Pop Aussie Culture

8/10/2019 Pop Aussie Culture

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Popular Culture and Expressions

of Australian National Identity

Dr Sarah Baker

Lecturer, Cultural Sociology

School of Humanities, Griffith University

Friday 1 October, 10am-12pm

Volda University College Australasian Study Tour


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Defining Culture

the whole way of life of a people, theircustoms and rituals, their pastimes and

pleasures, including not only the arts

but also practices such as sport and

going to the beach(Fiske, Hodge and Turner 1987: viii)

Culture in this sense is the result of

the multifarious processes of making

meanings for a society.(Fiske, Hodge and Turner 1987: x)

Culture is a producer and re-producer

of value systems and power relations,

performing crucial ideological functions

within Australia.

(Fiske, Hodge and Turner 1987: x)


3/20

Reading Texts (Semiotics)

The study of the socialproduction of meaning from signsystems

(OSullivan et al 1994: 281)

Signanything that has anaccepted meaning for a personor group of people.

Signif ierthe carrier of meaning

Signif iedthe mental concept towhich the sign refers

(Fiske, Hodge and Turner 1987: xi)


4/20

Union Jack: Heritage? Tradition?

Dependence? Loyalty to the British Empire?

Commonwealth star: Belonging to

the West? Part of somethingbigger?

Southern Cross: Visible in the Southern

hemisphere

morale virtues of Dante?

Blue: Girt by sea? Colours of the empire?


5/20

Myth Myth- a systematic organisation of signifiers around a

set of connotations and meanings(Fiske, Hodge and Turner 1987: xi)

has an important role within ideas of nation, where it isan essential part of cultural meaning and maintenance.

Foundations of national ideas and values are establishedthrough myth and highlight what is considered natural andaccepted or alien and excluded within a culture. Thesecontinuous narratives are embedded with various ritualsand symbols leading to a collective discourse.

(Price 2010: 453)


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The Myth of Australia

Example:GANGgajangSounds of Then (This is Australia)

Act iv i ty :

List all of the symbols in the GANGgajang music video that help

construct our understanding of Australia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML9h3I5Uktw


7/20

The Beachand Australian Identity

so much of Australiaseems to be aboutpleasuremade for it.Especially the South Eastcoastline along which themajority of Australianschoose to live. The beachhas become an integralpart of our life and ouridentity Robert Hughes,

art critic.(cited in Bonner, McKay and McKee 2001: 270)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pMOBVX88Kghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pMOBVX88Kg


8/20

Surf lifesavers ran into the arenaat the end They were pullingKylie Minogue on a giant thong,and she stood up and surfed on itas she entered the arena. (p. 273)

The voice-over tells us aboutAustralian national identity asWebster lays down her beachtowel and prepares to dream,as we all do, of wide blue skies,

the sand and the sea. (p. 269)(Bonner, McKay and McKee 2001)


9/20From the Bush to the Beach

The interplay of culture and nature is animportant myth-generating mechanism toaddress the plight of contemporary Australianexistence. Fiske and colleagues (1987) connectthe rising importance of the beach in Australianculture to the rise of urbanization, which maderedundant older myths of the bush, the bushranger (symbolized by Ned Kelly) and anisolated hideaway. Instead, suburban-dwelling

Australians brought nature into culture and viceversa, by means of the beach.

(Hartley and Green 2006: 348)


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The Beach

and the City So, as the bushman became less

relevant to modern Australia, theideology which once mythologisedhim, valuing his harmony with thenatural environment and his toughphysicality, now supports the beach.

Consequently the central image of theAustralian beach is notthat of thetropical hideaway. That does exist,but is reserved for holidays, preferablyoutside Australia. The beach thatcontributes to everyday existencemust be metropolitan, therefore

urban.(Fiske, Hodge and Turner 1987: xi)


11/20

The

Lifesaver the values traditionally associated with

the Aussie Digger [were] reinvested inthe lifesaver. Through the lifesaver,humanitariansim, mateship,ablebodiedness, racial purity, heroicsacrifice, and public service/dutycontinued from the rhetoric of war topublic safety.

(Evers 2008: 418)

he fights the elements to preserve the lives of citizensat innocent play... Like the Anzac he represents disciplineand sacrifice The representation embodies the best of

the old images and reworks them into a new modern form.(Saunders, cited in Price 2010: 454)


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Central to the format are the lifeguards characters asmythic heroes This portrayal is consistent with thenational type identified with the sun-bronzed physique,the masculinity, the cult of mateship, the military

associations, the hedonism and wholesomeness of thebeach The lifeguards are referred to as castfrom a vintage Australian mould as a reflection oftheir mythic qualities ...

(Price 2010: 455)


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Streets Beach, South Bank

Activity:siteobservation ofStreets Beach.

Questions:How isthe myth playedout at this beach?In what ways does

Streets Beachconfirm and/orchallenge what youhave learned in thelecture so far?


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The Surfer

while lifesavers giveup their time to patrolthe beach, surfers areseen to be indulging

themselves on thebeach all day whilstliving on the dole. If thelifesavers are theheroes of this myth,

then the surfers are itsanti-heroes.

(Fiske, Hodge and Turner 1987: 65)


15/20

Cronulla can be adangerous place to go surfing.Shark Island is the premierwave of the area ... The waves

at this surf break rise, warp,peel, and mutate over ashallow slab of rock. The menwho ride the island arerespected by other surfers andare considered brave andtough. These men know

how to negotiate the dangersof Shark Island. They paddleout to the waves throughcurrents hidden below thesurface of the water, whichhelp them avoid the harm ofthe exploding swells. The mencan tell at a glance what waveswill peel evenly and allow asafe ride.

(Evers 2008: 418)


16/20

Surfer as

underdog

The battler figureswithin Australiancultural history as theembodiment of

national values ofhard-work,egalitarianism andperseverance. thebattler is closelyrelated to the pioneermyth In essence,the battler is anunderdog figure,someone whostruggles to succeedagainst-the-odds.

(Butler 2009: 392)


17/20

The white,

bronzed Aussie

the battler is the key actorin the drama of white

Australian history; the keyexponent of the Australianvalues of egalitarianism and

mateship. The whiteness ofthe battler is amplified bythe historical resonance ofthe termits verymustiness harks back to an

earlier time wheninequalities of income werenot strongly associated withethnicity, and when non-whites did not struggleeconomically (because they

were politically invisible).(Scalmer, cited in Butler 2009: 399)


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Cronulla Riots

On Sunday December 4, twoteenage volunteer lifesaverswere attacked by two males,apparently Lebanese. Theattack provoked a very hostilereaction in and around thebeach. Lifesavers get respectfrom the Australian community,particularly in beachside areas.People know that lifesavers doliterally save lives. Theweekend volunteers are notpaid for what they do. For

someone to attack lifesaverswas to commit a veryprovocative act which waslikely to cause an angryreaction.

(Barclay and West 2006: 77)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYiAAxZWyyshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYiAAxZWyys


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This is Australia? In contrast [to confrontations

based on competition for land orlabour], as the use of the Australianflag, the national anthem, andrioters appeals to other nationalicons and the Australian way of lifeindicate, the contemporarychallenge involves ownership andaccess to membership in the nationand its culture.

(Inglis cited in Hartley and Green 2006: 352)


20/20

References

Barclay, Ryan and West, Peter 2006, Racism or patriotism? Aneyewitness account of the Cronulla demonstration of 11 December2005, Peop le and Place, 14(1): 75-85.

Bonner, Frances, McKay, Susan and McKee, Alan 2001, On thebeach, Cont inuum, 15(3): 269-274.

Butler, Kelly Jean 2009, Their culture has survived: Witnessing to

(dis)possession in Bra Boys (2007), Jou rnal of Au stral ian Studies,33(4): 391-404.

Evers, Clifton 2008, The Cronulla race riots: Safety maps on anAustralian beach, South A tlant ic Quarter ly, 107(2): 411-429.

Fiske, John, Hodge, Bob and Turner, Graeme 1987, Myths o f Oz:Reading A us tral ian Popular Culture, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.

Hartley, John and Green, Joshua 2006, The public sphere on the

beach, Europ ean Journal of Cultural Studies, 9(3): 342-362. OSullivan, Tim, Hartley, John, Saunders, Danny, Montgomery, Martin

and Fiske, John 1994, Key Concepts in Communicat ion and Cul turalStudies, 2ndedition, Routledge, London.

Price, Emma 2010, Reinforcing the myth: Constructing Australianidentity in reality TV, Cont inuum, 24(3): 451-459.

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