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Home , Alvin Purple, Angry Boys, Australian comedy, Barry McKenzie, Chris Lilley (comedian), Chris Noonan

Australian Screen

Class code FMTV-UT 9113-001

Instructor Dr Megan Carrigy Details [email protected] Consultations by appointment. Please allow at least 24 hours for your instructor to respond to your emails.

Class Details Spring 2018

Australian Screen Comedy

January 29 to April 19 Monday 9:00am-12.30pm (Weeks 1-6) and Thursday 2:00-6:00pm (Weeks 4-12) Room 302 (Mon), Auditorium (Thu) NYU Academic Centre Science House: 157-161 Gloucester Street, The Rocks 2000

Prerequisites None

Class Australian film and offer potent insights into ongoing debates about Description colonisation, race, class, gender and politics in contemporary Australian society. In this course we explore a diverse range of historical and contemporary examples with a focus on the strong tradition of , situation comedy and variety entertainment in . We devote particular attention to Australian comedies that utilise, critique and parody other media genres and formats including , current affairs, news reporting, chat shows and sports commentary. We consider the capacity for comedy to offend, criticise and provoke outrage but also to promote self-reflection, empathy and identification. We examine how Australian comedies interrogate images of , including stereotypes and national types such as ‘the ocker’ and ‘the larrikin’, and conjure affectionate and hostile portraits of suburban life, the outback and Australians abroad. We attend to the production and reception of comedy in context but also consider as a transnational phenomenon that travels internationally, inspires remakes in other countries and initiates cross-cultural dialogue.

Desired After successfully completing this course students will be able to: Outcomes

Page 1 of 15 Australian Screen Comedy ● Critically analyse the ways that Australian screen comedy is shaped by its historical, political and cultural contexts. ● Situate Australian cinema and television in their national, regional and international contexts. ● Research and investigate aspects of the Australian cinema and television and communicate their findings in a coherent, well-structured written form.

Assessment Class Participation (10%) Assessed throughout the semester. Components Papers (30% each) Due Sessions 6 (26 February), 11 (29 March), 14 (20 April)

Class Participation: Students are required to demonstrate accountability and responsibility in their preparation for, and engagement with, the course. Students will receive a midterm participation grade, worth half of the total participation grade, after the first seven weeks of classes.

Papers (6-8 pages): Each paper will offer an analysis of a case study from successive topics covered by the course. Students are required to situate their argument in relation to the relevant required readings. Students are expected to undertake additional reading on their topic.

Failure to submit or fulfill any required course component will result in failure of the class.

For this course your total numerical score, calculated from the components listed above, is converted to a letter grade without rounding.

Extra Credit: Site policy does not allow grading of work outside of the assignments included in the syllabus. The final grade will only be calculated from the assessment components listed here and no other work, whether additional or substituted, is permitted.

Assessment Grade A: Excellent performance showing a thorough knowledge and understanding of the Expectations topics of the course; all work includes clear, logical explanations, insight, and original thought and reasoning.

Grade B: Good performance with general knowledge and understanding of the topics; all work includes general analysis and coherent explanations showing some independent reasoning, reading and research.

Grade C: Satisfactory performance with some broad explanation and reasoning; the work will typically demonstrate an understanding of the course on a basic level.

Grade D: Passable performance showing a general and superficial understanding of the course’s topics; work lacks satisfactory insight, analysis or reasoned explanations.

Page 2 of 15 Australian Screen Comedy Grade F: Unsatisfactory performance in all assessed criteria. Work is weak, unfinished or unsubmitted.

Grade This course uses the following scale of numerical equivalents to letter grades: Conversions A 94 to 100 A- 90 to < 94 B+ 87 to < 90 B 84 to < 87 B- 80 to < 84 C+ 77 to < 80 C 74 to < 77 C- 70 to < 74 D+ 67 to < 70 D 65 to < 67 F 0 to < 65

Submission of Assignments (excluding in-class presentations and exams) must be submitted electronically Work via NYU Classes. It is the student’s responsibility to confirm that the work has been successfully been uploaded. In the unlikely event that a submission to Classes fails, students must immediately submit the work to the Academic Programs Coordinator via email before the original submission deadline accompanied by an explanation of the issue. All in-class presentations and exams must be completed during the scheduled class time. An assessment component is considered completed when the student has met all the terms for that assessment component as outlined by the instructor.

An assessment component completed after the deadline without an agreed extension receives a penalty of 2 points on the 100-point scale (for the assignment) for each day the work is late. Work completed beyond five weekdays after the due date without an agreed extension receives a mark of zero, and the student is not entitled to feedback for that piece of work. Because failure to submit or fulfil any required assessment component will result in failure of the course, it is crucial for students to complete every assignment even when it will receive a mark of zero.

Plagiarism The academic standards of New York University apply to all coursework at NYU Sydney. NYU Policy Sydney policies are in accordance with New York University’s plagiarism policy. The presentation of another person’s words, ideas, judgment, images or data as though they were your own, whether intentionally or unintentionally, constitutes an act of plagiarism.

It is a serious academic offense to use the work of others (written, printed or in any other form) without acknowledgement. Cases of plagiarism are not dealt with by your instructor. They are referred to the Director, who will determine the appropriate penalty (up to and

Page 3 of 15 Australian Screen Comedy including failure in the course as a whole) taking into account the codes of conduct and academic standards for NYU’s various schools and colleges.

Attendance Study abroad at Global Academic Centres is an academically intensive and immersive Policy experience, in which students from a wide range of backgrounds exchange ideas in discussion-based seminars. Learning in such an environment depends on the active participation of all students. And since classes typically meet once or twice a week, even a single absence can cause a student to miss a significant portion of a course. To ensure the integrity of this academic experience, class attendance at the centres is mandatory, and unexcused absences will affect students' semester grades. The class roster will be marked at the beginning of class and anyone who arrives after this time will be considered absent. Students are responsible for making up any work missed due to absence.

For courses that meet once a week, one unexcused absence will be penalised by a two percent deduction from the student’s final course grade. For courses that meet two or more times a week, the same penalty will apply to two unexcused absences. Repeated absences in a course may result in failure.

Faculty cannot excuse an absence. Requests for absences to be excused must be directed to the Academic Programs Coordinator. Students must provide appropriate documentation for their absence. In the case of illness, students must contact the Academic Programs Coordinator on the day of absence. They must provide medical documentation to Academic Programs Coordinator within three days of the absence in order to be medically excused. The note must include a medical judgement indicating that the student was unfit to attend class/work on the specific day or dates of the absence. Faculty will be informed of excused absences by the Academic Programs staff.

Classroom This is a seminar subject and requires the active participation of all students. It also requires Expectations engaged discussion, including listening to and respecting other points of view. Your behaviour in class should respect your classmates’ desire to learn. It is important for you to focus your full attention on the class, for the entire class period. • Arrive to class on time. • Once you are in class, you are expected to stay until class ends. Leaving to make or take phone calls, to meet with classmates, or to go to an interview, is not acceptable behaviour. • Phones, digital music players, and any other communications or sound devices are not to be used during class. That means no phone calls, no texting, no social media, no email, and no internet browsing at any time during class. • Laptop computers and tablets are not to be used during class except in rare instances for specific class-related activity expressly approved by your instructor. • The only material you should be reading in class is material assigned for that class. Reading anything else, such as newspapers or magazines, or doing work from another class, is not acceptable.

Page 4 of 15 Australian Screen Comedy • Class may not be recorded in any fashion – audio, video, or otherwise – without permission in writing from the instructor.

Diversity, NYU is committed to building a culture that respects and embraces diversity, inclusion, and Inclusion and equity, believing that these values – in all their facets – are, as President Andrew Hamilton Equity has said, “…not only important to cherish for their own sake, but because they are also vital for advancing knowledge, sparking innovation, and creating sustainable communities.” At NYU Sydney we are committed to creating a learning environment that: • fosters intellectual inquiry, research, and artistic practices that respectfully and rigorously take account of a wide range of opinions, perspectives, and experiences; and • promotes an inclusive community in which diversity is valued and every member feels they have a rightful place, is welcome and respected, and is supported in their endeavours.

Religious Students observing a religious holiday during regularly scheduled class time are entitled to Observance miss class without any penalty to their grade. This is for the holiday only and does not include the days of travel that may come before and/or after the holiday. Students must notify their professor and the Academic Programs Coordinator in writing via email one week in advance before being absent for this purpose.

Provisions to Students with disabilities who believe that they may need accommodations in a class are students with encouraged to contact the Moses Centre for Students with Disabilities at (212) 998-4980 as Disabilities soon as possible to better ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion. For more information, see Study Away and Disability.

Required Texts

It is a course expectation that you have done the required reading and have prepared sufficiently to discuss them in class.

● Tony Moore, The Barry McKenzie Movies. Sydney: Currency Press, 2005. ● Weekly readings uploaded to NYU Classes.

Supplemental Texts (Available in NYUS Library)

● Cunningham, Stuart and Elizabeth Jacka, Australian Television and International Mediascapes, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996. ● Day, Amber. Satire and Dissent: Interventions in Contemporary Political Debate. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010.

Page 5 of 15 Australian Screen Comedy ● De Groen, Fran and Peter Kirkpatrick, eds. Serious Frolic: Essays on Australian Humour. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 2009. ● Dentith, Simon. Parody. London and New York: Routledge, 2000. ● Gallash, Keith, ed. Dreaming in Motion: Celebrating Australia’s Indigenous Filmmakers, Australian Film Commission, 2007. ● Goldsmith, Ben and Geoff Lealand, Directory of World Cinema: Australia & New Zealand Vol. 1 & 2. Bristoll: Intellect, 2010; 2013. ● Gray, Jonathan, Jeffrey P. Jones, and Ethan Thompson, eds. Satire TV: Politics and Comedy in the Post-Network Era. New York: NYU Press, 2009. ● Harris, Lauren, Not at a Cinema Near You: Australia’s film distribution problem, Currency House, 2013. ● Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Parody: The Teaching of Twentieth Century Art Forms. New York and London: Methuen, 1985. ● Jones, Jeffrey P. Entertaining Politics: Satiric Television and Political Engagement. Lanham,MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010. ● Khoo, Olivia, Smaill, Belinda, Yue, Audrey, Transnational Austalian Cinema: Ethics in The Asian Diasporas, UK: Lexington Books, 2013. ● Langton, Marcia, ‘Well, I heard it on the Radio and I saw it on the Television…’ An essay for the Australian Film Commission on the politics and aesthetics of filmmaking by and about Aboriginal people and things. Sydney: Australian Film Commission, 1993. ● McFarlane, Brian, Geoff Mayer, Ina Bertrand, The Oxford Companion to Australian Film. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. ● McKee, Alan, Australian Television: A Genealogy of Great Moments, : Oxford University Press, 2001. ● Mayer, Geoff and Keith Beattie, eds. The & New Zealand. London: Wallflower Press, 2007. ● Moran, Albert and Vieth Errol, Film in Australia: an Introduction, New York: Cambridge, 2006. ● Moran, Albert 1998, Copycat TV: Globalisation, Program Formats and Cultural Identity, University of Luton Press, Luton. ● Purdie, Susan, Comedy: The Mastery of Discourse, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993. ● Rayner, J. Contemporary Australian Cinema: An Introduction, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2000. ● Roscoe, Jane and Craig Hight, Faking It: Mock-Documentary and the Subversion of Factuality, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001. ● Rose, Margaret. Parody: Ancient, Modern, and Post-Modern. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1993. ● Simpson, Catherine, Murawska, Renata, Lambert, Anthony, eds. Diasporas of Australain Cinema, UK: Intellect Books, 2009. ● Verhoeven, Deb, Twin Peeks: Australian & New Zealand Feature Films. Melbourne: Damned Publishing, 1999.

Journals and Online Resources: ● Australian Screen: http://aso.gov.au/ ● Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies ● Media International Australia

Page 6 of 15 Australian Screen Comedy ● Metro ● Senses of Cinema: http://sensesofcinema.com/ ● Studies in Australasian Cinema ● NYU Libraries Cinema Studies Guide: http://nyu.libguides.com/content.php?pid=36440&sid=268312

Related Media

Television ● After the Beep (Geoff Portmann, ABC TV, 1996) ● (, ABC TV, 2011) ● The Aunty Jack Show (Maurice Morris, ABC TV, 1972-3) ● Australia You’re Standing in It (ABC TV, 1983-4) ● Big Girl’s Blouse (Kevin Carlin, , 1994) ● Chandon Pictures (Rob Carlton, Shadowfax TV, 2007) ● (Jo Lane, Ian McFadyen, Network Ten, 1988-1990) ● DAAS Kapital (ABC TV, 1991-2) ● The D-Generation (ABC TV, 1986-7) ● Fast Forward (Ted Emery, Kevin Carlin, 1989-1992) ● Frontline/Breaking News (1994-7) ● Full Frontal (Seven Network, 1993-7) ● The Games (ABC TV, 1999-2000) ● (Martin Coombs, ABC TV; Network Ten, 1996-2000; 2008-2012) ● (, SBS, 2011-) ● Ja’mie: Private School Girl (Chris Lilley, ABC TV, 2013) ● John Safran’s Music Jamboree (SBS Independent, 2002) ● John Safran vs God (Craig Melville, SBS Independent, 2004) ● (Chris Lilley, ABC TV, 2014) ● The Late Show (D-Generation Productions, ABC TV, 1992-3) ● The Librarians (, ABC TV, 2007) ● The Mavis Brampton Show (ATN7, 1964-8) ● The Money or the Gun (Martin Coombs, ABC TV, 1989-1990) ● (Jungleboy FTV, 2014-) ● Spicks and Specks (Paul Clarke, ABC TV, 2005-) ● Stop Laughing…This is Serious (3-part series, ABC TV, 2015) ● Upper Middle (Robyn Buttler, Wayne Hope, 2013-) ● Wilfred (Renegade Films, 2007-)

Film ● Alvin Purple (, Australia, 1973, 87 min) ● Babe (, Australia, 1995, 91 min) ● Chopper (Geoffrey Wright, Australia, 2000, 94 min) ● Da Kath and Kim Code (Ted Emery, Australia, 2005, 90 min) ● Fat Pizza (Paul Fenech, Australia, 2003, 96 min) ● Hey Hey It’s Ester Blueburger (Cathy Randall, Australia, 2007, 103 min) ● Love and Other Catastrophes (Emma-Kate Crogan, Australia, 1996, 78 min)

Page 7 of 15 Australian Screen Comedy ● Malcolm (, Australia, 1986, 90 min) ● Mary and Max (Adam Elliot, Australia, 2009, 92 min) ● Puberty Blues (, Australia, 1981, 87 min) ● Stone Bros (Richard Franklin, Australia, 2009, 90 min) ● The Sum of Us (Kevin Dowling, Geoff Burton, Australia, 1994, 100 min) ● (, Australia, 1987, 105 min) ● (, Australia, 2006, 90 min) ● They’re a Weird Mob (Michael Powell, Australia, 1966, 112 min) ● The Wog Boy (Aleksi Vellis, Australia, 2000, 92 min)

Radio ● Roy and HG - This Sporting Life: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/thissportinglife/ ● Mary G: http://www.maryg.com.au/enterprises/radio.html

Page 8 of 15 Australian Screen Comedy Session 1 Chris Lilley and Australian Screen Comedy Monday 29 January

Screening: ● We Can Be Heroes: Finding the (Chris Lilley, ABC TV, 2005) Episodes 1, 2 & 6

Required Reading: ● Julia Gayley Erhart, ‘Your heart goes out to the Australian Tourist Board’: Critical uncertainty and the management of censure in Chris Lilley’s TV comedies’, Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, Vol. 27, No. 3 (2013): 434–445. ● Bode, Lisa, ‘It’s a joke sir: Chris Lilley’s comedy of character, performance and taboo,’ Metro 157 (July 2008): 138-143. ● McFarlane, Brian, “A curmudgeon’s canon: random thoughts on ‘’ and ‘The Office’ and Other Nasty Pleasures, Metro Magazine 160, 134-8

Recommended Reading: • Jane Roscoe and Craig Hight, (2001), ‘Building a mock-documentary schema,’ Faking It: Mock- Documentary and the Subversion of Factuality, Manchester University Press, pp. 64-75.

Session 2 Comedy and Race Relations: Monday 5 February

Guest Speaker: Benjamin Miller (Sydney University)

Screening: ● Jonah from Tonga (Chris Lilley, ABC TV, 2014)

Required Reading: ● Benjamin Miller (2015), ‘Twisting the Dandy: The Transformation of the Blackface Dandy in Early American Theatre,’ The Journal of American Drama and Theatre Vol 27 No 3, 1-22. ● Richard Waterhouse, (1990) ‘The and Australian Culture,’ Journal of Popular Culture, Vol 23, No 3: 147-166 ● Links to news articles on Jonah from Tonga available on NYU Classes

Recommended Reading: ● Jon Stratton, (2011) ‘The Jackson Jive: Blackface Today and the Limits of Whiteness in Australia,’ Journal of the European Association of Studies on Australia Vol. 2 No 2: 22-41.

Session 3 Indigenous Australian : Historical and Contemporary Monday 12 February

Screening:

Page 9 of 15 Australian Screen Comedy ● Barbekueria (Don Featherstone, ABC TV, 1986, 30 min) ● Basically Black (Black Theatre, ABC TV, 1973, Pilot) ● Black Comedy (Scarlet Pictures, ABC TV, 2014-, Seasons 1 & 2) ● Kiki and Kitty (ABC TV, 2017) ● Excerpts: The Redfern Story (Darlene Johnson, Australia, 2014, 57 min)

Required Reading: ● Alan McKee, ‘“Superboong! ....” The Ambivalence of Comedy and Differing Histories of Race’, Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media and Culture, vol. 10, no. 2, 1996, pp.44–59. ● Marcia Langton, ‘Well I Heard it on the Radio, and I Saw it on the Television,’ Australian Film Commission, 1993, pp. 28-43.

Recommended Reading: • John Hartley, ‘Television, Nation, and Indigenous Media,’ Television & New Media. Vol. 5, No 1. (February 2004): 7-25.

Session 4 Variety Entertainment and Sketch Comedy: Legally Brown Monday 19 February

Screening: ● Australian Story: The Planet They’re On (ABC TV, November 7, 2011) ● Legally Brown (Nazeem, Hussain, Morgan Jones, SBS TV, 2013-) Season 1: Episode 1; Season 2: Episode 1

Required Reading: ● Craig Mathieson, ‘The balls to make laugh,’ Sydney Morning Herald, 15 March 2013. ● , ‘Legally Brown: Muslim comedian finds the funny in radical, be it jihadists or bogans,’ Sydney Morning Herald, September 24, 2013. ● Kevin Robbins, 'Other', in T Bennett, L Grossberg, & M Morris (eds), New keywords in culture and society, Blackwell, Oxford, 2005. ● Ien Ang, 'Multiculturalism', in T Bennett, L Grossberg, & M Morris (eds), New keywords in culture and society, Blackwell, Oxford, 2005. ● Ghassan Hage, ‘Multiculturalism and the Ungovernable Muslim,’ in Essays on Muslims & Multiculturalism, ed. Raimond Gaita, Text, 2011, pp. 155-186.

Session 5 Variety Entertainment and Sketch Comedy: Politics and News Media Thursday 22 February

Guest Speaker:

Screening: ● CNNNN: Chaser Non-Stop News Network (ABC TV, 2002-2003) Season 1: Episodes 1 & 4 ● ’s War on Everything (ABC TV, 2006-7) Season 2: APEC pranks ● The Show (ABC TV, 1975-6) Season 2: Episode 7 Coverage PM Whitlam’s Dismissal

Page 10 of 15 Australian Screen Comedy ● Excerpts: The Weekly with Charles Pickering (ABC TV, 2015-) ● Excerpts: Tonightly with (ABC TV, 2017-)

Required Reading: • Amber Day (2011), ‘Poking Holes in the Spectacle’ Satire and Dissent: Interventions in Contemporary Political Debate. Indiana University Press, pp. 1-13. ● Wendy Davis, ‘The Production of a Television Event: When Gunston Met Gough at Parliament House,’ Media International Australia, No. 121 (November 2006): 80-92 ● Sue Turnbull, ‘On With The Chaser,’ Metro 154 (October 2007): 2-7.

Recommended Reading: • Myke Bartlett, ‘That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore: Comedy, Controversy and the Changing Audience,’ Metro 163: 88-91. • Morrow, Andrew Olle lecture, 2009: http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/11/07/2735643.htm • Jonathan Gray; Jeffrey Jones & Ethan Thompson, Satire TV: Politics and Comedy in the Post-Network Era. NYU Press, 2009, pp. 3-36.

Session 6 Parody: Reality TV, Cooking Shows and Early Morning Breakfast Monday 26 February

Screening: • The Katering Show (Series 1 & 2, 2015-) • Get Krack!n (ABC TV, 2017)

Required Reading: • Simon Denith, (2000) Parody. Routledge, pp. 1-38. • Isabelle de Solier, (2005) ‘TV Dinners: Culinary Television Education and Distinction,’ Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies Vol. 19 No. 4: 465-481.

Recommended Reading: • Lenny Ann Low, ‘A New Recipe for Comedy,’ Sydney Morning Herald, June 10, 2016. • Emily Blachford, ‘The Katering Show is back with a deliciously funny second season(ing)’, Huffington Post, April 16, 2016. • Luke Buckmaster, ‘Katering Show Kates face-plant uproariously into milieu of breakfast TV,’ The Guardian, August 30, 2017. • Craig Mathieson, ‘Roasted alive: two comediennes ignite the bonfire of TV ,’ Sydney Morning Herald, September 18, 2017.

Assignment: First Paper Due (30%)

Session 7 Sports Media and Fan Culture Thursday 1 March

Guest Speaker: David Rowe (Western Sydney University)

Page 11 of 15 Australian Screen Comedy Screening: ● The Games (ABC TV, Seasons 1 & 2, 1998, 2000) ● The Dream with Roy and HG (Seven Network, 2000, 120 min) ● Los Trios Ringbarkus at Sydney Olympics Closing Ceremony

Required Reading: ● David Rowe, ‘Too much sport is barely enough: What makes Roy and HG funny?’ The Conversation, 19 February 2014. ● Linda Hutcheon, ‘The World, the parodic text, and the theorist,’ A Theory of Parody: The Teaching of Twentieth Century Art Forms. New York and London: Methuen, 1985, pp. 100-116. ● Richard Brody, ‘The demise of physical comedy,’ The New Yorker.

Recommended Reading: ● David Rowe, ‘Arrivals Hall Message: Global Media, Global Sport,’ Global Media Sport: Flows, Forms and Futures. Bloomsbury Academic, 2011, pp. 1-11 ● Gary Crawford, ‘Chapter 2: Conceptualising sports fans,’ Consuming Sport: Fans, Sport and Culture. New York; London: Routledge, 2004. ● Rachel Browne, ‘Roy, HG leave Fatso at home,’ The Sun Herald, July 18, 2004.

Session 8 Ocker Comedy, Satire and Larrikin Carnivalesque Monday 5 March

Screening: ● The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (Bruce Beresford, Australia, 1972, 114 min) ● Excerpt: Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild Untold Story of ! (Mark Hartley, Australia, 2008, 103 min)

Required Reading: ● Tony Moore, The Barry McKenzie Movies. Sydney: Currency Press, 2005.

Recommended Reading: • Stephen Crofts (1996) ‘The Adventures of Barry McKenzie: Comedy, satire and nationhood in 1972’, Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies. Vol 10., No. 2: 123-140. • Tony Moore (2014) ‘“What route are you taking?” The transnational experience of the Barry McKenzie movies,’ Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies. Vol 28., No 5: 629-639.

Session 9 Cross-Cultural Stereotypes and Postcolonial Australia Thursday 8th March

Screening: ● Crocodile Dundee (Peter Faiman, Australia, 1986, 97 min)

Required Reading:

Page 12 of 15 Australian Screen Comedy ● Meaghan Morris, ‘Tooth and Claw: Tales of Survival and Crocodile Dundee,’ Social Text No. 21 (1989): 105-127. ● Stephen Crofts, ‘Cross-Cultural Reception Studies: Culturally Variant Readings of Crocodile Dundee,’ Literature Film Quarterly Vol. 21 No. 2 (1993): 157-168.

Recommended Reading: • Benito Cao, ‘Beyond Empire: Australia Cinematic Identity in the Twenty-First Century,’ Studies in Australasian Cinema. Vol. 6, No. 3: 239-250. • Stephen Crofts, ‘Re-imaging Australia: Crocodile Dundee Overseas,’ Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies. Vol 2. No 2: 1229-142.

SPRING BREAK: 12 – 16 March (Week 7)

Session 10 Suburbia, the Decent Bloke, Multiculturalism and Wogsploitation Thursday 22 March

Screening: ● Pizza (Paul Fenech, SBS TV, 2000-2007) Season 5 ● The Castle (, Australia, 1997, 85 min)

Required Reading: ● Lesley Speed, ‘Life as a Pizza: The Comic Tradition of Wogsploitation Films,’ Metro 146: 136-144. ● Stephen Crofts, (2001) ‘The Castle: 1997’s ‘Battlers’ and the Ir/Relevance of the Aesthetic’, in Ian Craven, ed. Australian Cinema in the 1990s. Frank Cass Publishers, pp. 159-174.

Recommended Reading: ● Felicity Collins, ‘Wogboy Comedies and the Australian National Type,’ Diasporas of Australian Cinema, ed. Catherine Simpson et al. Intellect, 2009 ● Amanda Malel Trevisanut, ‘Re-membering, (Re-) appropriation, and Polyphony: SBS Independent and White Australian Memory,’ in Contemporary Publics: Shifting Boundaries in New Media, Technology and Culture, Palgrave Macmillan, , 2016, pp. 43-59.

Session 11 Suburbia, Comedy Verite and Australian Comedy in Translation Thursday 29 March

Screening: ● Kath & Kim (Ted Emery, ABC TV, 2002-2007) Season 1: Episodes 1 (26 min) ● Kath & Kim (Michelle Nader, NBC Universal Television, 2008) Season 1: Episode 1 (26 min) ● Excerpts: Big Girls Blouse (Seven Network, 1995)

Required Reading: ● Sue Turnbull, “‘Look at Moiye, Kimmie, Look at Moiye!’: Kath and Kim and the Australian Comedy of Taste,” Media International Australia, No. 113, Nov 2004: 98-109.

Page 13 of 15 Australian Screen Comedy ● Sue Turnbull, “Mapping the vast suburban tundra: Australian comedy from Dame Edna to Kath and Kim,” International Journal of Cultural Studies Vol. 11 No. 1, 2008: 15-32. ● Turnbull, S. E. (2008). 'It's like they threw a panther in the air and caught it in embroidery: Australian comedy in translation,’ Metro 159: 110-115.

Recommended Reading: • Brett Mills, ‘Comedy Verite: Contemporary Form,’ Screen Vol. 45 No. 1 (Spring 2004): 63-78. • Ethan Thompson, ‘Comedy Verite? The Observational Documentary Meets the Televisual Sitcom,’ The Velvet Light Trap No. 60 (Fall 2007): 63-72.

Assignment: Second Paper Due (30%)

Session 12 Intergenerational Situation Comedy in Translation Thursday 5 April

Screening: ● Mother and Son (ABC TV 1984-1994) Season 1: Episode 1: (30 min); Season 2: Episode 7 (30 min) ● (, ABC, 2013-2016) Season 1: Episode 1 (30 min)

Required Reading: ● Sue Turnbull, ‘The Long Tail of Mother and Son: The Transnational Career of an Australian Situation Comedy,’ Media International Australia, No. 134 (Feb. 2010): 96-108. ● Dion Kagan, ‘Millennial Gay: Josh Thomas’ Please Like Me,’ Metro 181: 30-35.

Recommended Reading: • David McKie & Hilaire Natt, (1996) ‘An ABC of Australian : British influences, middle class mores and boutique quality,’ Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, Vol. 10, No. 2: 141- 156. • Mick Eaton, ‘Television Situation Comedy,’ Screen Vol. 19 No. 4 (Winter, 1978): 61-89.

Session 13 The Glitter Cycle: Quirky Comedy and Suburban Grotesque Thursday 12 April

Screening: ● Muriel’s Wedding (P. J. Hogan, Australia, 1994, 106 min) ● Excerpts: (, Australia, 1992, 94 min)

Required Reading: ● Emily Rustin, ‘Romance and Sensation in The “Glitter” Cycle,’ in Australian Cinema in the 1990s. ed. Ian Craven. London: Frank Cass, 2001. ● Jane Landmann (1996), ‘See the Girl, Watch the Scene: Fantasy and Desire in Muriel’s Wedding,’ Continuum, 10:2, 111-122.

Page 14 of 15 Australian Screen Comedy Recommended Reading: • Felicity Collins, ‘Brazen Brides, Grotesque Daughters, Treacherous others: Women's Funny Business in Australian Cinema from Sweetie to Holy Smoke,’ in Womenvision: Women and the Moving Image in Australia, ed. Lisa French, (Melbourne: Damned, 2003), pp. 167-218.

Session 14 Drag and the Politics of Camp Thursday 19 April

Screening: ● The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert (Stephan Elliot, Australia, 1994, 104 min)

Required Reading: ● Ann-Marie Cook, ‘More Than Just a Laugh: Assessing the Politics of Camp in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,’ At the Interface/Probing the Boundaries, Vol. 73 (2010): 3-26. ● Peter Kunze, ‘Out in the Outback: Queering Nationalism in Australian Film Comedy,’ Studies in Australasian Cinema 7: 1 (2013): 49–59.

Recommended Reading: • Pamela Robertson, ‘: Friends of Dorothy on the road in Oz,’ pp. 271-86 in Steven Cohan and Ina Rae Hark (eds.), The Road Movie Book, London; New York: Routledge, 1997.

Assignment: Third Paper Due (30%) 5pm Friday 20 April

Your Instructor

Dr Megan Carrigy (Ph.D., University of ) is the Associate Director for Academic Programs at NYU Sydney. Before joining NYU she was the Education Projects Manager at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). Megan received the Best Doctoral Thesis Prize in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales (2011). She has also been awarded the Mari Kuttna Memorial Prize for Film Studies by the (2002). Her research is published in a range of books and journals including Screening the Past and the 24 Frames series for Wallflower Press. For four years, she programmed Sydney’s annual queerDOC and Mardi Gras Film Festivals, building partnerships with local and international distributors, filmmakers, festivals and community organisations.

Page 15 of 15 Australian Screen Comedy