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In the film Rabbit Proof Fence by Phillip Noyce there is a relevance to the present and past days of society. The relevance is shown through the strong judgment of racism between the white Australians and the Aboriginal people, and the actions that had been taken and only in the past 40 years changed. The race of people is still judged today in current society, Rabbit Proof Fence makes the viewer aware of the racial discrimination then and now. The fact that this film is based on a true story makes it more powerful and real. The film puts a human face to the stolen generation, and the young actress who plays the main character Molly does not disillusion the viewer of the real emotions and disgusting actions taken upon the young half caste children taken from their families. She makes the journey real and her cleverness is created by the need to survive, not as an entertainment construction to make the film more exciting, but to give the viewer an emotional impact. The racial activist, A.O. Neville constantly shows strong discrimination against both Aboriginal culture and half-caste children. He is determined to `breed the black out of them'. "Are we to allow the creation of a third unwanted race?" resembling the cause of World War Two where Adoff Hitler proposed the creation of the `perfect race' therefore killing off over half the Jewish people. After the release of Rabbit Proof Fence, many `politically right' white Australians tried to promote that the film was based on myth and misunderstanding but in facet is not as the film itself promotes the openness of racism. Racism was not only a problem is Australia but throughout the world and is continuing to stay a problem, even in our own backyard. The racism between the white Australians and the Aborigines is quite similar to the racism shown in schools and even in parliament here in New Zealand between the Maori and Europeans, or once again between the `white' and the `black'. An Australian council speaker tells us " it was standard practice ... children were taken from their homes ... Whole communities were shifted form their home to another part of the country. Aboriginal life has been regulated and supervised at almost every turn. There was no choice." But did the Aboriginal people pose any threat? In almost all cases of racism the people being treated unfairly are the people under threat.
The movie depicts what it was like to be Australian in the decades of the 50’s and 60’s and the decisions of the Australian government over this period, through the journey of four Aboriginal women and one Irish man. The movie explores the treatment of indigenous people living in this era in comparison to white Australians. The unique ways in which the characters made their living provided for scrutiny, judgement and vulnerability. In the movie you see just how differently the Aboriginal community was treated compared to the white Australians during these era’s.
The 2014 Walkley Award winning documentary, "Cronulla Riots: the day that shocked the nation" reveals to us a whole new side of Aussie culture. No more she’ll be right, no more fair go and sadly no more fair dinkum. The doco proved to all of us (or is it just me?) that the Australian identity isn’t really what we believe it to be. After viewing this documentary
The plot of the iconic Australian film, Rabbit Proof Fence shows how dark Australia’s culture was in the past. The film is based on a true story following three aboriginal girls Molly, Daisy and Gracie who were taken away from their families and sent to an orphanage called, Moore River Native Settlement. The girls make an escape from Moore River and make a long, stretching over 9 weeks journey their home in Jigalong to reunite with their families, all along following the rabbit-proof fence. As constable Riggs arrives, Maude, Molly’s mother realises that the constable has come to take the children away from them. They run, but
Rabbit Proof Fence is a great film based on the real tale and experiences of three young Aboriginal girls, Molly, Gracie and Daisy, who were taken against their will from their families in Jigalong, Western Australia in 1931. The film puts a human face on the "Stolen Generation", an event which categorized links between the government and Aborigines in Australia for a lot of the 20th century.
Over the years Australia has had many different problems with racism and racism affecting peoples’ lives. Many racial groups have been affected, most significantly the Aboriginals. The end of world war two in 1945 marked a huge change in types of racism. Australia went from the ‘superior’ white Australians dominating over immigrants and aboriginals. To a relatively multicultural and accepting society that is present today.
Specific elements of the storyline that display the theme racism include: the display of animalistic treatment, enforced religious practices, and historical comparisons. The film reveals the overarching government belief that the white race is smarter and purer, to the inferior, uncivilized and misguided, darker-skinned, Aboriginals. This belief is demonstrated throughout the film and signifies the government’s attitudes toward the half-caste race as: uncivilized animals that need a trainer to discipline them. For example, the film shows the girls being transported like livestock to th...
As a fan of cinema, I was excited to do this project on what I had remembered as a touching portrait on racism in our modern society. Writer/Director Paul Haggis deliberately depicts his characters in Crash within the context of many typical ethnic stereotypes that exist in our world today -- a "gangbanger" Latino with a shaved head and tattoos, an upper-class white woman who is discomforted by the sight of two young Black kids, and so on -- and causes them to rethink their own prejudices during their "crash moment" when they realize the racism that exists within themselves.
Racism is everywhere; it is all around us and at most times it resides within us. Racism basically refers to the characterization of people (ethnicity based) with certain distinct traits. It is a tool with which people use to distinguish themselves between each other, where some use it to purposely inflict verbal, physical or mental attacks on others while some use it to simply distinguish or differentiate from one another. It all depends on the context in which it is used. The play Fences by August Wilson, takes place during the late 1950’s through to 1965, a period of time when the fights against segregation are barely blossoming results. The main protagonist, Troy Maxson is an African American who works in the sanitation department; he is also a responsible man whose thwarted dreams make him prone to believing in self-created illusions. Wilson's most apparent intention in the play ‘Fences’, is to show how racial segregation creates social and economic gaps between African Americans and whites. Racism play a very influential role in Troy’s but more importantly it has been the force behind his actions that has seen him make biased and judgmental decisions for himself and his family. Lessons from the play intend to shed light on how racism can affect the mental and physical lives of Troy Maxson and his family.
Within Australia, beginning from approximately the time of European settlement to late 1969, the Aboriginal population of Australia experienced the detrimental effects of the stolen generation. A majority of the abducted children were ’half-castes’, in which they had one white parent and the other of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. Following the government policies, the European police and government continued the assimilation of Aboriginal children into ‘white’ society. Oblivious to the destruction and devastation they were causing, the British had believed that they were doing this for “their [Aborigines] own good”, that they were “protecting” them as their families and culture were deemed unfit to raise them. These beliefs caused ...
presents itself in a more discrete way than racism in other countries. Racism in other countries goes further than just having a bias towards races. In other countries racism denies the people of certain races privileges that everyone should have access to, as well as creates a prejudice that leads to minority groups to be treated badly. An example of this can be found in the video “Understanding Systematic Oppression and Institutionalized Racism” by Kyol Blakeney from TedxYouth in Sydney. In his Ted talk Kyol Blakeney compares the chance of an African American in the U.S to end up in jail to an Aboriginal Australian to end up in jail and found that an Aboriginal Australian is 14 times more likely to end up in jail. This example shows that the institutionalized racism in Australia is so present that it affects minority groups like that aboriginal Australian which make up 2.7 % of the population on a huge scale. The fact that racism in the form of an institution which stems from racial bias affects minority groups not just in the U.S. but also cross-culturally in other
Throughout both ‘Rainbow’s End’ and ‘The Rabbits’, the audience discovers the plights that the Aboriginal Australians faced, due to discrimination and assimilation, in intensely confronting, yet intensely meaningful ways. We see how the discrimination and forced assimilation of cultures was common in the lead up to modern times because of composers like Harrison, Marsden and Tan reminding us of these events, allowing us to discover and rediscover our past wrongs through their works, in order to pave the way for a brighter, harmonious future. Without these documentations and retellings of events such as these, history would repeat itself, conflicts would be more apparent and we as a species would not be able to thrive and prosper due to our prejudices and superiority complexes.
In 1911, The Chief Protector, Neville, introduced a policy to remove all children who were partially Aboriginal (those who were assumed to have a European parent or grandparent) from their families. The reason for this policy was that he was worried about the creation of a so-called "third race" - people with mixed Aboriginal and European descent. Neville thought that his plan would make the half-caste children become white and he pointed out the following that through three generations, traces of native origin would not be apparent. Under his policies, mixed descended Aboriginal children were forcibly separated from their homes and sent to government or church organized institutions such as missions, orphanages and reserves. Neville wanted to give half-caste children the “benefits” of white community because he felt responsible to save them. Some of the children were adopted or placed temporarily with foster families, while other children were trained to work as house servants and farm workers. They were forcibly taught to forget their culture and their ethnic background in order to be assimilated into the white population. Nevertheless, there were also many children who were subjected to sexual abuse and violence. Many of the children never saw their biological parents again.
Mellor, David. Contemporary Racism in Australia: The Experiences of Aborigines, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, SAGE, 2010, p.474-486
Thesis statement: The refugee influx has been a major concern in Australia and the immigration policies have caused a number of debates and controversy since World War II. The change of these policies revealed society 's attitudes toward race, cultural factors, labor needs. During the post World War 2, the White Australia Policy was a significant factor influenced the immigration policies ; the Act prevented the non-Europe and non-White immigrating to Australia. In the 1970s, the Whitlam government abolished the "White Australia Policy and launched the Racial Discrimination Act, which made racial discrimination illegal
...society, we as a country have allowed racism, determinism and racialisation to be where it is in today’s culture. There are however a few campaigns that are trying to reduce the actions of racism such as ‘’all together now’’ and ‘’it all stops with me’’. Campaigns such as these will allow individuals from different backgrounds to express their ideas about racism and provide suggestions on how to stop racism. Even though there are campaigns to prevent racism, it still occurs in our everyday lives, this is because Australia is known for its multiculturalism. Racialisation, just like determinism and racism is a vast crisis in today’s society because it significantly affects the way an individual’s lifestyle is. Overall, it is important to study the concept of race because Racism, Determinism and Racialisation occurs everywhere and every day in our contemporary society.