This new Australian film (2011) is an appropriate piece of text to use as supplementary material  for Belonging particularly for Romulus, My Father and perhaps also for the poems of Peter Skrzynecki.

The following points of comparison will help you write your own essay :

• Language Forms : Mythology and Memoir – Red Dog started as a short story, mutated into a novel and then a film script. The story has changed each time it has been retold, so that any original truths in the story have been turned into myth. It is possible that stories about different dogs have been compressed into this one story, it is not possible to know the truth.  The film covers this problem by portraying the story as a series of tall stories told in the pub, with a number of different narrators.  This  genre of story telling allows us to doubt the truth of the actual events told, while understanding that political or philosophical truths are being explored.

Romulus, My Father was told as a memoir showing how a displaced man from Post-War Europe could redeem himself in Australia. Whatever Romulus did in the war, Gaita makes us see past that to the man who became a generous and forgiving husband, father and friend.

Skrzynecki’s poem 10 Mary Street mythologizes Skrzynecki’s home, showing the house at its best, leaving out the bad parts. His father is painted as a sociable, industrious man.

• Language features – setting – Red Dog is set in the 1970’s when Dampier was a new town established as a port for the iron ore industry, and as a salt mine. Many migrants went to Dampier for work just as they did to the Snowy Mountains Scheme and other irrigation schemes in the 1950’s, when Romulus Gaita arrived in Australia. The theme of opening up the country occurs in both these texts, whereas in Skrzynecki’s poems, the work done in the country is teaching, his father staying in the city.

• Language features – describing the Landscape – the filmographer of Red Dog loved the landscape, using long shots in particular to show the beautiful colours of the Dampier area, including the sea, the salt piles and the desert at various times of day. We are told the Abruzzi in Italy is beautiful, but are shown the intensity and delicacy of the Australian north.

Raimond Gaita also shows the beauty of the landscape, the hills of Victoria and the reservoirs built for the hydro scheme.

Skzrynecki describes his father’s garden as a metaphor for the fertility of Australia, its potential for growth and beauty.

• Language features - Metaphor  -

Migrants – the people in Red Dog are Aboriginal, Anglo-Celtic Australian, Polish, Italian and American among others. Gaita describes people from Romania and Germany and Anglo-Celts. Skrzynecki portrays people of Polish and Czech origins. In all these situations, people are proud of their origins, seek out other people from their homeland, and describe their homelands fondly.  The characters in these texts become metaphors for displacement, isolation and loneliness. Their experiences embody what it means to be Australian.

Red dog himself  is a metaphor for the  activities that bind people together into new communities. The love of the dog by everyone is paralleled by their friendships, love affairs and marriages. The threat to Red Dog by the park caretakers draws everyone together physically, as does the death of John and of Red Dog, to form an active community defending its members, and remembering them.

Gaita shows Romulus as living in an isolated community, in a farmhouse distant from town. But Romulus creates fantastic wrought iron furniture that everyone buys. His, and later Raimond’s, regular delivery trips, bind people together. In contrast the milk bar in town is divisive, showing prejudice towards even slightly different names.

For Skrzynecki it was the house and garden, then his school, that acted as metaphors for belonging. Each part of the Skrzynecki’s lives drew them into the community.

• Language Features -  Tone – each text portrays humour, anger, grief and pain. Red Dog makes use of computer generated technology to speed up parts of the film such as the fight between red dog and red cat, reflecting cartoon techniques. The audience can laugh with the characters, and grieve with them as well. Gaita has less laughter, but grief is dealt with in the same low key tone. Skrzynecki also deals with death in a calm, reflective style, fitting in with the Australian ethos of keeping it to yourself. As much as the migrants change Australia, Australia changes them.

• Language Feature - Purpose – these texts set out to show different aspects of belonging. Red Dog is a piece of propaganda showing how people in Western Australia are the same as other Australians, that anyone can belong to the community in the Pilbara, if they want to. This is particularly brought home by the use of music in the text, with the song Working for the Man romanticizing  mine work. This suits the mining companies agenda of bringing more people to the area, from the Eastern states.

Raimond Gaita  has a more philosophical purpose, showing how people can be changed by Australia. Living in a peaceful community can bring out the best in people if they are prepared or able to leave the worst of the past behind them. Romulus and Hora succeed in building families and businesses in this country.

Skrzynecki shows us that success can be quiet and domestic. Migrants succeeded in Australia, living happy, fulfilled lives full of work, family, friendships and growing things. The creation of beautiful, productive gardens by his father mirrors the larger market gardens built by migrants, all of which have been vital to the creation of vital communities.

Language Structures – Red Dog divides into two sections – the time when Red Dog belonged to John, and the time when he became part of the community. This reflects the growth of belonging, the development of community as a flexible, vital entity.

Gaita shows Romulus living a very isolated life with Raimond, then moving into town with his wife, rather grudgingly. Over time his work and his integrity had drawn him into the local community. Raimond goes off to school, the second generation now a part of this country.

Skrzynecki also shows himself attending school, becoming more Australian than European, without losing his connection to his origins.

The protagonist of The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender is the private detective Claudia Valentine. Modelled on the famous character Phillip Marlowe, she has all the characteristics of a fictional male detective, with feminine characteristics underlying them. Claudia is consequently a confusing character, sometimes appearing very masculine and at other times feminine. This is produced both through plotting and language use.
Plotting
Firstly, Claudia is presented as a divorced woman who has left her children in the care of her ex-husband, living in what she considers the better environment of the country. This puts her in the role normally taken by fathers, i.e. that of the parent who takes the children for the holidays and rings them when she remembers. Being the non-residential parent she lives in a busy hotel where she feels comfortable and safe.
Secondly, Claudia earns her living as a private detective. To maintain this role she has taken martial arts classes and exercises. She also has a circle of contacts with different skills, mostly people with computer skills such as hacking or spying. To maintain a circle like this means Claudia has to drink with the boys. Her lifestyle is like that of a young man rather than that of a wife and mother. She feels happy going into computer game arcades and accosting bouncers, even though she is not always successful in her missions into these situations.
Language
These plot devices would not work if the language used about Claudia was feminine, but the language needs to let her be feminine when it is appropriate. There are several ways Day achieves this balance:
Inversion
The first two pages of the novel are in the same way as any detective novel, making the reader assume the protagonist is a male. Claudia describes drinking Jack Daniels, the good looking blond in her bed, managing to light the gas, the hammer in her head – all things we associate with men. She wears a black suit, black shoes which have been left separated in the room and dark glasses. She appears more like a Mafia goon than a detective. It’s not until we read that Claudia’s heels clatter, that we become aware she is female.
This technique – the use of male iconography to manipulate our image of the character – is continued throughout the novel.
In chapter Ten Claudia orders a Scotch in a bar described as smoky, smelling of beer and sounding of pool cues. After a paragraph Day turns the bar on its head – from a den of iniquity to a den of inequity. Claudia can’t sit in the main bar, she has to sit in a different bar where a newspaper reader provides the next movement in the plot.
In Chapter Eleven Claudia is mistaken for a man when she is hanging from a hook chain. She uses the clichés about men avoiding angry wives to get the drunk who has seen her to be quiet. She is described as being ‘like a drunk myself’ and then being ‘in’ the building she was investigating.
In her relationships with other women Claudia also uses the language we associate with men. With the Commissioner of Police, Carol, Claudia initially appears to be a sexual partner. Carol behaves femininely in the bar, curling her legs around the bar stool. Later when Claudia is arrested, Carol takes the stronger role. Her language becomes bureaucratic, surprising Claudia who feels like ‘a soft boiled egg.’ The author breaks the tension this creates with lavender jokes: the pun on lavender plant and lavender being a can of worms, and the alliteration of ‘Lavender’s been lying low lately.’ This introduces the common enemy, uniting the women even with their different approaches to working in the male world.

Detective Novel Language
Claudia uses the language of pulp detective novels in her speech and in her thinking:
‘You can’t win them all’ p11.
I’ve got a bottle under the bed in a brown paper bag.’ P. 14
‘It’s time to plug into the old boys network.’ P. 86
‘Pays the rent, Jack.’ P. 88
‘The nice cop and the tough cop exchanged glances.’ P124
‘Trying to avoid the clichéd wife with the clichéd rolling pin behind the clichéd door.’ P. 120
‘Then the lights went out.’ P. 122
‘I was putting one and one together and it wasn’t making two.’ P. 123

Written in 1988 this novel was in the frontline creating feisty feminine characters. There were very few films or novels for an author to refer to. Ripley had appeared in 1979 in Alien, but she was the exception not the rule. Day refers to Miss Marple and to Murder She Wrote as examples of female detectives, but they are not gun toting, karate kicking gals. Day resorts to using male language to make Claudia sound tough and daring rather than inventing a new tough-girl language. This has a negative impact. We see Claudia as a defensive woman, one who has built a protective wall around herself after her divorce. The Maori see through her, threatens to spank her and sends her home. He knows she’s a fake.
Juxtaposition
Claudia also has a feminine side, embodied in her name, Valentine. She is regularly associated with flowers, greenery and water. For instance:
In chapter one after we have been fooled into thinking Claudia is a man, Claudia buys violets to take to the funeral she is attending. (Notice they are purple, continuing the lavender theme.)
When she visits Bondi beach Claudia sees Sydney as a spider flower.
In chapter eight Steve Angell has greenery around his bathtub, contrasting the oily water Claudia jumped into to escape the villains. Under his touch her pores open like flowers in the sun and butterflies shimmer.(82) Both water and flower imagery marks the centre of the novel.
Claudia drinks at the Rose and Crown to learn the truth about her father. (88)
The gift of a pot of lavender given to her by Steve Angell becomes the symbol of his allegiance to Harry Lavender, a contrast to her association with smaller, delicate flowers and greenery. By the end of the novel Claudia thinks lavender stinks, that it gives a stench to the city, and she cannot defeat it.

Ultimately Claudia is a mixture of male and female images and language, giving the female protagonist new opportunities for work and play. Like most of her successors she is hard on the outside and soft inside, adopting male characteristics to survive in the world of work, keeping her feminine side private and very protected.

All chapter references are from the Mandarin Paperback series, 1994 published by Griffin Paperbacks.

A.       Suyuan and Jing-Mei Woo –

The Joy Luck Club – pp. 19 – 42

Two Kinds – 132 – 144

Best Quality – 197 – 215

A Pair of Tickets – 267 – end

Symbols: East, Jade pendant, Kweilin, mah jong, swan, dragon, wood, peony,  Crystal Palace of the Dragon King.

1.       Describe Suyuan’ s relationship to Jing-Mei when she was a child.

2.       How did this relationship change when Jing-Mei grew older?

3.       What happened to Suyuan in China that affected her later life? How do we learn the whole story?

4.       Why did Suyuan start the Joy-Luck Club in China? Why did she start it again in America? What does it symbolize?

5.       How does Suyuan’s image of Kweilin represent her ideals about bringing up children?

6.       How did Suyuan die? What effect did this have on Jing-Mei and Canning?

7.       Why didn’t Jing-Mei marry? What has she done with her life?

8.       Who is the man in Jing-Mei’s life?

9.       What is the significance of Jing-Mei’s return to China? How is it different to the other Joy Luck family’s returns?

10.   How is Lunar New Year important to these characters?

A.      Lindo and Waverly Jong

The Red Candle  pp 149- 166

Rules of the Game 89 – 102

Four Directions  166 – 185

Double Face 253 – 267

Symbols: South, Chess queens, red marriage accoutrements, Queen Mother of the Western Skies, red chang, Buddha,  fire,  bird, lotus.

1.       What does Lindo’s first marriage reveal about her character?

2.       Why did Lindo’s marriage to Tin help her fit into the USA? What happened when they returned to China?

3.       How did Lindo relate to Waverly as a child?

4.       How did Lindo’s relationship to Waverly change when she lived with Rich Shields?

5.       In what ways does Lindo link all the characters in the novel?

6.       What does China mean to Waverly? How is this different to the other daughters in the novel?

7.       Why is the Moon Festival significant to these characters?

B.      An-Mei Hus and Rose Hsu Jordan

Scar  42 – 49

Half and Half 116 – 132

Without Wood 185 – 197

Magpies 215 – 242

Symbols: North, water, turtles, Mr. Chou, waterweeds, plum blossom, Twenty Six Malignant Gates, sapphire ring, Coiling Dragon.

1.       What did An-Mei’s childhood teach her about respect for your parents?

2.       Describe the symbols in An-Mei’s childhood. How did they affect her when she was an adult?

3.       What effect did Bing’s death have on An-Mei and Rose?

4.       How did Rose relate to her parents? Was her mother’s influence different to the other mothers’?

5.       In what way did Rose’s Chinese heritage help her psychologically and socially?

6.       Why was Lunar New Year important to this family?

C.      Ying-Ying St. Clair and Lena

Symbols: West, white, tiger, chrysanthemum, black vase, ice cream, autumn, metal

1.       Describe the events in Ying-Ying’s childhood which affected her personality.

2.       How did Ying-Ying’s experiences in her first marriage affect her experiences in her second marriage?

3.       Why was Clifford St. Clair the wrong husband for Ying-Ying?

4.       What lesson did the girl in the flat next door teach Lena?

5.       How did Lena’s childhood experiences affect her relationship to Harold?

6.       How did Ying-Ying help Lena? What gave her the strength to do this?

7.       Why was the Moon Festival significant to this family? Which other family is related to the Moon Lady? What is similar about the daughters in these families?

American Federation of Variety Artists Group Deckard at first claimed to represent when he interviewed Zhora in her persona of Miss Alimi.

Animoid row Section of the city specialising in the manufacture and sale of artificial animals. Where Deckard took the snake scale found in Leon’s bath for identification.

Blade Runner Special police employed to retire Replicants, able to administer the V-K test.  Novel by Alan E. Nourse in which  Blade Runners supply smuggled medical supplies in an impoverished future world.

Blade Runner: (a movie) Novel by William Burroughs, inspired the term Blade Runner.

Bradbury building Real place used as the location of Sebastian’s apartment, suffering from being overly ornate and decaying. [< Ray Bradbury, sci fi writer]

Chew’s Eye Works Laboratory where a genetic engineer produced eyes for replicants. Chinese characters outside expressed hope for prosperous days ahead and wished passers by a safe journey. Visited by Roy and Leon who hoped to find a cure for their aging problem. [pun for ‘choose eye works?]

Cityspeak Term invented by writer David Peoples for a gutter language used by Gaff. Vocabulary developed by Edward James Olmos, included Spanish, French, Chinese, German, Hungarian and Japanese.

Confidential Committee on Moral Abuses Group Deckard claimed to represent once gained access to Zhora’s room.

Cuckoo clock One of Sebastian’s toys. Old fashioned type of clock which has a wooden cuckoo move out on every hour, cuckooing the time.

Darling Name of Zhora’s snake. Reference to Marlene Dietrich whose enunciation of ‘darling’ was considered erotic.

Esper Deckard’s personal, home based computer with 3-D capacity. Used by the police department to search rooms digitally, and to analyse and enlarge photos. Used by Deckard to enlarge sections of Leon’s photographs until he found an image of Zhora. [ < French for ‘to hope’]

Geisha Image of a Japanese woman on the building advertisements. Traditionally these were high class companions who performed the ceremonial tea service and conversed with clients, but were not necessarily sexual partners.

Hades Landscape Aka Ridley’s Inferno. Opening scenes of the film showing an industrial landscape with towers belching fireballs, spinners flying around and two Tyrell pyramids. [Hades was the Greek Underworld where the dead lived, commonly thought to be Hell]

Kabuki raccoon Mask Pris paints on her face. Looks punk, the New Wave of the future, also makes her like one of Sebastian’s dolls. [Kabuki is Japanese theatre where all the actors wear masks; raccoons are American animals.]

Interrogation Room Location in the Tyrell Pyramid where Holden gave Leon the V-K test.

Las Mimilocos Movie title showing near the noodle bar. Possibly cityspeak, meaning the crazy copies? Reference to films Los Olvidados and Los Toarantos, both about young love.

Mazacotey arquest Movie title showing near the noodle bar, with Las Mimilocos.

Megalopolis Amalgamation of cities e.g. San Francisco and Los Angeles, which would be called San Angeles.

Methuselah Syndrome Aka accelerated decrepitude. Disease suffered by Sebastian, making him appear old. Gave the replicants a point of sympathy with him as they were approaching death rapidly. [< Biblical character who lived to a great age]

Nexus 6 Brand and batch of the replicants who had escaped. Mainly military models with high physical prowess and great adaptability.

Noodle bar Place where Deckard bought his food.

Nuyok Anagram of Yukon used on a building in the film, actually the same building as the Yukon.

Replicant Name used for the androids, took away connotations the word ‘android’ had developed from modern films.

Ridleygrams Sketches 1.5 inches by 3 inches drawn by Ridley Scott to show what he wanted in a shot.

Ridley’s Inferno Opening scenes of the film showing an industrial landscape with towers belching fireballs, spinners flying around and two Tyrell pyramids. [< Dante’s Inferno was a vision of Hell]

Snake pit, the Nightclub entered by Deckard on Abdul Ben-Hassan’s advice. Smoky, crowded with upper class people smoking opium bongs or drinking cocktails. Owned by Taffey Lewis, maker of replicant snakes, punning on the meaning of snake pit as a place full of evil people.

Spinner Hover car, heavier than air vehicle with an internal enclosed lifting system. Large Chevrolet style car with heavy windscreen wipers and glass cleaning systems. Twist wrist steering device, collapsible headrests with self contained speaker systems, fold up front wheels. Took Deckard to the Tyrell Pyramid.

Tsing-Tao Also spelled qing dao. Pronounced ching dau. Means ‘green isle’. One of the Chinese seaports opened up to foreigners in the 19^th century. Home of a German-British company making beer from 1903 to World War II, then run by the Japanese and later by the Chinese who changed the ingredients of the beer. Now a common Chinese brand. A can was bought by Deckard just before he was attacked by Leon, also drunk by Deckard in his apartment before he washed the blood out of his mouth.

Tyrell Corporation Business empire run by Tyrell, builder of the Nexus line of replicants.

Tyrell Pyramid Base of the Tyrell Corporation including the interrogation room and Tyrell’s quarters. Over a mile high, 600 to 900 stories. Two were seen in the opening shots of the Hades Landscape, only one was visited.

Unicorn Creature Deckard had dreams about. Graff left an origami version in Deckard’s apartment to demonstrate he could have killed Rachael but didn’t. Indicated he knew what Deckard was dreaming. ( Note that a unicorn is also a motif in Ridley Scott’s film Legend)

Vangelis Composer of a variation of Chopin’s Thirteenth Nocturne played on the piano by Rachael. [ Italian for ‘gospel’, sounds like angel]

Voigt-Kampf test Series of questions with emotional loading posed by examiners to Replicant suspects. Involuntary iris responses gave away if the suspect was an android.

Yukon Building lived in by Leon. [< Area in Canada, site of the Klondike Gold Rush and

1885 Fall of Khartoum

1893 The Boer War

Jack the Ripper – began in 1888.

1898 The Dreyfus Affair in France.

1900 Queen Victoria died.

World War I 1914-1918

1918 British women with property got the vote.

Constance Markiewicz elected to Irish Parliament, refused to take seat as a member of Sinn Fein and a Nationalist.

1928 All British women got the vote.

1929 The Great Depression 1 1929 The Great Depression begins.1939-45 World War II 

1941 Racial discrimination outlawed in defense industries.

1944 Hofstadter describes Fascism as Social Darwinism

1947 The Hollywood Ten called to the House Un-American Activities Committee.

1948 CIA begins 

1950-53 The Korean War

1953-61 President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

1960-75 The Vietnam War

1950-54 Senator McCarthy accuses citizens of being communists.

1960 President Kennedy elected

1961 The Bay of Pigs Social Context 1857 The Divorce Act1878 Matrimonial Causes Act

1883 Married Women’s Property Act

1886 The Desertion Act

1888 The Union of Match Girls

1888 Electric light in homes

 1893 Cycling allowed in Hyde Park.

1896 Craze for bicycles. 1899 Women bought papers in the street for the first time.

1897 Queen’s Jubilee.

1918 Votes for Women

1919 The Influenza Epidemic

1919 Sex Disqualification (Removal)Act in Britain.

1919 Lady Astor won a Conservative Seat in British elections.

1920 Margaret Wintringham won a Liberal seat in British elections.

1921 First woman barrister in GB

1921 The Six Point Group established in Britain aimed for political, occupational, social, economic and legal equality. Lobbied at international level until 1983.

1929 The Marriage Act 1946 Married women required to stay home  to allow returned servicemen a job.1949 Armed services desegregated.

1949 Publication of The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir.

1952 Betty Friedan sacked from the United Electrical Workers UE News for being pregnant.

1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan declared segregated schools unconstitutional.

1955 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin dies in New York. Writings are published posthumously.

1957 ‘Enovid’ sold in USA for menstrual problems.

1950’s Betty Friedan writes on ‘the problem with no name’ after a reunion with College graduates who had become housewives. Articles become The Feminine Mystique.

1960 The Pill approved for sale by the US Food and Drug Administration.

1960 Sit in movement begun at Greensboro N.C.  by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

1961 Freedom Riders  sent by the Congress of Racial Equality to the South. Culminated in 1963 march on Washington D.C. Cultural Context 1885 Dictionary of National Biography Vol I published.1891 Oscar Wilde charged with immorality for The Picture of Dorian Gray.

1895 Production of The Importance of Being Earnest by J.M. Barrie.

1895 Oscar Wilde sentenced to two years hard labour.

1902 J.M. Barrie wrote The Admirable Crichton.

1903 Henry James wrote Portrait of a Lady.

1904 First production of Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie.

1905 GB Shaw produces Major Barbara and Man and Superman.

The House of Mirth novel by Edith Wharton

1908 A Room with a View – Novel  by E.M. Forster

1910 Howard’s End  Novel by E.M. Forster

Dictionary of National Biography finished publishing the first edition.

Manet and the Post-Impressionists exhibition organized by Roger Fry

1913 Production of Pygmalion. George Bernard Shaw.

1915 Of Human Bondage – novel by W. Somerset Maugham.

1917 Prufrock and Other Observations  Poetry by T.S. Eliot.

1918 A Diary Without Dates by Enid Bagnold.

1919 The Moon and Sixpence – novel by W. Somerset Maugham.

1920 The Sacred Wood – Critical studies by T.S. Eliot.

Vision and Design Art criticism and theory by Roger Fry

Bliss Katherine Mansfield short stories.

The Age of Innocence Novel by Edith Wharton

1922 The Wasteland T.S. Eliot Poetry.

The Garden Party  Katherine Mansfield short stories.

1923 The Dove’s Nest Katherine Mansfield short stories.

1924 A Passage to India  Novel by E.M. Forster

Something Childish Katherine Mansfield short stories.

1925 The Writing of Fiction Edith Wharton.

1926 Transformations Art criticism by Roger Fry

1927 Cezanne Art biography by Roger Fry

1928 Trial of writer and publishers of The Well of Loneliness. 1927 – Showboat, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein . Filmed in 1936.  Funny Face by George and Ira Gershwin. Sing: He Loves and She Loves. Filmed 1957.  The Student Prince , music by Sigmund Romberg.  

1934 – Anything Goes – Cole Porter. Filmed 1956

1941 – Mother Courage and Her Children – Bertolt Brecht stage play.

1943 – Oklahoma!  Rogers and Hammerstein. Filmed, 1955. Song O, What a Beautiful Morning   

The Good Woman of Setzuan Bertolt Brecht stage play.

1944 – The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams stage play

1945 – Carousel by  Rogers and Hammerstein. Song You’ll Never Walk Alone. Filmed 1956.

1947 – Brigadoon by Lerner and Lowe. Filmed 1954.

-A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams stage play.

1948 – The Caucasian Chalk Circle – Bertolt Brecht stage play.

1949- South Pacific – by Rogers and Hammerstein. Song Bali Ha’i.  Filmed 1956.

-Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller stage play.

1952 – Singin’ in the Rain  Film musical.

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. Stage play.

1953- The Crucible – Arthur Miller stage play. 

1954 – The Student Prince music by Sigmund Romberg.  Film musical.

1955 – Guys and Dolls film. Song: Luck Be a Lady; Kismet film, musical by Robert Wright & George Forrest, based on musician Borodin.  Song Stranger in Paradise.

-Cat on a Hot Tin Roof  Tennessee Williams stage play

-A View from the Bridge –Arthur Miller stage play.  

1956 – My Fair Lady by Lerner and Lowe;  Song:  The Rain in Spain. Filmed 1964.

1957 – The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui Bertolt Brecht stage play

-Endgame  Samuel Beckett stage play

1958 – Gigi by Lerner and Lowe, for film.

1959 – 60 Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence no longer censored. Published in New York and London

1961 The Misfits film with Marilyn Monroe. Script by Arthur Miller

-Night of the Iguana Tennessee Williams stage play.

1962 – Gypsy film ]]> http://nisi.com.au/blog/?feed=rss2&p=20 3 http://nisi.com.au/blog/?p=16 http://nisi.com.au/blog/?p=16#comments Fri, 04 Feb 2011 04:10:57 +0000 nisi52 http://nisi.com.au/blog/?p=16 Suggestions for supplementary material – HSC 2011 Belonging  

Nisi has put together the following list of texts to go with your study of 'Belonging'. There are always problems with the age ratings for films. Often you will be able to read a novel but not use the film of that novel. Always check with your teacher before you choose your material.

 For instance: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo has strong themes about belonging and being an outsider. However the film is justifiably rated MA. The book is not as explicit as the film but could worry some examiners. You would need a good reason to be using it.

Novels :

Breath  by Tim Winton. Australian. Short. Mateship/ Group dynamics/initiation.

Dogboy by Eva Hornung. Australian, set in Russia. Exclusion/‘family’/survival/adaptability.

Maestro Peter Goldsworthy. Australian. Medium. Inclusion and exclusion/rites of passage.

(You should know something about the Holocaust and classical music for this one.)

Mr. Pip  Lloyd Jones. Australian. Shorter. Village life/family/education/civil war/migration.

Ransom by David Malouf Australian, set in Ancient Troy. Short. Family/ community/loyalty/ bravery, honour.

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson. Canadian. Available as a film. Longer. Ethnicity/justice/ community/loyalty/ honesty.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night by Mark Haddon. Medium. England. Family breakdown/exclusion by disability and parenthood.

The Kite Runner Khaled Hoseini.  Medium. Available as a film. American/Afghanistan. Exclusion/migration/ responsibility/loyalty/duty.  

The Reader  by Bernard Schlink.  Shorter. Available as a film with MA rating. German. Collective guilt/ individual guilt/community.

To Kill A Mockingbird  by Harper Lee.  Longer. Available as a B&W film. Southern American. Town dynamics/ exclusion by race and disability/justice/responsibility/duty.

Songs

Everywhere you go -  Crowded House

I Still Call Australia Home – Peter Allen

This Land is Your Land – Woodie Guthrie

Treaty – Yothu Yindi

Beds are Burning – Midnight Oil

Documentaries

Kevin McCloud: Slumming It   ABC 2010.

Kevin stays in a suburb of Mumbai called Darrowby which will soon be demolished. He learns that the people live and work in tight communities, and wonders how to design buildings that will allow this to continue.

As It Happened: The Polish Battle of Britain SBS 2010

Polish pilots who fled when Hitler invaded, formed a British squadron to fight the Germans. Their efforts probably gave Britain the edge that won the Battle of Britain, but when the war ended they were invited to leave.

Halal Mate: The Brothahood Australian Film Commisssion, Film Victoria, Australia in association with SBS Independent, Rebel Films, 2007

Young men who met at a Muslim Youth Group formed a rap group which subsequently worked with a rap group in Britain.

Immigration Nation: The Secret History of Us SBS 2011

My China  Kylie Kwong, Magna Pacific, Fremantle Media Enterprises, 2008

mYGeneration: Fresh Off the Boat , SBS  Documentary, 2008

Who Do You Think You Are? SBS 2010 Magda Szubanski

Magda visited Poland and Ireland to learn where her families came from, and was deeply affected by their situations.

Films:

A Fortunate Life  1995 Nine Network Australia, Umbrella Aussie DVD

The story of how Albert Facey was brought up, sent away to work as a child and then returned to his extended family before fighting in World War I. His sense of belonging was undermined by his mother, but reinforced by his brothers.

Avatar   Twentieth Century Fox, 2009

Jake Foley is sent to infiltrate the Na’vi  to allow humans to mine unobtainium and destroy their home, but he becomes one of them instead.

Girl With a Pearl Ear-Ring  2001, Pathe! Ingenious Media

A Protestant girl, Gret, goes to work for the Protestant Vermeer family. With her family background in tile making, she understands Vermeer’s craft and helps mix paints until Vermeer paints her, infuriating his wife. She leaves and marries, but Vermeer sends her the ear-rings she wore in the painting.

Last Samurai   2004 Warner Brothers, USA  

Nathan Algren is captured by a Japanese Warlord and held in a village. As he adapts to the lifestyle he becomes part of the village and its culture.

Mao’s Last Dancer     Roadshow Entertainment, Australia

A Chinese dancer works in Australia, then defects so he can pursue his career.

Slumdog Millionaire 2008, Celador Films, 2009 Icon Film Distribution Pty Ltd.

A boy from the slums of Mumbai is arrested because he wins the Who Wants to be a Millionaire show. He is suspected of cheating because he shouldn’t know the answers to the questions, this is his explanation.

The Dunera Boys       Ovation,  Classic Australian Drama

A fictionalised account of men rounded up in London at the beginning of World War II, because they were apparently Jewish, then shipped to Australia. Sent to Parkes, they organised themselves so well they didn’t want to leave when the English government admitted their mistake.

The Pursuit of Happyness    Columbia Picture Industries Inc 2006, USA 

An Afro-American in desperate circumstances studied to be a stockbroker, caring for his son at the same time. His dedication and intelligence give him a place in an affluent group.

Tomorrow When the War Began Paramount, 2010, Australia

A group of teenagers spend a weekend in the bush together, coming home to an invasion of Australia. With different ethnic backgrounds and social situations they have to learn to belong to one another and be a team.

Romulus, My Father : Timeline

The dates below have been worked out from the text, some events cannot be dated.

• Timelines
• Supplementary material lists
• Ideas on current issues

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It now appears that students need help with The Life and Crimes of HArry Lavender. I've put up a quick post on the language used by Claudia, but this will need more work. Looks like we need a study guide available on disc for a really low price.

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