I know a lot of Australian films don't do so well at the box office, and only a few get made every year. I mean, especially in comparison to countries like America and the UK and even India, which makes the most movies per year in the world or something like that? ( Bollywood movies are pretty awesome, though, I must say. There's one I really love that has a name that sounds a bit like 'Avada Kedavra'...but anyway, I digress.) But you know, just because a film doesn't do so well at the box office doesn't mean that it's bad. And just because we don't make a huge amount of films doesn't mean the ones that do get made are bad- a lot of Hollywood movies kind of suck, anyway. This article I read makes an excellent point-'A life is not measured by the finances one accrues. The spirit of a country is not reflected in the box office but is shown from a magic box. A single creative success is worth 99 commercial failures in this lucky country.'
I think the Australian films that I've seen have all been really good- they're quirky and very uniquely Australian, and I related to them.
For one of my other classes, I wrote an essay about representations of Australian identity in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, because I watched it for the first time about a month ago and thought it was amazing- not only visually, with the awesome costumes and the shots of the giant stiletto on top of the bus and the shots of the outback as well, but the whole message that the film was trying to get across about tolerance and accepting other people's lifestyles even if they're different to yours, and they totally go against the stereotype of the aggressively heterosexual, homophobic Australian male. The performance scenes are amazing, too, especially this one.
I loved Strictly Ballroom too, especially because I watched it around the same time that the first season of Dancing with the Stars started on TV here...I used to be slightly obsessed with that show, sad as that sounds. Don't think I'd ever make it as a ballroom dancer though, I'm kind of a massive klutz. I know the end scene's the famous one, but I think my favourite scene in the movie is the one with Scott and Fran dancing in front of the Coke sign, with Cyndi Lauper playing in the background and his dad dancing alone in his room. Paul Mercurio was kind of hot back then...though on Dancing with the Stars he was a bit of a douchebag at times. It's just so cute, and honestly, Fran kind of reminds me of me a bit.
And despite the fact that I had to study The Castle for Extension English back in Year 12 (Anyone else do 'Retreat from the Global' as their elective? Worst. Elective. Ever. I absolutely loathed it.), it's actually an awesome movie, even if there are certain bits that make me twitch because I watched them so many times during the HSC. It's hilarious, but apparently didn't do so well overseas- like, I know Americans didn't get it,even though they changed some of the words here and there. Maybe we do have our own distinct type of humour that other countries don't get? But British humour's incredibly random and other countries seem to get it...well, I get it. It's awesome. Like this Monty Python clip...it's actually kinda offensive when you think about it, but it's hilarious. As is this song that was in the stage version of that sketch. (I showed it to my friend who's studying philosophy, but sadly, he didn't find it funny.)But once again, I digress.
So this is my last post on this blog, because our assignment's over and if I feel the need to post anything again it's going on my own personal blog. As far as assignments go, this one was pretty fun. I enjoyed blogging, getting my opinions out there, sharing my thoughts on some of my favourite movies with...whoever reads this blog. I doubt we have much of an audience, but it was still heaps of fun. I shall leave you now with a clip that has nothing to with films whatsoever, but is still completely hilarious. Warning: laughing at this video will attract a lot of weird looks from those around you.
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