Film Analysis
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The motion pictures 'The Year of Living Dangerously' and 'Turtle Beach' are said to be classed as 'hybrid genre' films, that is, they are third world 'reporter' films. This essay aims at analysing and breaking down both by applying a number of concepts learnt in class such as: Orientalism, Gender, Sexuality, Whiteness and hybridity.
The two films examined in this essay are both directed by Australians (The Year of Living Dangerously by Peter Weir and Turtle Beach by Stephen Wallace) and have casts that are both Australian and Asian. They tell the story of an Australian investigative reporter (Mel Gibson in The Year of Living Dangerously and Greta Scacchi in Turtle Beach) who is sent to a third world Asian country to assess a social/political situation that is occurring at the time, and report the details of this situation back to Australia.
It can be understood that the perspective of these two reporters is typically Australian, and the knowledge they gain is influenced by their own cultural knowledge. The reporters desire for recognition and success as a journalist also influences the way they perceive certain situations and deal with them. It is obvious to the audience that the Australian characters are unable to understand events in these Asian cultures simply by observing them. This is evident in several scenes throughout both films.
To properly understand the themes and discourses that run throughout Turtle Beach and The Year of Living Dangerously we must examine them by utilising a number of concepts that are important to the texts and the manner in which they are viewed by the audience. For the purposes of this essay I have used concepts and ideas that are specific to Australian imaginings of Asian/Pacific cultures...