Stereotypes In Yolngu Boy And Young Indigenous People

The Indigenous youth of Australia still face many challenges growing up in a world dominated by white Europeans. This essay will discuss the stereotypes and marginalisation that young Indigenous teenagers must face. After viewing Yolngu Boy and Black Chicks Talking, there will be examples from the two movies on the stereotypes, marginalisation, interdependent and the connection the characters of the movies have with the Aboriginal culture and the dominant white culture.

Indigenous youth continue to be marginalised and oppressed. The marginalisation of the Aboriginal community is a result of colonisation. The Indigenous community lost their land and culture. This is reflected on today’s Indigenous youth as they are still feeling the effects.

These stereotypes include; drunk, violent, lazy, petrol sniffer, live in the outback, un-educated, criminals and have to fit the image of dark skin with wide noses (Korff, 2014). Indigenous youth are confronted with these during their school life. They will be called names and bullied because people believe these stereotypes, assuming they apply to all Indigenous people. Tammy Williams, from Black Chicks Talking is an example of the bulling Indigenous teenagers face during school. At school one year, a group of teenagers from the school wrote nigger above her school photo in the year book. This was just part of the bullying she received during her school life for being Aboriginal. Tammy is not a stereotypical Aboriginal. She has travelled to America, has won multiple awards and is now a lawyer. Botj, from Yolngu Boy, is a stereotypical Aboriginal. He is a petrol sniffer, smoker and criminal and he is lazy. However, there is a story behind why Botj is like this. Botj is a troubled teenager who drinks and smokes as his father is an alcoholic. He had a troubled family life and this contributes to the actions he takes. The media is largely to blame for the negative stereotypes of Aboriginal People. The media reports negative stereotypes of the Aboriginal community, drinking problems and violent behaviours, which intern makes the white Australian community believe the negative stereotypes that have been

Rosanna is a community warden and cultural tour guide who takes Australians or tourists on tours of the land, giving them the cultural experience of the Indigenous culture. By doing so she is connecting to her own Aboriginal culture but also to the dominant white culture. Rosanna is connected to her Aboriginal culture as when she takes the tourist on the cultural tours she must live the traditional or close to the traditional way of her Aboriginal ancestors to show them the way they lived. She would be teaching the tourists how things were done by the Aboriginal tribe that lived on the land. Rosanna is connected to the dominant white culture as a cultural tour guide is a job created by the white Europeans that lived in