Analysis of Australian Pop Culture: Rabbit Proof Fence and Song

This essay delves into the realm of Australian pop culture, offering an in-depth analysis of two significant cultural texts: the movie 'Rabbit Proof Fence' and Archie Roach's song 'Took the Children Away'. The essay explores the representation of heroes and villains within these works, highlighting the bravery of the indigenous girl in 'Rabbit Proof Fence' and the poignant storytelling in Roach's song. It examines the use of language, particularly the Walmajarri language in the film and the language techniques employed by Roach, such as similes and listing, to convey the experiences of Aboriginal people. The analysis further touches upon the rejection of stereotypes and the evolving definition of heroes in contemporary Australian narratives, emphasizing the need to recognize everyday heroes. Overall, the essay provides a comprehensive understanding of the cultural significance of these works and their contribution to the broader discourse on Australian identity and history.

Australian POP CULTURE
RABBIT PROOF FENCE
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Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5
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INTRODUCTION
In Australia, pop culture is rising to a great extent. Usually, pop culture is recognised by
society as practices, beliefs, etc. that dominate in specified time period. In movie and song there
are different pop culture character that is determined. These can be either villain or hero. It is
easy to differentiate them. In this it will be explained about two popular Australian culture text
that is Rabbit proof fence movie and took the children away song by Archie roach.
In the movie Rabbit proof fence it has been found that a 14 year old indigenous girl is stolen
from her family (Baudinette, 2020). They were living in western Australia. However, she was
brave and in such harsh times escort her half sister and cousin from home with rabbit fence.
Thus, she is like a hero, brave, strong, etc. so, it can be observed that young girl having piggy
backing another with fence line under a sun. and in the song the character is represented as good
identify.
It has been found that language written in Rabbit proof fence is walmajarri language.
This language feature of indigenous people and aboriginal children. Besides that, text structure
of movie is divided into 9 chapters. It entirely focuses on what are aboriginal children. The text
is written in simple and easy way. In the song took the children away the language written
focused on condition of aboriginal people and children of Australia. It described the situation of
them during implementing of Australian policies. The text structure used in song is effectively
arranged. It is direct which shows condition of aboriginal children in Australia.
Besides that, in both movie and song the position of hero and villain is shown. The song by
Roach has few language techniques such as use of simile ‘fenced us in like sheep’. It has
beautifully explained the situation of act and discrimination against the Aborigines. Also, the
listing is also applied and used in ‘taught u to read, to write and pray’ that depicted loss of their
traditional culture due to intervention of a white (Methven, 2017). Similarly the movie also
depicted through clear language and text usage that helped the audience to know who was the
villain and the heroes in the form of those three girls who had such a brave journey.
They also unfairly claimed the land that belonged to the aborigines. The message of this poem is
to show how the English settlers were unfair to the aborigines by taking their children away from
them to teach them their ways lying to them as well. Archie Roach was one of the children who
were taken away (Geczy, 2017). Roach used many language techniques through the song. He
uses the simile fenced us in like sheep to show the audience what a cruel nature of the act and to
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explain them in an easy way. The listing used in taught u to read, to write and pray shows the
loss of their traditional culture for the dominant white one. But a young girl is not a strong hero
of our times. No because ordinary people does not see extra ordinary things that has been done in
stories and films. Therefore, Mully crag is more real character than mick Dundee.
In this another example that can be taken of rejection of stereotype in both song and
movie. Here, it can be found that there is difference in sub urban and inner city culture. The role
model and inspiration is necessary in narration of hero.
Basically, hero character is person who is strong, bold, courage, etc. and face challenges.
So it is generally associated with good guy (Keith, 2018.). In Australian heroes people do great
things but we don’t. it is because we are bounded by stereotype. The present times stories are
more complex and richer than as compared to past Australian times.
Therefore, in popular media content creator whether it is story, poem, song, etc. there must
need to look for heroes in every day life. This will help in finding out Australian context heroes
and character in it.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Baudinette, T., 2020. Consuming Japanese and Korean pop culture in Australia:“Asia literacy”
and cosmopolitan identity. Journal of Australian Studies, 44(3), pp.318-333.
Geczy, A., 2017. Making Aboriginal Men and Music in Central Australia by Åse
Ottosson. Journal of Asia-Pacific Pop Culture, 2(2), pp.250-253.
Keith, S., 2018. Popular music and Korean learning: K-pop in Australia. In Multilingual
Sydney (pp. 79-90). Routledge.
Methven, E., 2017. How pop culture can (and should) change legal views on swearing. The
Conversation, 8.
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