Reflections of Local Culture in Recent New Zealand Horror Cinema
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Copyright is owned by the Author of the thesis. Permission is given for a copy to be downloaded by an individual for the purpose of research and private study only. The thesis may not be reproduced elsewhere without the permission of the Author. Adapting to the Dark Reflections of Local Culture in Recent New Zealand Horror Cinema. A Thesis in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Philosophy in Media Studies at Massey University Paolo Ryan Massey University 2011 1 Abstract The use of Hollywood genres to package our films for overseas consumption has been an historic feature of the New Zealand film industry. The horror genre has been an important platform for many local film directors, equipping them with sufficient technical skills to create a ‘calling card’ for entry into Hollywood. But in working with the genre locally, these directors have introduced variations that are culturally specific to New Zealand, a process of assimilation known as ‘indigenisation.’ This relies upon a shared understanding of ethnic and cultural identity, and in some cases has given rise to a perceptible New Zealand film brand. While government policy may assist to promote certain features in the interest of creating and sustaining a commercially viable ‘National Cinema,’ real and sometimes problematic aspects of our contemporary society, such as the increasing influence of Pacific Island culture or the position of Maori in respect of the mainstream may be downplayed or omitted altogether. This thesis examines the extent to which indigenisation has occurred in some recent examples of New Zealand horror films. It considers the theory of National Cinema and the influence of government policy on cinema practice, and examines the image of the nation that has been constructed thus far. It also outlines the theory of genres and how they are interpreted and transformed over time, and identifies the distinguishing characteristics of the horror genre. The analysis of the case studies, which include recent examples of mainstream and Pacific Island- influenced films, addresses the question of how the horror genre is culturally inflected and what images of the nation prevail. It concludes that our films may not even admit alternative local constructs of the nation, and that as we become more inundated in the streams of foreign influence and capital, there is an increasing amount of attention being given to how identity and culture is formed rather than to describing the specific cultural features of a given nation. This is reflected in the rise of generic hybridity and multi-vocalic texts, whose voices may simply express a desire to navigate the cross-currents of global consumer culture. 2 Acknowledgement My thanks are due to Dr Ian Huffer for the completion of this thesis. His judicious and enthusiastic reading of drafts helped to revitalise my concentration at critical times. I am also greatly indebted to my wife, Nada, and daughters, Victoria and Olivia, who for a period of two years or so have had to endure more grumpiness than usual. ******************************************************************************************* Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 2 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 4 2. Genre and generic transformation................................................................................... 13 Definition and uses of genre .................................................................................... 13 Genre lifecycles ....................................................................................................... 18 3. The Attraction of the Horror Genre .................................................................................. 21 4. Introduction to Case Studies ........................................................................................... 26 5. Case Study – Black Sheep ............................................................................................. 28 Background ............................................................................................................. 28 Cultural context ....................................................................................................... 32 The taint of Otherness ............................................................................................. 33 NZ Gothic ................................................................................................................ 36 The traditional family and motherhood .................................................................... 39 The spirit of insurrection .......................................................................................... 41 6. Case Study – The Tattooist............................................................................................. 44 Background ............................................................................................................. 44 The representation of culture and ethnicity .............................................................. 47 Generic and international borders ........................................................................... 52 Generic structure ..................................................................................................... 54 Local absences ....................................................................................................... 56 7. Case Study – Perfect Creature ....................................................................................... 57 Background ............................................................................................................. 57 The decay of place and values ................................................................................ 59 The moral thread ..................................................................................................... 61 The importance of memory...................................................................................... 63 The generic place of women ................................................................................... 66 8. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 70 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 75 Appendix 1 – Extract from New Zealand Film Commission Act 1978 .................................. 81 Appendix 2 – List of Recent New Zealand Thriller/Horror Films .......................................... 82 3 1. Introduction The extent of the influence of Hollywood genres on the New Zealand film industry has been recently revisited by Barry Grant (2008). Building on the assertion by O’Regan (1996,1) that national cinemas “must carve a space locally and internationally for themselves in the face of the dominant international cinema, Hollywood”, Grant argues for the need for national cinemas to work within the genre system, because that is primarily how the dominant Hollywood cinema works. Doing so enables local filmmakers to reach out to a wider audience which is already familiar with Hollywood’s generic conventions, and thereby gain access to overseas distribution channels and the commercial success that they purvey. Grant also observes that the need to appeal to such a generic framework is particularly strong in small countries such as New Zealand, which do not have the audience numbers to sustain an indigenous film industry. He cites Lealand’s 1988 study, which found that American films have counted for more than 50 per cent of films screened in New Zealand every year since 1929: “The mythologies of Hollywood became ‘naturalised’ in the absence of any more powerful propositions, integral to the ways of ‘reading’ the world for New Zealanders” (Grant 2008,20). While there is a risk that adopting Hollywood norms will inhibit the development of our own distinctive forms of cinematic expression, it also presents a challenge for filmmakers to re-invent the main generic trends or to inflect them with the contemporary colours of the local fabric, a tendency described by O’Regan (1996,1) as “indigenizing” genres. The purpose of my thesis is to explore the extent of this indigenisation in-so-far-as it specifically relates to the Horror genre. This thesis will identify how New Zealand horror film-makers have articulated our culture for international consumption, and in particular the ways in which they have distinguished themselves and their work, however subtly, from their Hollywood models. Central to this thesis is an exploration of the mechanics of differentiation. As Susan Hayward (1997, x) has stated: “film… textualises the nation and subsequently constructs a series of relations around the concepts, first, of state and citizen, then of state, citizen and other… a ‘national’ cinema is ineluctably ‘reduced’ to a series of enunciations that reverberate around two fundamental concepts: identity and difference”. The most rigorous test of a state’s coherence occurs when the state is under siege, and the usefulness of the horror genre as a platform for understanding identity is that it provides a given premise of conflict between the nation, as represented by the dominant imagination expressed through the film, and