AUSTRALIAN FILM AND TELEVISION DIFFERENTIATING ITSELF FROM HOLLYWOOD

Australia is always in constant competition with Hollywood for box-office takings in the international and domestic marketplace. Some of its strategies to differentiate itself from Hollywood have been successful and others have not. In terms of recent film strategies, when Australian directors try to entirely imitate or oppose the filmic style of Hollywood and its genres, it is less successful than when it tries to compliment or supplement the larger market by telling Australian stories through universal narrative devices. This is seen as finding a balance between culture and commerce. These strategies have been seen since the emergence of Hollywood’s dominion over the market, though the measuring of their success has become clearer in the last 20 years. Success of these strategies is measured in different ways. Box-office takings indicate commercial success, and cultural integrity is gauged through reviews. The success or failure of these strategies then reflects its position as mundane amongst other national cinemas. This is mostly seen through Australia’s genre films and its art house films. Hollywood’s genre films have been used as templates in Australian filmmaking. 

When Australia completely imitates the Hollywood genre style, it is less effective than when a distinctive Australian tone is used. In the past of the Australian industry, film directors have fallen into the mindset of thinking that by creating a Hollywood style genre film, larger profits will be created and that if audiences enjoy going to see Hollywood genre blockbusters, then Australia should make the same. This was part of the train of thought in the 1980s with the Australian ‘Ozploitation’ films. The makers of these films who were sick of nostalgic based Australian Film Commission (AFC) New Wave films were more inclined to be thinking entirely of the 10BA government tax incentive, rather than generating a larger audience or furthering the industry, although in contradiction local content needed to be included and was encouraged (Parker and Parenta 2008, 615). However some more recent examples of commerce inclined filmmaking are seen with the rise of recent genre films. 

The Australian/Finnish/German co-production Iron Sky (2012) is an example of a new genre film imitating Hollywood. This film did not screen well in Australia as it only made $120 000 over 45 cinema screens by its third week (Suite 101, 2011). A Science-Fiction B style comedy such as this can lend itself to internationalisation, as by imitating the genre too closely, the filmmakers are not creating a distinctly Australian film. As the genre is not typically made in Australia, this will contribute to the alienating their audience. Screen Australia shows that between 2000 and 2010, Science-Fiction made up only three percent of the films either Australian made or foreign productions shot in the country (2012). There is also the fact that it was made up with mostly American and German actors, so there was little to relate to for an Australian audience. This can be a downfall with ‘Mundane cinemas’ such as Canada and Australia if when they imitate Hollywood too closely, because they generally have a smaller budget to their American counterpart, they look like an inferior imitation. In Australia’s attempt to compete with Hollywood, their strategies cannot be too similar with a genre or else it will not work.

An example of a genre film that used its Australian production to its advantage was Red Hill (2010). This Western utilised the four markers of defining an Australian production; which includes actors (such as Ryan Kwanten), location (the outback), creative input (Patrick Hughes) and content (such as mise-en-scene, guns and horses) which were all highly Australian. The film took a largely Hollywood based genre, and made it work perfectly in an Australian context and narrative. David Stratton praised the film saying that, “It’s a well-conceived genre piece…a modern Western in an Australian setting” (2010). The commerce versus culture debate is nothing new but it is seen by Hancock that by utilising some values of the Australian national identity, a greater engagement can be made with domestic audiences. “What is often not acknowledged is that dollars are a metric of audience engagement and audience engagement is the primary issue for Australian content” (2009, 124). Even though the film fell short of claiming any substantial commercial return, it did successfully fuse the new way of commercial thinking found commonly in filmmaking in Industry Three, with the culture-based filmmaking that has always been present in the whole of the industry. The failure of it was caused by the trend of independent films without backing from major distributors gain little traction in the domestic screen spaces. Even larger Hollywood films such as Legends of The Guardians: The Owls of The Ga’Hoole (2010) made no significant reverberations on the domestic box-office (Ryan, M 2012, 7-9).  This impacted Australia’s position as a national cinema through trading in cultural returns, which is one of the few ways Australia can make any influence overseas and engage a domestic audience, whilst distinguishing itself from other Hollywood Western films. By supplementing the American market, this strategy was more successful than straight imitation. In contrast, another solution that has been tried to distinguish Australian and Hollywood films has been too drastic and has led to Australian Art house films.

Some Australian filmmakers attempt to differentiate themselves from Hollywood by competing with them and making Art house films. This was seen mainly in the 2000s with films such as Candy (2006). This bleak film focuses on the social issue of what effects drugs can have on people and their relationships. Even though this film received praise for its directing, it along the whole Art house genre was criticised for being too indulgent, and personal (Spencer, 2006) as the audience it was aimed at was very narrow in terms of demographic and was not made for commercial return. This is a film that is clearly an Australian story. Government funding bodies such as Screen Australia have always had preferences in scripts that show significant cultural and aesthetic credentials (Turner 1993, 105). This is not just in terms of the main markers such as content and creators, but it portrays Australia by utilising the suburban setting that was heavily used in the 1990s, and is ‘quirky’ not in its narrative but its characters such as the flamboyant and openly gay Casper (Geoffrey Rush) who perfectly embodies the more diverse version of Australia’s national identity (Ellis, 2006). Even though this film does portray a sense of national identity, its tone, theme, and realist aesthetic make it too opposed to the Hollywood style. 

The telling of Australian stories in a culturally rich tone is nothing new to the Australian film industry as AFC films have been doing that since its inception. However even though Candy was critically acclaimed, these sorts of films are so depressing in theme and plot that the audience is turned off from watching them completely. Films such as The Castle(1997) and Kenny (2006) were popular in Australia and internationally because the domestic audience had something to relate to and an overseas audience caught a glimpse of Australia’s humour (Milner, 2009). This is the main way a Mundane cinema such as Australia should attempt to gain audiences both domestically and internationally. In terms of opposing Hollywood entirely, when Australians refuse to watch their own stories, an international market would have little incentive too. It is this sort of highly specific internal localisation that completely distances a wide audience. It is clear that this film in closer proximity to those of the European Art house style of Prestige cinema, rather than a Mundane cinema such as Australia. The strategy of completely opposing Hollywood was not successful, however Australia has found another way of telling its stories. 

To specifically tell a suburban Australian Narrative, a film does not have to be entirely depressing or indulgent. An example of a similar type of narrative can be seen with Looking For Alibrandi (1999). This film tells a somewhat sad story of a girl who deals with the problems of growing up with Italian heritage in Australia and suburban issues with of racism and teen suicide. This does have some indulgent sad moments such as the funeral sequence of John. With the non-diegetic track of With Or Without You by U2 playing over the top of an excessively depressing scene, it could easily be seen as another of the Australian Art house films. What this film does different is fill the film with Australian self-deprecating humour to make it stand out distinctively as Australian but in a palatable way for domestic audiences (Keller, 1999). This promotes the idea of Australia being a Mundane cinema but will entice a wider audience because it promotes the theme of Australia’s quirkiness, internationally. The strategy of opposing supplementing Hollywood with an easy to take version of an Australian story is seen to be successful.

When Australia attempts to compete with Hollywood in terms of getting audiences to see their films, it usually utilises one of two strategies. When it imitates a Hollywood genre style or completely opposes it with the production of Art house films, it is usually unsuccessful in attaining any real audiences or having cultural significance to Australia. If Australia supplements or compliments the American market by telling distinctly Australian stories in a palatable way or making genre films that have a defined Australian theme to them, it will be more effective. Only through this perfect balance between culture and commerce can it make more of an impact against the Hollywood market. 

 REFERENCES

Armfield, Neil. 2006. Candy. Directed by Neil Armfield. Produced by Margaret Fink. Melbourne: Australia. Renaissance Films. DVD.

Cilauro, Santo. 1997. The Castle. Directed by Rob Snitch. Produced by Debra Herman. Australia. Working Dog Films. DVD.

Ellis, Katie. 2006. “Rehabilitating 1990s Australian National Cinema”. Senses Of Cinema 39. Accessed August 22, 2012. http://sensesofcinema.com/2006/39/rehab_australian_cinema_1990s/

Hancock, Matthew. 2009. “The Big Picture - Industry on Exhibition”. Metro Magazine: Media & Education Magazine 162: 122-124. Accessed August 28, 2012.        http://search.informit.com.au.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/documentSummary;d          n=798559916551171;res=IELLCC  

Hughes, Patrick. 2010. Red Hill. Directed by Patrick Hughes. Produced by Al Clark. Victoria: Australia. Screen Australia. DVD.

Jacobson, Clayton. 2006. Kenny. Directed by Clayton Jacobson. Produced by Shane Jacobson. Australia. Thunderbox Films. DVD.

Keller, Louise. “Looking For Alibrandi Review”. Accessed August 29, 2012.           http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?a=3344&s=reviews

Marchetta, Melina. 1999. Looking For Alibrandi. Directed by Kate Woods. Produced by Robyn Kershaw. Sydney: Australia. Roadshow Entertainment. DVD.

Milner, Lisa. 2009. “Kenny: The Evolution Of The Battler Figure In Howard’s Australia”. Journal Of Australian Studies 33 (2). Accessed August 25, 2012. 10.1080/14443050902883371

Orloff, John. 2010. Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of The Ga’Hoole. Directed by Zack Snyder. Produced by Zareh Nalbandian. Australia. Warner Bros. DVD.

Parker, R and Oleg Parenta. 2008. “Explaining Contardictions in Film and Television Industry Policy: Ideas and Incremental Policy Change Through Layering and Drift”. Media, Culture & Society 30: 609-622. Accessed August 22 2012. http://mcs.sagepub.com/content/30/5/609

Ryan, Mark. 2012. “A Silver Bullet For Australian Cinema? Genre Movies And The Audience Debate”. Studies In Australasian Cinema 6(2): (In Press). Accessed August 27 2012 . http://eprints.qut.edu.au/52046/

Screen Australia. 2012. “Proportions of Feature Films by Genre, 1993/94-2009/10”. Accessed August 29, 2012. http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/research/statistics/mpfeaturesgenre.asp

Sinisalo, Johanna. 2012. Iron Sky. Directed by Tim Vuorensola. Produced by Michael Cowan. Germany. Energia Productions. DVD.

Spencer, Megan. 2006. “Reviews: Film – Candy”. Accessed August 29, 2012.      http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/review/film/s1641557.htm

Stratton, David. 2010. “Red Hill”. Accessed August 20, 2012.          http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s3044677.htm

Suite 101 (Film and TV). 2012. “Australian Box-Office Weekend May 10-13”. Accessed August 29, 2012. http://suite101.com/article/australian-box-office-weekend-10-13-may-a407543

Turner, Graeme. 1993. “The Genres Are American: Australian Narrative, Australian Film, and the Problem of Genre”. Litereature/Film Quarterly: 21 (2): 102-111. Accessed August 30, 2012.  http://search.proquest.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/226989389