Multiculturalism in Australia Essay Sample
An Australian is stereotyped to be laid-back, having a beer in hand and a conversation with their mates after a hard-working day. Australian society is composed of laid-back people from different cultures, creating a well-known multicultural representation that Australians are proud of. Multiculturalism in Australia allows for equality between individuals from different cultures, accepting various cultural traditions in Australian society. Aussie films attempt to incorporate aspects of Australian society, such as culture, making these films so successful. Characters and stereotypes in Rob Sitch’s ‘The Castle’ accurately portray culture in Australian society today in order to inform the audience what multiculturalism in Australia really means. However, other texts, such as ‘Summer Heights High’ and ‘Here Come the Habibs’, create juxtaposing representations, which should be considered derogatory and disrespectful. These three texts portray multiculturalism through character development and satire of stereotypes. While some reflect Australian society wonderfully, others get criticised for their inaccurate representation of Australians.
Rob Sitch has utilised multiple film techniques to explore the Australian representation of culture in 'The Castle' through characters and stereotypes. Con Petropoulos is stereotyped as an individual with Greek heritage, with his absurd last name and hair shown to be oiled back. During the wedding speech, Darryl acknowledges Con as part of his family. This scene demonstrates multiculturalism through straight angles that capture Darryl and Con, presenting the audience with the idea that these two characters have equal status despite their cultural differences. Furthermore, the emotional language used by Darryl demonstrates how love breaks cultural barriers, leading to the positive acceptance of Darryl and Con as characters. Thus, the audience understands that multiculturalism in Australia creates egalitarianism in society. In addition, stereotypes play a crucial part in creating multiculturalism in 'The Castle'. Farouk is stereotyped as a 'wog' due to his appearance. 'Wog' is a derogatory term that means foreigner from southern Europe. However, Darryl treats Farouk with love and affection, the opposite of what the audience imagined. The director has deliberately juxtaposed Darryl's relationship with Farouk with the term 'wog', causing the audience to appreciate the mateship created between the two characters. Hence, the audience concludes that multiculturalism in Australia forms a sense of mateship between individuals. Ultimately, multiculturalism is present in 'The Castle' through characters and stereotypes, accurately informing the audience of multicultural Australia.
Contrasting the representation portrayed in 'The Castle', 'Summer Heights High' presents a juxtaposing view of culture in Australia through inadequate use of stereotypes and portrayal of characters. Jonah Takalua, a Grade 8 student in Summer Heights High, has been stereotyped as a brownface through his appearance and ethnicity. In one such scene, Jonah is in trouble for bullying another student; the association of Jonah being a troublesome individual is clear to the audience. The juxtaposition of characters with different colours, in this situation, can represent a rivalry between two cultures, portraying a negative view of culture in Australia. Furthermore, the two characters don't look at each other once, reflecting the distant relationship between cultures in Australia. In addition, the two characters are both stereotyped so much that the audience cannot ignore this and thinks this is normal in Australian society, making them believe that Australia is not the multicultural society it is said to be. However, the representation of stereotypes and character has recently been criticised, with Netflix cancelling Summer Heights High "due to the use of blackface and brownface in the portrayal of characters" (The Guardian). Thus, 'Summer Heights High' has failed to successfully portray multicultural Australia because of inappropriate characterisations and stereotypes within the text.
Another major series that focus on cultural diversity is Here Comes the Habibs, presenting a similar representation of Australian culture to Summer Heights High. The O’Neill family can be seen as racist and privileged individuals who think too highly of themselves as a result of their ethnicity and their social status. In the intro of this series, the audience can easily recognise that the O’Neills dislike the Habibs immensely. Olivia O’Neill starts by acknowledging Fou as the ‘pool boy’ rather than the owner of the house, which causes the audience to recognise Olivia’s toxicity towards those of another race. Furthermore, the juxtaposition between angles creates the sense that Olivia is superior to Fou. The disregard of Fou’s name further emphasises Olivia’s self-esteem and the stereotype of the superior white Australian. While many see this as an underdog situation for the Habibs, breaking the prejudiced stereotypes set by the white Australians, others believe the sitcom marginalises people. An article from SBS states, ‘Our screens should reflect the diversity on our streets, but they don’t.’, implicitly saying that Here Comes the Habibs utilises negative stereotypes and turns them into harmful jokes which aren’t funny. Ultimately, Here Come the Habibs has done a terrible job at portraying Australian multiculturalism by overlooking the Australian’s egalitarianism and creating humour at racial conflicts.
Ultimately, culture in Australian society has been accurately portrayed through characters in Rob Sitch’s The Castle but are not portrayed accurately in texts such as Summer Heights High and Here Come the Habibs. Culture in Australia seems to be represented poorly by the majority of texts, with the filmmakers not actually understanding Australian multiculturalism, but instead, blatantly jumping to their own conclusions, trying to create humour within racial jokes that are not appreciated.
