Make sure each paragraph includes references to the film techniques that best support your main reasons (answer to the prompt) and reinforce the director’s views and values. For example:
Land rights
Perkins depicts Eddie Mabo’s fight against the concept of “terra nullius” as central to his fight against injustice.
Perkins suggests that the white colonial invaders (British) used the concept of “terra nullius” as justification for their conquest. It was a convenient means of denying the aboriginal peoples the right to their ancestral lands.
Perkins also shows that Eddie has a strong sense of both personal and cultural pride and fights for equal rights on behalf of all Indigenous Australians.
Perkins seeks to counter the stereotypical image given by the Queensland Government and some media outlets of a land-grabbing indigenous citizen.
Indigenous Culture and cultural pride
Using a variety of cinematic techniques that focus on cultural difference, such as Indigenous cultural belief systems, customary law courts, and their language and subsistence way of life, Perkins challenges the abstract legal concept of “terra nullius” that underpins white settlement.
Perkins employs a variety of cinematic techniques that highlight cultural difference, such as the use of Meriam language, (subtitles), Meriam music, dancing customs and cultures to challenge the concept of terra nullius.
By setting up cultural contrasts and by depicting Eddie’s ties to his father, to the Meriam community and to the landscape, Perkins thereby seeks to defend and justify Eddie’s fight for land rights and for justice.
Perkins depicts Eddie as a determined individual/activist who is motivated by a strong sense of filial pride. He has a fierce sense of loyalty to his family, to Murray Islanders and to the Meriam people. In this regard, Eddie seeks to reinforce his loyalty by proving to his father that he did not go to the mainland and “forget” everything.
Perkins foregrounds the injustice of the authorities when they deny Eddie a visit to Meriam Island. This is personally devastating to him as his father is dying and he wishes to provide his loyalty – and honour his father.
Such filial pride also overlaps with a sense of cultural pride as he is determined to remember his cultural origins through the stories he tells (such as the octopus totem and the corrobboree/ dances).
Social injustice: and social context
Perkins exposes the injustice suffered by the First Australians because of institutionalised racist policies. The indigenous peoples suffer discrimination owing to the intolerant and patronising attitudes of members of the white community/white officials. They are treated with contempt and have no legal rights in a system that is paternal and authoritative.
Perkins hopes that her viewers will understand the pain and the humiliation suffered by the First Australians as they are controlled by paternalistic authority figures and by segregation-style policies.
From a social perspective, the First Australians are segregated and treated like second-class citizens.
The camera zooms in on symbols such as the hotel door to reflect Perkin’s view that the unjust segregation-style attitudes of citizens in white mainstream society humiliate Indigenous Australians.
Perkins depicts the injustice suffered by Indigenous Australians as a result of unfair and xenophobic stereotypes.
The director presents Eddie’s pro-activist and confrontational role as a necessary step towards justice.
Through the positive and admirable characterisation of Eddie Mabo, Perkins endorses the attitude that the First Australians have no option “but to be troublemakers”.
The director juxtaposes Eddie’s attitude with Netta’s, “we can’t afford to be troublemakers”, to show that without such agitation, the Indigenous will struggle to obtain justice. Netta’s attitude also reveals a fundamental fear of agitation because of her experience with the unjust consequences. In many ways, Perkins suggests, they have been conditioned to defeat.
Perkins also reinforces Eddie’s heroic status and his unusual sense of determination. (She shows that there are personal consequences. Despite the setbacks, Eddie continues to fight.)
One mis-en-scene focuses on Eddie’s encounter with the republican as he insists on being served. Through close-up camera angles that reinforce Eddie’s frustration, Perkins invites viewers to imagine the depth of his humiliation owing to the covert racist attitude of the republican. In a parallel scene, another hotel owner, also hesitantly but deceptively, advises Eddie that there are no vacant rooms in the hotel .
Please do a critical short list of the film techniques:
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- Father and son symbolism: flashbacks and cultural ties
- Archival documentary-style footage to reflect the attitudes of cinema goers.
- Juxtaposition of news clips representing state and federal political leaders and their views which fuel the dramatic tension.
- Real-life characters: historian Henry Reynolds; barristers Ron Castan and Bryan Keon Cohen.
- Social and historical context: As a human rights activist, Eddie challenges the paternalistic and covert racist attitudes towards aborigines that are evident in various colour segregation policies. The republican’s refusal to give Eddie a drink and the knob on the cinema door become emblematic of these unofficial policies that discriminate against the Indigenous population on the basis of their ethnicity.The camera zooms in on Killoran’s smirk as he reminds Eddie of the state’s obligations. Perkins critiques this attitude throughout the film and shows how it reflects a paternalistic view that the First Australians need to be “helped” by those in a position of power. According to the director, it also perpetuates a racist view towards Aboriginal Australians which is evident in the unofficial colour segregation rules and casual racism that apply in daily life, (i.e. cinema and the pub bar.)
- Eddie has the moral strength and self-belief to challenge the views of the Indigenous Australians towards their position of disadvantage.
- The confrontation in the hotel is juxtaposed with the convivial scenes of the union workers to reveal the hypocrisy of the latter. They expediently enlist Indigenous Australians to their cause but do not reciprocate the moral support and effort. A close-up frame of Eddie’s body language as he sits at the table with his sign (“I want a drink”) reveals his frustration and determination.
- Reference to the historical context: The Queensland government reacted to the land rights claim by passing the Queensland Coast Islands Declaratory Act 1985 (Qld) which made it more difficult for Eddie to gain justice.
- As Paul Keating predicted, the Mabo case, and Eddie’s challenge to the High Court in 1992 did lay the fundamental basis for justice. The legal challenge to terra nullius was upheld in Mabo’s favour. The majority of high court judges claimed that ‘ultimate’ title existed, and through that, native title could be claimed.
- Close up camera perspectives and profile views of characters such as Netta reveal her quiet dignity and moral strength; her admiration and respect for Eddie; Eddie’s persistence, pride and dogged nature
- The views of both Eddie and Netta reflect the contrasting attitudes of Indigenous Australians towards their struggle for justice. Whilst Netta believes that confrontation compounds their position of disadvantage, Eddie believes “we have no option but to be troublemakers”. (This shows his pride, his strength and resolve.)
Mabo – essay questions
- It is pride just as much as native land rights that is at stake in the story of Mabo. Discuss.
- The film is not just about racism. Discuss.
- Mabo is as much a work of fiction as it is a story of facts”. Discuss.
- Eddie is a strong but flawed hero in Mabo. Discuss.
- The refusal to accept injustice is at the heart of the film. Discuss.
- In the film Mabo, the land becomes a main character because of its significance. Discuss.
- To what extent does Perkins suggest that the Mabo decision was more significant for Australia than for Eddie Mabo personally?
- To what extent is the viewer left with a sense of optimism at the end of Mabo?
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