Today Greg spoke about the discursive construction of national identity and how it is achieved by many and complex means, including, contrast, exclusion, disavowal, of objectified ‘others’, as well as, in positive ways by idealisation and self-stereotyping. The former or ‘divisive’ way is presented as a combination of orientalist notions: stereotypes, common narratives, structures & cinematic expectations and new formations.
He explained that ‘Orientalism’ is making sense of the east and far east by the western scholars. It can also refer to the imitation or depiction of aspects of eastern cultures in the west by writers and artists.
Greg explored ideas (and presented many examples in film) containing issues of the white-Australia policy days, self-loathing, Asian-Australians, Muslim-Australians and Miscegenation fears.
Speaking from a personal point of view, I am from a half Anglo-half Filipino background and I have witnessed/experienced somewhat the evolution of race relations in contemporary Australian society. During the early 90′s at school, I was told to ‘go back to your own county’ and called other derogatory names but later during High School and up to now, racism hasn’t been too prevalent in my life. I put it down to the Filipino cultures unique adaptability to the ‘Australian way of life’. There was little resistance from my mother’s community in assimilation and I think this is perhaps why there is minimal representations of the Filipino community in Australian film, there is little conflict/tension, therefore it is somewhat of a non-issue. The only representations I have experienced have been integrated Filipino youth performing on shows like Australian Idol or So you think you can dance.
I guess I would like to see more Filipino characters or identities in Australian film and television as it would encourage diversity and represent the community’s ability to adapt and celebrate a multicultural Australia but I’m happy in the knowledge myself of how far our community has come and the contributions that are already being made at the grass roots level. One successful Filipino Australian on television was Kathleen De Leon from kids show Hi-5.
