesome.
Zweesee. Zweebub. Zweebub Vorgone. I Smart. Just
Wait. Ziggly Zweebub. Ziggly Zukoff. No more
Zukoff for you Zweebub. Sickly ickly dickly
Zukoff yourself. And swallow. No more swallow
from Ziggly. No more nothing. Never.
5 Obviously such discourse as encouraged by
the lecturer is only included by Williamson to
ridicule academia as represented within the play.
To reinforce this, Steve, the strong male
position in the play replies to this spiel with
the statement Melissa, thats crap!. This
representation of critical literacy, and its
study of discourse as well as its pursuit of
intellectual theories as opposed to knowledge
applicable in a realistic context is an issue
currently reflected in society. The current
senior English syllabus has a heavy emphasis on
critical literacy which has led to criticism
Past models of literary theory allowed students
to identify with the text and live in the text,
to see the text as alive rather than as a process
of normalising or conflicting with a dominant
ideology or discourse. 6.
Continue
Table of Contents
7
Representations of Academia (Continued)
Secondly, Williamson portrays Dr Swain as a
hypocrite, and therefore academia in a poor
light. This is most evident in Dr Swains
relationships with both Melissa and Angela. He is
portrayed as weak as he uses his position to
convince his students to dine with him. He
himself betrays his own flaws after Melissa
reveals that she has used her sex appeal as a
tool to attain her grades. In his anger he
reveals his attitude towards males which
immutably contradicts the theories he earlier
preached. In contrast Helen Garner promotes a
different view of academia in Australia. Colin
Shepherd, Master of Ormond College, she promotes
as totally innocent for she failed to see in him
the marauding beast described by the press 7.
Though Garner does not deal with the subject
matter of the school or of Shepherds classes, by
foregrounding testimonials which depict him
favourably (such as when he is described as
someone who looks after the lesser loved
students) Helen Garner effectively promotes
Tertiary education where Williamson has been
directly critical. Thus two messages are given
by these texts. One is that the current state of
education is at dire risk of becoming
inaccessible due to its over intellectualization
and because of its unreliable alumni. The other,
promotes Colin Shepherd so single-mindedly that
it has often come under criticism on the grounds
of bias. Regardless of whether this bias is real
or imagined it can be concluded that tertiary,
and even secondary education is under risk from
the blind pursuit of single ideologies as opposed
to a broad education.
Previous
Table of Contents
8
Victim Feminism
In both texts, Victim Feminism is consistently
prevalent and its flaws are continuously
foregrounded. Victim Feminism itself is a form of
feminism stemming from early waves of feminism.
Naomi Wolf, a prominent feminist describes victim
feminism as what all of us do whenever we
retreat into appealing for status on the basis of
feminine specialness instead of human worth, and
fight underhandedly rather than honourably" 8.
Indeed both texts are written in such a way as to
result in the shaming of victim feminists. Dead
White Males does this through the revealing of
truths which the victim feminists had no way of
knowing whereas The First Stone achieves this by
highlighting the victims unwillingness to engage
in an interview on the topic. David Williamson
first Victim feminist is Grace. She bemoans the
fact that Col always refused to spare her the
money to go into business by herself. Little does
she know that Col cannot afford to spare the
money for he is busy supporting two families, one
of which is the family of his previous partner
who became disabled in a work related incident.
Though Grace is unaware of this truth it still
results in her portrayal as a petty woman rather
than a genuine victim. Similarly Sarah, Martins
wife, is also a victim of Williamson. As she is
from a younger generation she is liberated enough
to compete in the workforce, however it is
revealed that she actually has no real desire to
work and thus she is seen a false feminist,
complying out of need rather than desire to be
liberated. Thus it can be seen that victim
feminists are represented in a negative slant
within Williamsons work. Similarly, in The
First Stone victim feminists are incredibly
poorly illustrated. Helen Garner prefaces in her
opening chapter that her belief that the incident
even occurred may falter when she says It never
occurred to us that a man accused of such an act
might be innocent. Nevertheless she consistently
privileges Colin Shepherd and humiliates the
appellants until the point where there is serious
doubt as to the integrity of the victim
feminists. This is achieved by Helen Garner
repeatedly, in almost every chapter, returning
and bemoaning the victim feminists refusal to
participate in an interview.
Continue
Table of Contents
9
Victim Feminism (Continued)
Thus it is clear that Williamson and Garner agree
that Victim Feminism is a petty devolution of the
feminist movement. However, this does not
necessarily construe that this is true. Helen
Garner drew the ire of many for her publishing of
The First Stone, and this opposition represents a
rift within the separate waves of the feminist
movement. Interesting to note, are the
statistics on successful sexual harrassment
claims. The data available from the United States
Equal Opportunity Commission shows a peak of
claims only 5 years ago, however alarmingly only
2 on average in the past year ended with
successful conciliation. That is to say that
approximately 96 of all sexual harassment claims
are never given true closure.9 Thus it can be
said that Victim Feminism is highly prominent in
our society (assuming that America provides an
accurate reflection to Australia) and is an issue
correctly identified by both Garner and
Williamson.
FY 2000 FY 2001 FY 2002 FY 2003 FY 2004 FY 2005
Receipts 15,222 15,836 15,475 14,396 13,566 13,136
Succesful Conciliations 2.30 3.10 3.40 2.90 2.40 2.30
Previous
Table of Contents
10
Biography Helen Garner
Helen Garner was born in 1942 in Geelong and
educated at the University of Melbourne,
graduating in 1965. She work as a high school
teacher until her first novel Monkey Grip was
published in 1977. It was an instant success,
winning a National Book Council award in 1978 and
being filmed in 1982. Since that time she has
written full-time on novels, screenplays,
freelance reviewer, feature writer and
translator. Her collection of short stories,
Postcards from Surfers won a 1986 NSW Premier's
Literary award, and her short novel The
Children's Bach (considered one of the greatest
short novels ever written in Australia) won a SA
Premier's Literary Award in 1986. Her novel Cosmo
Cosmolino was nominated for a Miles Franklin
Award in 1993. In 1993 she won a Walkley Award
for feature journalism for her story in Time
magazine about the Daniel Valerio case. Her
non-fiction book, The First Stone caused a huge
uproar when it was published in 1995. An uproar
that was astounding in its vitriolic abuse and
probably only equalled in this country in recent
times by the Demidenko Affair in 1996.
10
Table of Contents
11
Biography David Williamson
David Williamson BE 1965, HonDLitt 1990
Playwright David Williamson gained
a Bachelor of Engineering at Monash University in
1965 before briefly working as a design engineer
at General Motors Holden and in 1966 he began
lecturing in thermodynamics and social psychology
at Swinburne Technical College. David began
writing and performing plays in 1968 with La Mama
Theatre Company. The Removalists and Don's
Party established him as Australia's best-known
playwright and established his reputation
overseas on the stages of Europe and America.
His success in films is notable, having written
the screenplays to Don's Party (1976), The Club
(1980) and Phar Lap (1982), as well as
collaborating with Peter Weir to make Gallipoli
(1980) and The Year of Living Dangerously (1982).
David has won four AFI awards and the Australian
Writers' Guild AWGIE award 11 times. Over 30
years, his work has encompassed almost 30 plays
and numerous films and television productions. He
has received honorary doctorates of Literature
from the University of Sydney (1988), Monash
University, and Swinburne University of
Technology (1996).  
11
Table of Contents
12
The Feminist Movement
It was recently asked if the common wisdom that
there were two waves of feminism has ever been
challenged. If it hasn't been, it should be.
Those of us who started the women's liberation
movement in the 1960s thought we were the second
wave of female political activism because we knew
very little about our own history. We were
vaguely aware of the Suffrage Movement and
mistakenly thought that was all our foremothers
had done. One of our magazines was even named The
Second Wave. Now that we know more, it is time to
drop it. If anything, what began in the 1960s was
the third wave of women's activism in the US, and
maybe even the fourth. The three main waves of
conscious female activity have all had their
roots in periods of organized agitation for
social change --Abolitionism, Progressivism, "the
Sixties" -- and each has been shaped by the
movements which gave them birth. Even when
women's movements grow vastly beyond their
origins, forming their own communities with their
own values, they are always embedded in and
shaped by the larger social movement community
from which they sprang. Throughout the
Nineteenth Century women whose roots were in
abolition and temperance worked to increase the
rights of women, particularly the rights of
married women to gain some independence from
their husbands and the right of all women to gain
an education. According to O'Neill (1969, p. x)
the term "woman movement appears in the late
nineteenth century to describe all the public
activities of women, whether directly related to
feminist goals or not." The real second wave was
the Suffrage Movement, which was stimulated by
the good government branch of the Progressive
Movement. Although there was a flurry of suffrage
activity during the Populist movement of the
1890s, the most active years for the Suffrage
Movement were in the second decade of the
Twentieth Century. Women such as Susan B. Anthony
and Elizabeth Cady Stanton had been agitating for
woman suffrage for many decades but it didn't
strike a popular cord until it was picked up by
those who wanted to reform the means of electing
public officials and curtail the power of the
party machines. Woman suffrage became a
possibility when men, whose support was necessary
because they could vote, saw it as valuable to
attaining their goals of a better, purer,
government. The contemporary movement which
began in the mid-sixties is better seen as the
Third Wave of conscious female activism. This
third wave is the only one which can properly be
called feminist, because the term wasn't in use
until after 1910 (Cott, 1987). Even then, it was
the younger generation of suffragists, rather
than the older one which actually organized the
Suffrage Movement, which found the term
attractive. This younger generation included
Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, and others who formed the
National Woman's Party. They provided the bridge
between the Second and Third Waves (Rupp and
Taylor, 1987).
12
Table of Contents
13
Glossary
Table of Contents
14
References
1 Answers.com http//www.answers.com/topic/inte
rtextuality 2 A Brief Historical Account of
the Supreme Court of Victoria http//www.supremec
ourt.vic.gov.au 3 Dead White Males Programme
Notes http//www.sbg.ac.at/ang/dramagroup/2004.htm
4 Helen Garners Book An Attack on
Feminism http//www.greenleft.org.au/1995/184/1218
8 5 D Williamson, Dead White Males First
Published 1995 by Currency Press Pty Ltd, New
South Wales Page 78 6 Brisbane Grammar School,
Annual Report 2005 English Report, I Howlett,
Page 21 7 H Garner, The First Stone First
Published 1995 by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty
Ltd, New South Wales Page 50 8 Wolf I Power
Feminist or Victim Feminist http//hnn.us/blogs/en
tries/4232.html
Table of Contents
Continue
15
References
9 Sexual Harassment Claims http//www.eeoc.gov/
stats/harass.html 10 Biography Helen
Garner http//www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/garne
rh/garnerh.html 11 David Williamson,
Playwright http//www.monash.edu.au/alumni/promine
nt-alumni/david-williamson.html 12 Waves of
Feminism http//www.jofreeman.com/feminism/waves.h
tm
Table of Contents
Previous