\Aim:
By using both primary and secondary resources we are to show how Australian television programs incorporate different cultures.
Procedure:
As this assignment will need to include a vast amount of information, both primary and secondary. Information has been gathered from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and government owned sites as well as a variety of articles. A survey of 20 people aged 15-50 was conducted and 4 hours of Australian television were viewed to gain further knowledge and understanding of cultural diversity on Australian free-to-air television.
Analysis of Data:
Typecasting and Stereotyping
Though Australia is seen by many as a relatively culturally diverse country, it has been heavily critisised for its primarily
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Neighbours, located in a suburb in Melbourne, is abundant with a thriving Asian community – yet the most recent Asian to join the main cast was back in 2008. The exclusion is largely unintentional, however it seems that racial minorities are still so marginalised that including them doesn't even occur to the relevant people. These shows are biggest in Europe, quite possibly due to their representation of typical 'Australian culture'. The need to portray a desirable and Caucasian based Australia can explain the typecasting associated with the lack of cultural diversity on Australian dramas. It can be argued that viewers in Europe and the United Kingdom are so used to everyone having different backgrounds, that it tends to lack interesting subject matter for them to watch a show of mixed race people. They often do not get the novelty of watching blonde haired, blue eyed Aussies surfing the waves, exclaiming "crikey!" and be stereotypically Australian. Nevertheless, not every Australian speaks with the Australian accent. The 2011 Census shows 26 per cent of Australians are born overseas ; which …show more content…
Statistics show that a whopping __ percent of people on Australia television are Caucasian FOOTNOTE. This is a major concern to up-and-coming journalists or actors who are struggling to get seen on free-to-air TV in Australia. According to survey results, Masterchef is one of the few television shows screened on TV that incorporate an extensive variety of cultures and backgrounds. Season one’s runner up, Poh Ling Yeow has become a culinary celebrity to Australians everywhere with her fresh look on cuisine and her humanitarian work; but this did not happen without a few bumps along the way. After her initial second place status on the show, Poh suffered from rejection from many TV networks and broadcasters that harkened her path to culinary recognition. Nonetheless, not only is commercial Australian television beginning to include non-white people, both in reality and drama, but Poh also defied the subservient Asian woman stereotype through her cooking and interaction with the judges, giving us a televisual hint of Australia’s multicultural nuances and complexities. The final five of Masterchef (2013) included a country boy from the Northern Territory, an Indian-Australian, a Muslim, and a Lesbian. This is a true reflection of
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
Through this hypothetical scenario the actor highlights, that as Australians we have never seen an aboriginal family on television. Thus through, integrating and placing an aboriginal family into the show scenario, it enables the communication of dramatic meaning as it demonstrates that it is possible of both indigenous and non-indigenous people accept to one
As a person, myself who’s from a Chinese background, I have struggled to define myself as an Australian. Traditional literatures placed those with different heritage, and those who don’t fit the guideline, to feel unaccepted and un-welcomed. However, nowadays contemporary literatures have opened up a new world and changed the ideology. This showed young Australians to see beyond the traditional Australian stereotype and feel part of the Aussie community. ‘Nobody calls me a wog, anymore’, is an example of many contemporary
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.
Australian commercial television has imported American formats (Bell Phillip, ‘Television’). Even the Australian Logies are becoming Americanised. At the 2005 Logie awards, there were at least two American celebrity guests, CSI Miami actress …… was given a lot of attention at the Logies, because of her famous American celebrity status. The Logie awards which were supposed to be awarded to shows that are produced in Australia, this year awarded a Logie to the OC for the best overseas program. The influence of the American culture on Australian television was clearly evident at the Logies.
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But one element that is common to all interpretations of identity is landscape that includes everything from Flora to Fauna. With 90% of Australians living in cities by the coast, foreigners to this day still consider Australia and its inhabitants to live in a vast and desolate landscape. “As we globalise, this will become our great national advantage, the one thing that defines us” (Watson, 2003) – which it
As technology and the media hurtle society into a global village, making interaction and socialization not only more attainable but more commonplace, the lines between groups of people become blurred. This lends itself to expanding our experience and aids in not overlooking multiple stories of other cultures. As an illustration, Fox Entertainment created the reality television show 30 Days, hosted by Morgan Spurlock, which delves into understanding cultural issues by placing an individual into unfamiliar environments that challenged their own firmly held beliefs about a culture or group of people. The characters, largely, have judgements and world-views that emanate from a one-dimensional story or understanding of a culture of belief that contrasts their own beliefs and often undermines the truth. The episodes are a prelude to inviting a healthy examination of different cultures and beliefs as well as an examina...
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