Work and Diversity: Analyzing Cultural Shifts and Immigration

This essay examines the themes of work and diversity in Australia, focusing on the experiences of immigrants and the evolution of cultural norms. Using the movie 'They're a Weird Mob' as a case study, the essay explores the challenges faced by immigrants, the impact of assimilation policies, and the changing legislative landscape. It analyzes the clash between different cultural perspectives, highlighting the complexities of acculturation and the discriminatory attitudes faced by immigrants. The essay also discusses the historical context of immigration in Australia, including the 'White Australia Policy' and its influence on societal attitudes. The analysis covers the socio-economic and socio-historical readings presented in the movie to generate ideas about the cultural and sociological traits in Europe and Australia. Ultimately, the essay reflects on the cultural, ethnic, racial, and legislative behaviors in Australia, emphasizing the importance of understanding diversity and inclusion in a multicultural society.

Running head: WORK AND DIVERSITY
Work and Diversity
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Introduction
They’re a Weird Mob is a renowned Australian movie based on a novel written by John
O’Grady. Nino Cullota, the protagonist of the movie is an Italian immigrant with a hope of
becoming a journalist by accepting a job offered by his cousin. However, his dreams were
shattered when he found out that his cousin already abandoned the magazine and borrowed
money from the Kay Kelly, who is the daughter of a boss of a locally based construction firm.
Nino Cullota started facing numerous difficulties to pay the debts and afford a living in the local
areas (Gunew 2016). As the plot unfolds, the study would widely concentrate on the changed
attitude and legislations in a changed Australian landscape in terms of expectations, diversity,
and behaviour. The study would analyze the acceptable and unacceptable cultural norms in
today’s world by obtaining ideas from this movie.
Discussion
The movie highlights the post-war immigration in Australia by defining the life of an
immigrant, Nino Cullota. The movie represents the complex and argumentative expressions of
the migrants’ experiences. The foreign immigrants mostly needed the economic opportunities in
Australia. As soon as they arrive in Australia, they entered into the roles of the labour. Nino
Culotta was a part of an educated Italian middle class group and he came to Australia to pursue
his career in Sports Journalism. It was observed that the acculturation of Nino was questioned as
he abandoned his culture and ethnicity to survive in Australia. However, it has remained as one
of the most appreciable mainstream Australian films that portray the time and scenario of
historical age. Rooney (2015) indentified that the movie clearly illustrates a post-war historical
period when the immigrants were expected to assimilate into the society and culture of Australia

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under the colonial rules of Britain. In an argumentative note, the movie is also perceived as a
form of inclusive “benign multicultural tolerance”. The assimilated views from a current
multiculturalism perspective are appreciated as one of the most significant artifacts in this era.
Davis (2016) opined that the clarified ideas of the humours adventures of newly arrived Italian
migrant, who developed the scenario of the cultural effects by the purpose he played in this
movie. He expected to get a job as a sport journalist in his cousin’s Italian Magazine. However,
after his arrival in Australia, he found out that the magazine has folded and his cousin was
absconded (Eprints.usq.edu.au 2018). The essence of the cultural and legislation changes is
presented from the starting of his struggling days thereafter.
According to Martinez et al. (2015), the movie generally presents the clash between the
non-European and a European ideal of place and space. However, Kennedy et al. (2015) argued
that the movie is mostly highlighting the wider and detailed examination of the European
cultures and criticisms. The clear approaches from the socio-economic and socio-historical
readings illustrated in this movie to generate the ideas about the cultural and sociological traits in
Europe. Most of the arguments are developed by considering the blunt analysis of the Euorpean-
ness, which is mostly reactionary. Lombardo (2017) criticized that the first sequence of the
movie is a spoof “informational” pointer to the dominating Australian nature. For instance, the
presentation of the world globe depicts the Australian standpoint whereas the voice-over
describes the Australian as the living “down under”. Furthermore, it is compared to the “flies on
a ceiling” that reflects the typical formulation of the typical human nature (Cinema.usc.edu
2018). The continuous conflicts in minds and in reality portrayed the characteristic overflow of
the protagonist. Migrants were expected to abandon their accessories of the previous national and
ethnic cultures. They even expected to embrace the Australian culture and language by giving up

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on their cultural and linguistic values. His diverse perspective towards Australian culture allowed
him to differentiate the cultural values from his native. The discriminative attitudes and racism is
the major field of differences that are simply against the morale of the immigrants arrived to
Australia.
It is noticed that Australia is mostly described as a multicultural nation and the term was
first introduced in 1973. This multiculturalism signifies the contemporary settlement policy,
which is similar to a government movement that emphasizes on ‘diversity’, ‘inclusion’, ‘social
cohesion’, and ‘harmony’. However, Elliot (2017) argued that in many of the cases,
multiculturalism is mistaken with the immigration policy instead of settlement policy, which has
the distinctive characterization. This policy does not focus on who comes into the country; rather
the supports are available to them upon the arrival. However, the movie portrays that Nino, in
spite of being an arrival, did not receive any support and he was expected to be assimilated to
Australian culture completely (Moran 2016). Such changes in the legislative value are quite
insignificant and difficult for the protagonist.
It is noticed that Australia embarked upon a program on the mass immigration following
the Second World War. The post war atmosphere clarified the vulnerability level of the
demographic and physical atmosphere. In previous time, Australia was just a western country
with a negligible population situated in the Asia Pacific region. In fact, the country lacked the
supports from the workers for developing the new infrastructure (Eprints.usq.edu.au 2018).
Eventually, the immigrant programmed gave rise to the racially discriminatory policies. The
‘White Australia Policy’ established a hierarchy for the desirable migrants based upon the
criteria of race and culture. It also restricted the non-white immigrants. The immigration policy
was devised to sustain the national identity of Australia as a ‘white nation’. The movie, They’re

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a Weird Mob also portrayed the policy dominancy in providing the privileges to the white
people. In the year of 1901, the Immigration Restriction Act was introduced as the foundational
piece of legislation (Bashford 2014). In the year of 1958, this policy was replaced by the
Migration Act, which represents the Australian immigration legislation in today’s date (Higgins
2017). Such shifts in the legislations helped in demolishing many of the discriminatory practices.
The White Australian Policy was introduced to control the racial composition emerged in
the Australian society. On the other hand, the Australian Policy of Assimilation was formulated
to control cultural identity and practices. Migrants were expected to abandon their accessories of
the previous national and ethnic cultures (Cinema.usc.edu 2018). They even expected to embrace
the Australian culture and language by giving up on their cultural and linguistic values. The
movie was set when this adaptation was influenced by an intermediary policy of integration. This
policy acknowledged such acculturation more frequently. It was noted that the migrants were
expected to participate in the cultures and society and adopt the English as their language. In this
movie, They’re a Weird Mob, Nino Culotta, the male protagonist is representing one of those
immigrants who accepted the Australian culture instead of being an Italian and a darker shade of
pale complexion. Majority of the Italian immigrants were from the rural and working-class
backgrounds. However, they mostly needed the economic opportunities in Australia. As soon as
they arrive in Australia, they entered into the roles of the labour (Eprints.usq.edu.au 2018). Nino
Culotta was a part of an educated Italian middle class group and he came to Australia to pursue
his career in Sports Journalism. It was observed that the acculturation of Nino was questioned as
he abandoned his culture and ethnicity to survive in Australia. It was believed that his education
and culture were important even though all had turned out as a joke as a whole. In this sequence

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of the movie, the ridiculed European cultural assimilation was portrayed. It defined the lowbrow
cultural milieu that expressed through the decisions of Nino Culotta.
The ambiguity of the “weird mob” was clearly illustrated through the disjuncture between
the middle class migrant from Italy and his new-working class friends. It made him weird to give
up on his own culture and ethnicity. The title ‘weird mob’ does not really specify the person;
rather it represents the strangeness of the Australian culture from a perspective of a foreigner.
Moran (2016) argued that Michael Power, the director of the movie presented the view of a non-
Australian that are magnified for the audiences. The perception of Powell is similar to the gaze
of a foreigner that is illustrated through the characterization of Nino. The Britishness of Powell
allowed him to distill the strangeness and uniqueness of the Australian culture in a clarified
manner. The continuous conflicts are reflected through the characteristic overflow of the
protagonist (Cinema.usc.edu 2018). His foreignness allowed him to differentiate the cultural
values observed in Australian Society. Australia was just a western country with a negligible
population situated in the Asia Pacific region (Martinez et al. 2015). In fact, the country lacked
the supports from the workers for developing the new infrastructure. Eventually, the immigrant
programmed gave rise to the racially discriminatory policies. The abandoned cultural traits of
Europe made the actor realize the weirdness in accepting the different culture that presents the
behavioural discrimination in terms of race and ethnicity. The clear approaches from the socio-
economic and socio-historical readings illustrated in this movie to generate the ideas about the
cultural and sociological traits in Europe.
The movie also depicts the Italian ethnicity that becomes quite peripheral to the narrative
whereas they were perceived as the most well-known groups. The portrayal of Australian
immigration and migrants is positively highlighted in this context. For instance, one of the scenes

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illustrated a group of Italian migrants who were harassed by a drunken Australian
(Eprints.usq.edu.au 2018). This person showed his intolerable behaviour, which juxtaposed
against the behaviour of Nino and other immigrants from Italy. The workmates even offered the
acceptance to Nino that made him learn about the Australian traits. Migrants were expected to
abandon their accessories of the previous national and ethnic cultures. They even expected to
embrace the Australian culture and language by giving up on their cultural and linguistic values.
The movie was set when this adaptation was influenced by an intermediary policy of integration
(Cinema.usc.edu 2018). The incident drove him to adopt the diverse cultural trait by forgetting
the ethical behaviour he learnt back to his native. They mostly needed the economic
opportunities in Australia. As soon as they arrive in Australia, they entered into the roles of the
labour. Nino Culotta was a part of an educated Italian middle class group and he came to
Australia to pursue his career in Sports Journalism. Migrants were expected to abandon their
accessories of the previous national and ethnic cultures. They even expected to embrace the
Australian culture and language by giving up on their cultural and linguistic values. It was
observed that the acculturation of Nino was questioned as he abandoned his culture and ethnicity
to survive in Australia (Martinez et al. 2015). The incident proved this fact once again.
Therefore, the study develops the idea of the weirdness reflected through the behavioral traits of
the Australian from a perspective of a foreigner.
Conclusion
The study reflects the cultural, ethnicity, racial, and legislative behaviour in Australia
faced by the immigrants. The movie, They’re a Weird Mob also portrayed the policy dominancy
in providing the privileges to the white people. The movie represents the complex and
argumentative expressions of the migrants’ experiences. The foreign immigrants mostly needed

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the economic opportunities in Australia. As soon as they arrive in Australia, they entered into the
roles of the labour. The assimilated views from a current multiculturalism perspective are
appreciated as one of the most significant artifacts. It was observed that the acculturation of Nino
was questioned as he abandoned his culture and ethnicity to survive in Australia. The socio-
economic and socio-historical readings illustrated in this movie to generate the ideas about the
cultural and sociological traits in Europe. Powell portrayed through the character of Nino Culotta
to distill the strangeness and uniqueness of the Australian culture in a clarified manner. His
dreams of being a sports journalist were shattered and he stayed in Australia by giving up his
cultures and ethnicity as an Italian. The judgments are presented through his perspective towards
Australian culture.

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