This week's readings | Australasian coming-of-age and rite-of-passage films
Walkabout (Nicolas Roeg, 1971)
Puberty Blues (Bruce Beresford, 1981)
The Big Steal (Nadia Tass, 1990)
Looking For Alibrandi (Kate Woods, 2000)
December Boys (Roy Hardy, 2007)
Clubland (Cherie Nowlan, 2007)
Home Song Stories (Tony Ayres, 2007)
Main screening
Somersault (Cate Shortland, 2004) 106 min.
As I review this topic for presentation in 2008, I'm struck by the large number of feature films which arguably belong in this category which have been released in recent years—particularly last year, 2007. In reverse order, by date of release, these are some of the films that have appeared.
September (Peter Carstairs, 2007)
December Boys (Rod Hardy, 2007)
Home Song Stories, The (Tony Ayres, 2007)
Romulus My Father (Richard Roxburgh, 2007)
Clubland (Cherie Nowlan, 2007)
2:37 (Murali Thalluri, 2006)
48 Shades (Daniel Lapaine, 2006)
Caterpillar Wish, The (Sandra Sciberras, 2006)
Peaches (Craig Monahan, 2004)
In My Father's Den (Brad McGann, 2004)
Somersault (Cate Shortland, 2004)
I have no simple explanation for this recent interest in such stories, though, looking back over the last forty years, there seem to me to be potential useful homologies (analogies, if you prefer) between the subjects of these films, the age of the (post-invasion) society in which they are set, the stage of the (re-) development of the industry of which they are a part, and the ages and career stages of some of the principal actors.
As we're in a post-PowerPoint age, I'll do that again in dot points. I'm suggesting the notion of a correspondence between the maturation of these different entities.
the characters in significant films of this period
the careers of significant actors
the film industry itself
Australian history
I think all I'll be able to do here is to suggest that these might be useful topics for further consideration, and that anyone interested look at the list I've arranged by actor in some relevant films as one example.
Coming of age refers originally to the change from childhood to adulthood, which occurs at the end of the period we now call adolescence. It is of course signalled by physical transformations, but also involves other significant events, to do with the social and ethical marking of changes of other kinds. In Jewish society, for example, the bar mitzvah is a celebration of the child's admission, at the age of 13 for boys, 12 for girls, into adult society. The 21st birthday party used to mark this in Anglo-Saxon societies, but this has been lost with the change in the age of adult status down to 18. The notion has been adapted for use in describing an aspect of some narratives, as one of the Wikipedia contributors writes:
The term coming of age is also used in reference to different media such as stories, movies, etc. that have a young character or characters who, by the end of the story, have developed in some way, through the undertaking of responsibility, or by learning a lesson.
Rite of passage is a term taken from anthropology. Again, it's convenient to quote Wikipedia:
A rite of passage is a ritual that marks a change in a person's social or sexual status. The term was popularised by the French ethnographer Arnold van Gennep (1873-1957), in the early part of the twentieth century. Further theories were developed in the 1960s by Mary Douglas and Victor Turner. Rites of passage are often ceremonies surrounding events such as childbirth, menarche or other milestones within puberty, weddings, menopause, and death.
This week will be concerned with neither menopause nor death. Rather, we'll look at the two primary ideas together, that is, thinking of rites of passage in the context of coming of age.
For a more specific starting-point, let's look at Jonathan Rayner's introduction to the topic of the rite of passage film in the Australian context.
The protagonist undergoing fundamental, formative and traumatic experience, travelling and questing within a country supposedly his own but over which he can exert little control, emerges as key characteristic of Australian film narratives ... of the 1970s and '80s. From the 1980s into the '90s, features foregrounding the rite of passage have forsaken the parabolic, historic settings of the First World War and the aestheticism of the period film to concentrate on the prosaic or unremarkable dilemmas of adolescents and immature adults. (Rayner 2000: 142-143)
Clips
Walkabout (Nicolas Roeg, 1971)
We begin with an unsuccessful courtship in this classic coming-of-age film. Its very title is (or was) used, referring to the Aboriginal context, to mean a rite of passage. The Indigenous boy has to undergo both the socially sanctioned experience of establishing his right to enter manhood and also the accidentally-encountered experience of figuring out how to deal with the opposite sex. The non-indigenous girl doesn't set out to have either of these experiences but in effect gets through both, with the partial success that we see at the end of the story. I'll show his (genuine) courtship dance.
Puberty Blues (Bruce Beresford, 1981)
Next, something more serious, from Puberty Blues (Bruce Beresford, 1981), which I find is a pretty dismal affair overall. It's from the book by Gabrielle Carey and Kathy Lette. This segment explains graphically who is referred to by the term "mole" (an Australian pronunciation of "moll").
The coming-of-age film often deals with starting to come to terms with relationships with the opposite sex, as well as one's place in the world more generally. The style of Beresford's film is almost cinema vérité, or documentary. It's not an uplifting experience.
The Big Steal (Nadia Tass, 1990)
After that we something a bit lighter, and here is the first of two clips (at least partly) on the subject of meeting a parent. The emphasis here is more on romantic comedy and plot than growing up, but Ben Mendelsohn has to deal with Claudia Karvan's scary father Tim Robertson. I was at university with Tim, and have photos to prove it. He's the one raging at the back. Here's one that's even worse. This is a classic comic meeting-the-parent scene.
Looking For Alibrandi (Kate Woods, 2000)
Another meeting-the-parent scene - two of them, even. Josie has to deal with: not knowing who her father is; her family spies; not being accepted in her MC private school community; her first sexual experiences; and trying to choose an appropriate boyfriend/partner. In this sequence we see Josie's mother's reaction to her going out with the "wrong" boy, and Josie's reaction to her newly-discovered father, followed, if we get there, by her developing relationship with the "right" boy. They exchange "trust" statements: his will turn out to be a suicide note. [meetparent 46:12]
December Boys (Roy Hardy, 2007)
Harry Potter Gets Laid was how Variety suggested this film would be seen. This is the first of a pair of clips in which the girl takes the initiative. Here's the scene with Daniel Radcliffe.
Clubland (Cherie Nowlan, 2007)
This is the second of a pair of scenes in which the girl seduces the boy, which is the link back to the last. But the link forward to the next clip is that this is a film mostly about the relationship between the young male character and his mother (which the clip does not show).
Home Song Stories (Tony Ayres, 2007)
This is not perhaps the best scene to suggest what this film is about. In the earlier scenes, Joan Chen's character, the boy's mother, is beautiful. Here she is suicidal. But you can at least see what a resourceful character Tony Ayres has created to represent his own younger self.
Main screening
Somersault (Cate Shortland, 2004)
Heidi (Abbie Cornish) gets involved in inappropriate sexual activity with a man in the position of father to her, leaves home, uses sex as a means of relating, finds a temporary substitute mother, Irene (Lynette Curran); Joe (Sam Worthington) has indeterminate relationships with Heidi, with a man (Erik Thomson), and with his father; none of this is resolved, but Heidi does return home with her mother.
Somersault won all 13 awards at the AFIs 29 October 2004.
The teenpic 2004-2005
In 2004-5, one week was concerned with the "teenpic". The relevant presentation is still available, and you can choose this topic for your first essay if you wish.
Garry Gillard | New: 15 January 2006 | Now: 27 April, 2022