Fourth Formation Cinema and Aboriginal

Question: Discuss about the Fourth Formation Cinema and Aboriginal. Answer: Introduction: More than its commercial success that fetched the producer cum director an enormous profit of 17,915, what accounted for the uniqueness of Jedda, is that the movie was the first movie of its kind to cast the Aboriginal actors in the lead roles (Lucas 2015). The most unique aspect of the movie was that Ngarla Kunoth playing the titular character has been shown neither as a woman getting oppressed by the White Europeans, nor is found to assimilate the European perceptions of the world. Rather this movie shows the less represented theme of an African woman being trapped between the world of tribal instincts and the world that demands assimilation. The movie Jedda was the last feature film of the director Charles Chauvel, and the director was well-aware that the movie might not be a major hit at the box office, given that it had two Australia actors- Ngarla Kunoth and Robert Tudawali in the lead, and yet his apprehension was proved to be wrong. The very reason why the movie has assumed a significant position in the lexicon of Australian movie history is that Jedda was the first Australia directed color film and that created the much needed hype for the movie. The next factor cementing the seminal place of the movie in the Australian film industry is that it was also the first movie that was being invited at the Cannes Film Festival. Jedda is apparently a movie that delineates a simple yet tragic tale of a young Aboriginal girl, Jedda who was being brought up by a White woman, Sarah who tries her best to seclude and extricate poor Jedda from the customs and traditions of her communities. However, as Freud and Jung would say, the basic traits of a person continue to stay in the subconscious, and Jedda realizes her subconscious desire for Marbuk once he arrives at the station. However, the movie is merely a tragic tale with a predictable sequence of events, with the only probable shock coming at the end, when the couple decides to choose death over the social criticism. The storyline is very plain, simple and predictable from the beginning, with very few surprising elements. However, what actually keeps the readers attention engaged is the dramatic element inherent in the story where the titular protagonist is being torn between a refined, piano-playing British gentleman and her indomitable attraction towards a ful l-blood Aboriginal, regarded as the savage in the movie. The powerful melodrama of the narrative was being brought strongly by each of the actors, and special mention must be made of Kunoth (Rayner 2016). Though Kunoth does steal the limelight with her powerful performance in the movie, it is important to note that the professional expertise of Kunoth was not as commendable as the way Chauvel directed the movie to utilize and capture her natural ability. Needless to say, Robert has also emerged as a powerful screen personality in the movie. More than possessing professional expertise, the Aboriginal actors of the period required no special, gifted talent to perform their roles, as they while acting in movies like Jedda during the 1970s were revisiting their past experiences only (Stadler et al. 2014). Another very attractive feature of the movie that at once strikes the reader is its color photography, which is during most of the times highly magnificent, with its rich panorama reaching beyond the conventional standards of Hollywood. However, setting aside the acting skills of the protagonists and the brilliant cinematography, what actually delights the audience is the commendable handling of the Aborigines by the Director. In fact, the credit indeed redounds to Chauvel for having artistically handled each of the Aborigine actors, by transposing their feelings onto the celluloid in a way that is appealing to any movie-goer of the time. Some of the characters have also been brilliantly portrayed in the movie, for instance the character of Marbuck, who with the help of his magnetic physical presence as well as his sexuality solely dominates the screen since the time he appears on screen. However, one thing that make the movie lose its appeal in the present day, is its derogatory att itude towards the Aboriginals. Throughout the movie, if a reader carefully observes the dialogues, he will be able to perceive that cleanliness and purity have always been associated with the idea of a White man, while negative attributes such as dirt or disruption are embodied by the Aborigines (Starrs 2016). However, though such a movie involving outright racial indignation might just repulse the audience of the present decade, what can still hold the attention of the audience is the sensational content, as the movie consists of scenes where Jedda is being hunted down by the Aboriginal lover through the crocodile infested water, and further there is a crocodile knifing and battling scene as well (Hamilton 2015). To conclude, if one has to rate the movie Jedda, he can easily claim that the movie does merit a 4 star rating. Apparently dealing with the simple theme of inter-racial love, the movie actually highlights an important aspect of the life of the Aborigines- no matter how differently are they being bred and brought up, an Aboriginal person can never escape the Aboriginal instincts and passions in her life. The movie at once ennobling and dignifying the Australian North, emerges to be a good outdoor adventure, with an eye on detailing the characterization and incident. Reference List: Hamilton, E., 2015. Australia. What Fresh Hell Is This?: Conceptualizing the Australian Western in The Proposition. InThe Post-2000 Film Western(pp. 131-146). Palgrave Macmillan UK. Lucas, R., 2015. Jedda.Metro Magazine: Media Education Magazine, (184), p.102. Rayner, J.R., 2016. The Cinematic Northern Territory of Australia. Stadler, J., Mitchell, P. and Carleton, S., 2014. A cultural atlas of Australia: mediated spaces in film, literature, and theatre. Starrs, D.B., 2016. Fourth Formation Cinema and Aboriginal Australian/Aboriginal Canadian Sovereignty.Quarterly Review of Film and Video,33(4), pp.362-376.