Film About of Australian History

Alex Goodsell explores and deconstructs one of Australia's most famous feature films, Jedda; to analyse whether a piece of Australian film history was innovative for the time in which it was made, or just an hour long, xenophobic, low definition set of moving pictures.

As you're sitting here reading this, possibly on an iPad or computer, or just on a comfortable couch; you're relaxed, carefree, and you are enjoying your life. Now turn the clock back several years (several may be an understatement for some of you!). Imagine that you are a baby again. A person grabs you and takes you away from everything that you know by force. You lose everything you knew, your family and friends, life lessons. This person takes you to the outback and you are taught to live as an Aboriginal. But subconsciously you know where you came from and of course you want to go back (probably to go on Facebook), but you can't.

Now imagine all of that in reverse. You now know what the Stolen Generation is. Policies by the Australian government to assimilate and integrate Indigenous people will always be remembered not just by 'white Australia', but by the Aboriginal community. The socio-historical context in which a film is made has influence to how it is made. In the case of Charles Chauvel's Jedda (1955), some aspects of the policies of assimilation and integration from the 1950s would most likely be present, positioning audiences at the time to accept and reject certain attitudes towards Indigenous.

There are aspects of Charles Chauvel's Jedda that are innovative; it was the first Australian film that allowed Aboriginal people to play Aboriginal characters. But there are also far more ways in which it is purely racist. Jedda positions its audiences to only accept Aboriginal characters who have been assimilated into the 'white society'. Therefore Jedda is more of a 'Racist Relic' than it was 'Ahead of its Time'. Jedda was released in 1955, and started filming in 1951. The start of this filming fell during an important time in Australian history; during what has been called, 'the un-civilization era' (class notes 2012). During this time, "the conflict between white settlers and indigenous Peoples has frequently been a theme in Australian film... representing Aborigines as an undifferentiated and violent force of nature rather than human" (class notes, 2012). The most popular styles of film in the 1950s included western styles of film, and this probably had some influence as to how Jedda was directed. Jedda was Charles Chauvel's last film, and arguably his best.

Jedda begins by showing a baby half caste Aboriginal girl, Jedda (Ngarla Kunoth), whose mother dies during childbirth. Baby Jedda is adopted by a white Australian woman, Sarah McMann (Betty Suttor), who is the wife of a station boss. Sarah had recently lost her own newborn due to illness, so the assimilation of Jedda helps Sarah to deal with her grief. As the movie progresses Sarah grows affectionate of Jedda and develops an emotional connection with her; she raises Jedda as her own. Sarah does not allow Jedda to participate in any native activities; this leads Jedda to become confused about her identity. While on a trip with her family, she is kidnapped by a full blooded Aboriginal man, Marbuck (Robert Tudawali) and he takes her on a journey across the Australian outback. The movie ends when the death curse that Marbuck's tribe had cast upon him drives him insane. The ending of the film presents Aboriginal people as insane, reckless people... murderers to some extent. This relates to the thesis, that Jedda is far more racist than it was innovative.

At the very start of the film, Joe (the narrator and Jedda's lover) introduces the baby Jedda as 'it' rather than 'her'. "Its mother dies and the cattle trudge on" he says (Charles Chauvel, 1955). In addition, Joe refers to the group of people as a 'herd' implying that they are no more than mere animals that follow each other and have very little intelligence. This simple lack of use of pronouns and correct labeling of people continues on in the movie. When Sarah first meets Jedda she says, "I'll keep it for a few days, if it lives I'll find a nursing Lubra to take it" (Charles Chauvel, 1955). Again, this lack of pronouns represents Jedda as inferior, promoting the 'white supremacy' amongst the group and showing the little amount of respect that Sarah and the rest of the white people had for Aboriginals. This is a perfect example of how Jedda is not innovative at all, but simply

racist.

On another occasion, Sarah and Doug are talking about the assimilation of Aboriginal people, using phrases like: "they can't be tamed". This reflects on the lack of respect that Sarah has for Aboriginal people. There are no other full blooded Aboriginals in main roles, so the film positions audiences to believe that all Aboriginals act the same way as Marbuck. Furthermore, Marbuck is positioned as a magic man, a witchdoctor. It was this type of 'black magic' that created fear amongst 'White' (European) Australians and justified their desire to stay away from these 'crazy' people. Marbuck used his repetitive Indigenous songs and chants to lure Jedda to him and in the process, drive Jedda to seriously question her identity. In addition, Indigenous culture is represented to be savage and very basic throughout the film; when Jedda is herding sheep, Marbuck throws a spear to scare the sheep and laughs like it was the funniest joke in the world; "hahahaha hahaha haha hahahahaha" (Charles Chauvel, 1955). The fact that Marbuck is so entertained by this action positions the audience to believe that Aboriginal people are simple-minded, unintelligent animals. This reflects how Jedda is just racist and not ahead of its time.

There are constant examples in which Sarah criticizes Aboriginal people, their customs, and traits and generally shows exponential amounts of racism towards them. Sarah denies Jedda the right to participate in Indigenous activities and does not allow her to play with indigenous children, "Joe, bring Jedda away from those pickaninnies, keep her clean" (Charles Chauvel, 1955). Sarah also debated with her husband on several occasions about how Aborigines need to assimilate into white society. When Jedda wishes to go walkabout with her fellow Aborigines, Sarah denies her saying, "Whatever would you do out there with all those naked monkeys" (Chauvel, 1955). Sarah has no respect for Aboriginal