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Can Film offer a radical transformation of our understanding of race relations in Australian History?
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In the increasingly entertainment based society of today filmic portrayal of historic events has become an increasingly portrayal. This re-enactment, or adaptation of past events can serve in a very positive manner as it allows issues to be brought to mass audiences. Film as a medium allows these issues to be understood from various, alternative positions allowing discussion and understanding. However the accuracy of the understanding gained by a viewer must be questioned as it would not only vary between individuals, but may also have been a result of the film makers including inaccurate information or manipulating the truth of an event. This argument is restricted to analysis of only three particular historically based films, ‘Jedda’, ‘The chant of Jimmie Blacksmith’ and ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’ all of which discuss race relations in Australian History. These films all present many important facts and details surrounding several issues including assimilation, the stolen generations and the effects of colonisation. However, they too are subject to the omission of important facts and misdirection of viewer’s focus on the issue at hand. This misdirection or omission is in most cases a result of the inclusion of the same plot and emotive factors that are utilised in the first instance to focus a viewer’s interest on the issue. The film makers interpretation of the historical happenings on which the film is based, also acts to influence the perspective from which an audience views on-screen events. Theses elements of historically based films act negatively as they threaten to create of a misinformed understanding of the factual events. How dramatically these negative elements effect a viewers understanding of events varies would vary depending upon his or her prior knowledge. A viewer who is well informed regarding a particular issue is less likely to experience a transformation in understanding than a viewer who is previously ignorant. This also means that any addition of emotional aspects to the factually based film will have less of an effect on the understanding of well-informed individual than it would on a individual who lacks a knowledge based understanding. So whilst historically based films do offer an alteration in the understanding of a viewer, this alteration is subject to difference between individuals and the change may not actually be a positive one. It is also unlikely that any transformation in a viewers understanding would be radical. Viewers with a knowledge based understanding of events would be unlikely to be influenced by filmic elements such plot and character. Viewers who are less informed on the events in question would not necessarily have an established understanding that could be subject to change. Rather than a radical transformation, it is more likely that a viewer would experience a growth, alteration or deeper or more personal understanding of the events portrayed on screen. ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’ portrays realistic experiences of three children of the stolen generation, allowing emotional insight, to the events, through the characters. This is particularly powerful as it does in fact create an alternate understanding of the events surrounding the stolen generations as the viewer experiences the children’s circumstances from a personal perspective. This is most evident in one of the early seen when all three girls are torn from their relatives. This is perhaps one of the most pungent scenes in the film as the viewer perceives the extraordinary grief experienced by children and adults alike. The same feeling is created later on when Molly’s skin is checked for the level of pigmentation.
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