Identities in the Colony and the Family
Tragedies of Ascription and Transgression in Two Australian Films
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2992126 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ian Duncanson (Schlumberger (Ireland), corresponding author) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 697-713 |
| Publication date | 2007-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Identities (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1350-4630 • E-ISSN: 1363-0296 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13504630701696286 |
| OpenAlex | W1990053578 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 9 |
In relations of domination and subordination there exist ambiguities that may be recognized only imperfectly and over time, and incipient instabilities which may never fully manifest themselves. The two Rolf de Heer films studied here, one concerned with the interaction of Europeans and Australian Aboriginals in the 1920s when Australia was, in effect, still a colony, the other about an unsatisfactory marriage in the late twentieth century, illustrate fundamental miscommunication in unequal relationships. The dominating subject cannot discern the identity already or coming to be demanded by the subordinated. When the apparently powerless transgress by ultimately refusing the place offered by the powerful, de Heer suggests, tragedy can be unavoidable. The apparent ‘resolution’ in Tracker must be balanced by the lyrics which remind the audience of the consequences of European rapacity for Aborigines—dispossession, brutality and attempted genocide—with disastrous echoes down to the present. The route to the achievement of full personhood for the wife in Alexandra's Project involves a necessary cruelty. Accomplishing equality of identity, de Heer seems to be telling us, is a costly and possibly long process
Aesthetics · Ascription · Criminology · Cruelty · Epistemology · Personhood · Political science · Sociology · Australian History and Society · Cinema and Media Studies · Gender Studies · Law · Philosophy · Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |