What Killed Australian Cinema & Why Is the Bloody Corpse Still Moving?
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What Killed Australian Cinema & Why is the Bloody Corpse Still Moving? A Thesis Submitted By Jacob Zvi for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Faculty of Health, Arts & Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne © Jacob Zvi 2019 Swinburne University of Technology All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. II Abstract In 2004, annual Australian viewership of Australian cinema, regularly averaging below 5%, reached an all-time low of 1.3%. Considering Australia ranks among the top nations in both screens and cinema attendance per capita, and that Australians’ biggest cultural consumption is screen products and multi-media equipment, suggests that Australians love cinema, but refrain from watching their own. Why? During its golden period, 1970-1988, Australian cinema was operating under combined private and government investment, and responsible for critical and commercial successes. However, over the past thirty years, 1988-2018, due to the detrimental role of government film agencies played in binding Australian cinema to government funding, Australian films are perceived as under-developed, low budget, and depressing. Out of hundreds of films produced, and investment of billions of dollars, only a dozen managed to recoup their budget. The thesis demonstrates how ‘Australian national cinema’ discourse helped funding bodies consolidate their power. Australian filmmaking is defined by three ongoing and unresolved frictions: one external and two internal. Friction I debates Australian cinema vs. Australian audience, rejecting Australian cinema’s output, resulting in Frictions II and III, which respectively debate two industry questions: what content is produced? arthouse vs. genre, and how are films financed? government funding vs. private investment. These frictions are argued as part of an alternative explanatory model − The Cinematic Machine − formed from three theories: The Rhizome, Centre-Periphery and the Instrumental War, which help narrate Australian cinema’s history. By separately examining each of the three concepts − National, Australia, and Cinema − underlying Australian cinema discourse the research contests the existence of an ‘Australian national cinema’, showing each to be a makeshift construction, prone to mixed interpretations, and utilised to impose Centre’s interests. This renders Australian cinema, once renowned for its ingenuity, as dead. Finally, using the Cinematic Machine model, foundations are laid for future research which will remedy this situation. III Abbreviations ACMA Australian Communications and Media Authority AFC Australian Film Commission AFDC Australia Film Development Corporation AFTRS Australian Film Television Radio School AHEDA Australian Home Entertainment Distributors Association AI Artificial Intelligence ALRC Australian Law Reform Commission ASHR2 Second Australian Study of Health and Relationships ATO Australian Taxation Office AUSFTA Australia United States Free Trade Agreement BC British Columbia CGI Computer-Generated Imagery DCITA Department of Communication, Information Technology and the Arts DIY Do It Yourself FDC Film Development Corporation FFC Film Finance Corporation FLIC Film Licence Investment Company FPAA Film Producers’ Association FTE Full Time Equivalent GDP Gross Domestic Product ICH internet Content Hosts ISP internet Service Provider KPI Key Performance Indicator IV MCC Mass Communication Council MOI Ministry of Information NCOF National Commission of Audit NFSS New Family Structures Survey NLP Natural Language Processing NSW New South Wales NT Northern Territories OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development P&A Prints and Advertising PDV Post Digital and Visual Effects PIAF Production Attraction Incentive Fund PVS Page Views QAPE Qualifying Australian Production Expenditure RC Refused Classification RLAF Regional Victoria Assistance Fund ROI Return on Investment SA South Australia SAC Significant level of Australian Content SACC South Australian Classification Council SFX Special Effects SUHREC Swinburne Human Research Ethics Committee UFC Ultimate Fight Championship VFX Visual Effects WA Western Australia V Acknowledgments The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18: 1-2 I would like to thank Barrie Paige, Paul Oakley and Scott Koch for their unbelievable generosity and kindness which allowed me to graduate from the College of Fine Arts, UNSW, and the freedom, time and space to develop the ideas that are the foundations for this thesis. It would not be written without their help. I am forever indebted to them. My supervisor, Associate Professor James Verdon, went way beyond helping me with an academic career. James’ acceptance and confidence in my research abilities enabled me, in the most Deluzeian of fashions, to Become. My second supervisor, Associate Professor Carolyn Barnes, was very instrumental in the eventuation of this thesis. Her insightful comments always added new dimensions to the debate. Inexplicably, but consistently, Carolyn tamed my writing, which is not an easy task. I would also like to thank the progress review committee: Doctor Carolyn Beasley, Doctor Mark Freeman, and especially Professor Jock Given whose sound, expert advice, helped me shape Chapters Four and Eight. The prospect of me becoming a (semi)educated man is so far-fetched, that only a mother could believe in it. My mum, Bella RIP, always did. She passed away during my first year at Swinburne and didn’t get to see me make it, but her spirit is always with me. My father, Mordechai, bankrolled my education for years. He still finds it hard to believe that I am writing a doctoral thesis. I hope that this research will help convince him. He is, and always will be, my rock and fortress. Coming to Melbourne I met my partner, Yif’at, and we are blessed with a son, Oz. Nothing that I would ever do or write, will come close to the perfection that he is. They make everything worthwhile. VI Table of Contents Abstract II Abbreviations III Acknowledgments V Table of Contents VI List of Tables IX Illustrations IX Appendix IX Candidate Declaration X Introduction − The Swinburne Shuffle: The Wild, Untold Story of What Killed Australian Cinema? XI Part I: Discourse. Theory. History Chapter One − Borders of Discourse: Literature Review and Research Design and Methods 1 1.1 The Rise and Fall of Australian Cinema 1 1.2 Modes of Academic Discussion 2 1.3 Dermody and Jacka & Tom O’Regan 3 1.4 Reviewing Modes of the 1970s 4 1.5 Reviewing Modes of the 1980s 5 1.6 Reviewing Modes of the 1990s 8 1.7 Transnationalism: Reviewing Modes of the 2000s 10 1.8 Research Design and Methods 13 Chapter Two − Theory: Enter the Cinematic Machine 15 2.1 Desire. Intermediality. Rhizome: Deleuze and Guattari 17 2.2 Cultural Topography: Centre-Periphery 20 2.3 Instrumental Collision: Clausewitz. The Remarkable Trinity. Friction 25 2.4 Bottom-Up: The Workings of the Cinematic Machine 28 2.5 What Movies Do We Make: Arthouse vs. Genre 39 Chapter Three − Rise of the Dammed 1970-1988: New Wave, Ozploitations and 10BA 33 3.1 In search of the Beautiful Image: The AFC Genre 35 3.2 The Trials and Tribulations of 10BA 39 3.3 Battle of the B’s: Blockbusters vs. Exploitation Cinema 43 3.4 Evolving Standards, Devolving Market 46 3.5 Introducing the Responsible Adult: The FFC 48 Chapter Four − FFC’s Crying Game: The Demise of Australian Cinema 1988–2008 51 4.1 Popcorn Merchants, Jetsetters, and Dreamers: The FFC Partnership 51 4.2 American Dreaming: Hollywood, indies, and Aussie films 54 VII 4.3 Runaway’s Run: Aussiewood 58 4.4 Over the Border: Blockbuster Trade War 61 4.5 Upstairs/Downstairs: the Australian Condensing Market 64 4.6 Up Hill, Down Stream: More Cinema, Less Australian in the 2000s 69 4.6.1 Supporting a highly professional and creative Australian screen production industry 70 4.6.2 Entertaining and informing Australian audiences with a diversity of screen images 74 4.6.3 Showcasing Australia’s screen production industry to the world 76 4.7 Bill Kill: Venture Capital, Free Trade and the Fragile Australian Culture 77 4.8 Little Big Fish: The Mystic Allure of the FFC’s Trinity 81 4.9 Road Games: The Second Coming of Ozploitation Cinema 86 Part II: Reconceptualising Australian. National. Cinema. 90 Chapter Five − We’ll Name it ‘National’: Circumcising National Cinema Theory 91 5.1 National. Cinema. The Original Sin 91 5.2 National. Cinema. Problematised 93 5.3 Intertextuality. Methodology. Askew. 95 5.4 King. Idiot. Henry V 97 5.5 Henty V (Olivier, 1946): King Gallant 99 5.6 Henry V (Branagh, 1989): Blood in the Mud 100 5.7 Mass Distinction. Forced Cohesion 102 5.8 Discussion: National. Nationalism. Taxonomy. 104 5.9 Conclusion: The Un-National 106 Chapter Six − You Make Me Feel: Australian Identity in the Lost and Found 108 6.1 Left, Right and Centre: Australia’s History Wars 108 6.2 MIA: Australian Identity 110 6.3 Petty Crims & Unemployed Drifters: Black Armband in Beneath Clouds 111 6.4 Down by the River: Whitewashing in Jindabyne 113 6.5 Northern Exposure: Moving Post Australia 115 6.6 Discussion: In-Between Success and Failure 118 6.7 Return of the Yobo: Crocodile Dundee 120 6.8 Conclusion: No Identification. No Identity 122 Chapter Seven − Off Centre: Periphery, Pornography, Friction. The Case of Abbywinters.com 123 7.1 The Field of (Dirty) Dreams 123 7.2 Unsolicited