Terror Nullius (2018) and the Politics of Sample Filmmaking
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REVENGE REMIX: TERROR NULLIUS (2018) AND THE POLITICS OF SAMPLE FILMMAKING by Caitlin Lynch A Thesis SubmittEd for the DEgreE of MastEr of Arts to the Film StudiEs ProgrammE at ViCtoria University of WEllington – TE HErenga Waka April 2020 Lynch 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to my supervisors, Dr. Missy Molloy and Dr. Alfio LEotta for their generous guidancE, fEEdbaCk and encouragemEnt. Thank you also to Soda_JErk for their communiCation and support throughout my resEarch. Lynch 3 ABSTRACT TERROR NULLIUS (Soda_JErk, 2018) is an experimEntal samplE film that remixes Australian cinema, tElEvision and news mEdia into a “politiCal revenge fablE” (soda_jerk.co.au). WhilE TERROR NULLIUS is overtly politiCal in tone, understanding its speCifiC mEssages requires unpaCking its form, contEnt and cultural referencEs. This thesis investigatEs the multiplE layers of TERROR NULLIUS’ politiCs, thereby highlighting the politiCal stratEgiEs and capaCitiEs of samplE filmmaking. Employing a historiCal mEthodology, this resEarch contExtualisEs TERROR NULLIUS within a tradition of sampling and other subversive modes of filmmaking, including SoviEt cinema, Surrealism, avant-garde found-footage films, fan remix videos, and Australian archival art films. This comparative analysis highlights how Soda_JErk utilisE and advancE formal stratEgiEs of subversive appropriation, fair usE, dialECtiCal editing and digital compositing to intErrogatE the relationship betwEEn mEdia and culture. It also argues that TERROR NULLIUS Employs postmodern and postColonial approaChes to archives and history to undermine positivist, linear historiCal constructions and colonial mythologiEs. Building on thesE formal and theoretiCal foundations, this thesis also ClosEly reads TERROR NULLIUS to sCrutinisE the aCCEssibility of its argumEnts for Australian and intErnational audiEncEs: one reading utilisEs Donna Haraway’s cyberfeminist theory to intErpret TERROR NULLIUS’ progressive identity politiCs, and the sECond Explores the cultural and historiCal referencEs imbedded in TERROR NULLIUS’ samplEs to unpaCk its commEntary on contEmporary debatEs in Australian politiCs (partiCularly regarding refugeE detEntion and whitE nationalism). UltimatEly, this multi- faCEtEd analysis of TERROR NULLIUS’ form, contEnt and referencEs highlights the ComplExity of samplE films’ politiCal mEssages, whiCh are radiCally open to diversE intErpretations. Lynch 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………… 5 TERROR NULLIUS Unmixed…………………………………………………………….. 10 CHAPTER ONE: A History of SamplE Filmmaking: Compilation, Found-Footage and Remix ……………………………………………………………….. 11 SamplE Filmmaking DEfinitions………………………………………………….. 11 From Early Innovators to the Post-War Avant-Garde…………………………..... 15 The IntErnet, Fans and FreE Culture ……………………………………………… 21 CHAPTER TWO: “From the SamE Raw MatErial as History”: HistoriCal DisCoursE and Archive Sampling ……………………………………………… 30 Esfir Shub’s Modernist HistoriEs ……………………………………………….… 32 Histore(s) du Cinéma’s Postmodern ConstEllations ……………………………… 37 Australian PostColonial Sampling ……………………………………………...…. 42 CHAPTER THREE: “Not Shot but Built”: TERROR NULLIUS’ Subversive Editing ……………………………………………………………………...… 51 DialECtiCal Montage……………………………………………………………….. 52 Uncanny Continuity……………………………………………………………..… 56 Collage Compositing ………………………………………………………...……. 60 CHAPTER FOUR: A Harawayan Reading of TERROR NULLIUS ………..…………… . 66 Overcoming ProblEmatiC Origins………………………………………….……… 68 AffinitiEs and ACCompliCEship……………………………………………….…… 73 Unresolved IroniEs……………………………………………………………..….. 78 CHAPTER FIVE: Australian IntErventions: TERROR NULLIUS Critiques XEnophobia ………………………………………………………………..….... 83 HistoriCal OverviEw of Australian Immigration ………………………………..… 85 TERROR NULLIUS’ RefugeE Narrative……………………………………..…… 89 Antipodean Camp in PostColonial PolitiCs…………………………………..……. 99 CONCLUSION: BetwEEn PolitiCal Ambitions and ACtivist Praxis………………..……. 104 WORKS CITED……………………………………………………………………..…... 109 Lynch 5 INTRODUCTION TERROR NULLIUS, a 2018 samplE film by two-person art collECtive Soda_JErk, has a reputation for being highly politiCal. DEsCribed by the filmmakers as “part politiCal satire, eco-horror and road moviE,” TERROR NULLIUS samplEs 174 films, tElEvision shows, musiC videos, YouTube clips and news mEdia associatEd with Australia into a 54-minutE remix film that “offers an unwriting of Australian national mythologiEs.” Five days before the film’s premiEre, its funding body, the Ian PottEr Foundation, retraCtEd their association with the projECt, deEming it “very controversial” and “un-Australian” (Downes; HEllEr-NiChols). MEanwhilE, Australian popular press reviEws (BuckmastEr; Di Rosso; Juers) and sCholarly publiCations (HEllEr-NiChols; Harkins-Cross; Barnett; NEumark) praisEd the film for its “unequivocal politiCal agenda” (HEllEr-NiChols). PromotEd as “a politiCal revenge fablE,” TERRROR NULLIUS did wEll in the intErnational film festival and gallEry circuit, sCreEning in dozEns of cities around the world from Buenos Aires to HElsinki, Taipei to Istanbul. Glasgow Short Film FEstival sElECtEd TERROR NULLIUS as its opening night feature, stating that the festival committEE “wElComEd [its] controversy” (Lloyd and JEhoul), whilE WEllington City GallEry featured the film in its Iconography of Revolt exhibition. PErhaps the strongest tEstamEnt to TERROR NULLIUS’ politiCal aura is one critiC’s reflECtion that “simply watChing and supporting it feEls vaguely like aCtivism” (Juers). HowEver, whilE many viEwErs sEEm to agreE that TERROR NULLIUS is politiCal, ambiguity remains regarding the speCifiCs of its politiCal mEssages, how they are constructEd, and who can aCCEss them. The Ian PottEr Foundation does not provide any details on exaCtly whiCh elEmEnts of the film offended their politiCal sEnsibilitiEs. MEanwhilE, Australian press reviEws generally focus on the film’s domEstiC politiCal commEntary, referencing the samplEs’ cultural and historiCal referencEs. As short form piECEs, thesE reviEws tEnd to skim over both miCro-lEvel dEtails (how Soda_JErk’s editing transforms individual referencEs into an argumEnt) and the film’s maCro-lEvel signifiCancE (what TERROR NULLIUS’ appropriatEd form reveals about Australian culture). Additionally, thesE reviEws do not touch on the film’s popularity intErnationally, for audiEncEs who have no, or limitEd prior knowlEdge of the Australian mEdia Soda_JErk samplE and the Australian politiCs they referencE. This thesis aims to demystify TERROR NULLIUS’ politiCs by asking: in whiCh sEnsEs is the film politiCal, and how does its politiCs impaCt its domEstiC and intErnational reCEptions? Lynch 6 METHODOLOGY As its reCEption indiCatEs, TERROR NULLIUS’ politiCs are multi-faCEtEd, so my analysis breaks politiCs down into threE catEgoriEs: politiCs of form, politiCs of identity, and ExpliCit politiCs. PolitiCs of form asks how a film’s aEsthetiC, tEChniCal and structural aspeCts stimulatE a politiCal sEnsibility. Drawing on theorists such as Guy DEbord and SErgei EisEnstEin, I examine how TERROR NULLIUS Employs subversive stratEgiEs affiliatEd with various twEntiEth-CEntury avant-gardes to undermine mainstream mEdia and fostEr critiCal ConsCiousness. Clarifying the subversive politiCs imbedded in TERROR NULLIUS’ form helps explain its CapaCity to resonatE politiCally with viEwErs who laCk prior knowlEdge of the original mEdia and Australian politiCal history that Soda_JErk draw on. PolitiCs of identity refers to the “intErplay betwEEn powEr [and] culture” that constructs social identity catEgoriEs such as class, raCE and gender, and the way peoplE utilisE such identitiEs to collECtively “ChallEnge, subvert or negotiatE culture. and contEst structures of powEr” (Hill and Wilson 2). Cultural mEdia, including film, is involved in this intErplay, both perpetuating and ChallEnging the ideologiCal disCoursEs that inform social identity. A politiCs of identity framEwork analysEs how Soda_JErk critique and rework the social represEntations of the sourcEs they samplE, and reads TERROR NULLIUS in relation to debatEs within ContEmporary, intErnational social movemEnts. Finally, I proposE the concEpt of ‘ExpliCit politiCs’ to refer to institutional forms of politiCs, including speCifiC poliCiEs, politiCians, national governancE and politiCal historiEs. UnpaCking TERROR NULLIUS’ referencEs to ExpliCit politiCal Events and figures allows mE to detail how and why the film was reCEived politiCally by thosE with in-depth prior knowlEdge of Australian current events, cultural debatEs, and history. WhilE thesE threE catEgoriEs identify different aspeCts of TERROR NULLIUS’ politiCs, they are not mutually exclusive and oftEn overlap or inform one another. Employing this tripartitE framEwork to analysE the film’s politiCs demonstratEs the multiplE, oftEn intErconneCtEd layers of samplE cinema’s mEaning. Inspired by the hybrid nature of sampling, this thesis combines multiplE mEthodologiEs, examining TERROR NULLIUS’ threE forms of politiCs through historiCal, formal, concEptual, contExtual and creative modes of film analysis. HistoriCal analysis involves situating TERROR NULLIUS within the litErature on sampling and other subversive forms of filmmaking. Combining theory with formal analysis, I compare TERROR NULLIUS with a range of politiCal samplE films from the last hundred yEars, outlining how it borrows from, rejECts and innovatEs previous sampling and editing tEChniques from the cinema that Lynch 7 preCEdes it. I then usE closE reading to investigatE