One of the key elements of Australian films has always been the outback. The outback in Australian films has always been a place of mystery and danger, a place outside of society away from social conventions and rules. As the grander father of the film puts it, "who cares, we are free to do whatever we want" is the perfect sentence to capture the social freedom of the outback. It is free of the rules and judgement that society is filled with and therefore is a strange world, one were people can commit the greatest acts of love and compassion or the most foul and debased acts humans are capable of. Yet there are consequences to all the actions of the outback because the outback is like a sentient force of some kind. Powerful and (add word). It protects those that are worthy and punishes those that aren't.
The outback is also a place that holds many dangers as well as a place to seek enlightenment. In any Australian film character must venture into the outback to find the answer they seek or enlightenment to certain problems that they have back in the "normal" world. No trip into the outback, in any Australian film, is ever uneventful. The outback is fulling with many dangers and many truths as well. No one ever come back the way they went in, the journey, like any spiritual quest, is very difficult, even dangerous but ultimately offers the greatest rewards and answers that could not be found in the cities of Australia. The concept of the outback being a place for spiritual quest and containing all the answers to the mysteries of life is a staple of "Australian-ness" and a constant metaphorical source in the Australian film industry.
Australian films see the outback not only as a source of spiritual enlightening but one to find harmony within the soul.
The outback is almost seen as the soul of Australia and it has the ability to reflect the souls of the people searching in it. Once a person is able to see what is in there soul then an almost spiritual understanding of the land of Australia come and with that peace and harmony within the land. If a person is unwilling or unable to accept the outback and Australia for what it is then their lives become full of turmoil and confusion. By accepting Australia for what it is a person in most Australia films will find the problems in their lives much easier to bear and true happiness can begin. An understanding of nature and the phenomenon that is Austraiilia leads to an understandingof self and a person's place in the world. This is a fundamental concept of Australian-ness in Australian films. For example in Floating Life the family has a very hard time in Australia because they fear and don't understand the worldof Australia. They are afraid of everything around them, from the neibourhood dogs to the sun. They are even aftaidof the some of the food. The younger sister of the family instilles the fear of this strange and new land into the restof her family and they all live in fear and terror for the frist half of the film, going so far as to forget their ways andthe tradition of the land that they came from. It is only in accept Austraillia for what it is and understanding thestrange new land they live in that the fear and terror of the land susbies and understanding and harmoney begins.For the younger sisters case, in understanding the land and natrue a spritual awakening beings, and she ultimatlybeings to understand new and wonderful things about herself, her family and the wonderful land she lives in. INaccpect Austraillia as her own and in understanding the nature of the land she finds herself and the values shethought she had lost. Perhaps the gresest example of this very Austrailian conpect can be seen in, oddly enough, the film Crocadile Dundee. In the film Dundee is a man of the outback, learning the way of the Aberiginal people, heis more at home in the outback then in the city. He is truly a man of nature and while their are external conflicts within the film, there are never any internal ones. Dundee knows who he is and it would almost seem the power ofthe outback is what let's him accomlish the great things he does in the film. He is almost one with the outback and therefore at peace with himself and the place he has in life. At one point in time in the film, the mafia comes to theoutback to get him. Because they don't exccept the outback and Dundee is very much a part of it, he is able to defeat them. At one point in time one of the mafia thugs says "he just comes faded in and out of the place. Likesome sort of ghost." Here Dundee is given a very spritual image, like a revengeful ghost he acts on the behalf ofthe outback to pruge the menance. Because he is one with the outback he is spritual enlightenment and at peace withthe world he is in, never having a want for where and having power to overcome almost all problems. This conpect of understanding the outback to gain spiritual enlightenment which leds to the overcoming of problems is one of the most important concepts in Austalian films and the very heart of Australian-ness.
As stated before the outback is a place for understanding oneself but only after a spiritual quest of sort is taken and understanding of oneself is achieved. The outback is nature itself, a place of renewal if need be, of answers and dangers. New lives can be forged here, new beginings can be made and if need be, old pains can be forgotton.This is the essance of the outback and the essence of nature. Birth, death, renewal are all major factors in natureas they are major factors in a persons spritual develpoment. The outback/nature can add and nurture that rout.A perfect example of someone taken a quests for truth and undersatnding is in the film Goodess of 1967. In thisfilm two peopel, both seeking different things, combinde forces to try to find, truth and happiness. They or course goventure into the outback to try to find this truth at the wheel of a car called the Goddness Citroen. In this case it isthe car the film is named after, the goddess that acts as the guide quiet literally, sprititual verical, that the charactersuse to attain the answer they seek at the end of the film. The Citroen is more than just a car in this film, it islike a vessel, a veritable time-travelling machine. The various scenes in which the characters are drivingin the car and the accompanying strange surreal feel as though the car were floating, wonderfullyillustrates this idea of the Citroen as a personalised vessel travelling in an alternate univserse. Both on ontheir quests for two different reasons. The main character B.G. is on a quest of revenge and enlightenment.Abused at almost ever turn in life and raped at an early age by her grand father, BG sets out to find the man thatabused her at ab early age and indirectly caused the death of her mother. At first she sets out on a simple missionof revenge but the outback is a powerful place and soon a spritual jouney of the soul takes place, with JM at thewheel of the guide to the outback, the Citroen. JM on the other hand is escaping the world he knew to try to findhappiness someplace else. He is not an Australian like BG is, just a Japanese man from Tokeyo. At the end of thefilm, both people find their place in the world and their place with each other, with the add of the outback. BGconfronts the man she hated most and confronts the pain and the monster inside herself and overcomes it, deep inthe mines of the outback. JM finds out that true happiness comes not from material possestion, (the car) but fromthe joys someone can have with another person. Btoh find out that dispirt the fact that humans really don't knowwhat they are doing on this planet and don't really do it right, it can be a wonderful and joyness journey. There aregood times and there are bad, but all of it becomes what we make of it. Every lesson and every drop of spritualunderatanding is made in the outback and sometimes with the help of the outback. In both cases the enlightenmentboth sought after could not be gained in the city. in BG case in order to get on with her life she must simplyface the horrors of her past, something she is unable to do in the city. Only by going out to the outbackand finding her grandfather can she come to terms with what has happened to herself and her mother. InJM case, he hated the city, commenting in a negative fasion on the crowded nature of his mega cityTokeyo and the feeling of hopelessness within. Only be finding a open space with limitless possiblity andunderstanding this space can JM soul refelct that of the outback. One with an open space and limitlesspossibilities. As stated before understanding of the outback leads to understanding of oneslft.
While the outback can be a dangerouse place, yet it is only dangerouse to those that dare to devile oroffend it. For those that respect nature, note the outback itself, it can almost become a tangible, sentient,positive force, like a god. (or goddness?) This can grestly add those that are in the outback on a spritualquest of sorts and punises those that are ignorant or evil. For example at one point in the film JM sees alizard on the road and desided that he wants to keep it as a pet. He stops the car to get out and somehowcapture the lizards. This of course grestly offendes the outback itself and the moment JM touches thelizards it snaps it's jaws shut over the fingers of JM and dosn't let go. This is the fury of the outback itselfmanifesting in the form of this lizards. The point is emphasised when BM says "this kind of lizard won'tlet you go into it forgives you." In other words unless in the outback forgives you, you are not allowed totake anothe step forward. Bm's grandfather is punished with madness after he phyically abused hisdaughter and granddaughter. Goddness of 1967, isn't the only film where the outback itself punishes those thatdesveres it and rewards those who do. In "Holy Smoke" Harvey Kitel's character is punished for his verydishorerable action of sleeping and sudecing almost ever girl he encounters in the film and cheating on thisgirlfriend back home. In the final shots of the film, he is running around the outback, almost mad from the sun,compltetly humiliated and powerless in a red dress, womens' make up and high heels chasing the girl he issupposed to be helping. In the Australian film Sweety, the main characters enlightenment takes place in theoutback, and once she comes to understand the outback and the nature of Autralia, she comes to understand herlife and her marriage. It is the knowlegde the outback brought that saves her marrigae and makes her live her lifeas fully and as well as possible. Even her grandpartetns are saved by the outback as they sate, "out hereeverything is just so perfect and simple, we can really just be outself out where." A perfect way to express thefreedom and understanding the outback can bring. The outback can even physically impose it's persence, as seenin The Goodness of 1967. BG can very much be seen as a child of the outback, she grew up in it, and she is asimple natrure loving girl even if she has had a horrible past that has corrupted her. In on sceen, after a horriblenight of abuse, the film cuts to the next morning and the shot of B.G. in foetal position at the foot of a treeprotected by dingos. Crueled up in a foetal postition and surrounded by animals one would almost thinkthat B.G. has retruned to the state of a child born of the outback. That the outback has somehow protectedher from the horrors that the modern would brings. The metaphor even goes so far as to provide B.G. withoutback style guardiean angels, in this case in the form of dingos.
There are two ways that the outback will treat someone depending on their personality and tempertment.For those that seek to harm and do vile things in their life, the outback will punish and hurt them. Muchlike the warth of a god. But for those seeking truth, knowledge or spirtual fullfullment, then the outbackwill act as a protector and helper, defending those on these vision quests and helping them alone the way.
(More bla bla about the enlightenment thing upfront)
The Autrailianness in Clara Law films comes with a hidden message. While the outback can led to enlightenment itis not only the Australian that benefits from it. Anyone, at anytime in there lives, no matter where they are from canfind the things they need there. It matter not wiether it's a familiy of chinese immigrating into Australia, or aJapanese man running from his problems and trying to find happiness in the world. What Clara Law's Australian-ness is sugesting is that no matter what, if a person comes to the outback with a pure heart and truly seeks answeror freedom from pain long ago inflited. If they seek enlightenment or a way to find happiness and their place in theworld the outback and therefore nature will do it's fullest to help. If a person seeks to do harm to others and causepain and terror or act in a selffish manner the outback will harm them in return. In this sense it matter not whatcountry a person is from or what they look like. From Clara Law's poitn of view, all people are the same, all peoplehave hopes and dream and pain and suffereing. Chinese, Japanese or Autralian it makes no difference. Everyoneseeks answer to their problems, everyone wants happiness in their lives and everyone has the potensial to be greatpeople who are good at their core or evil to the bone. We can all be spritual companions on this road of life, or wecan be hinderances. The choice, to be good or evil, is always up to us. To a highter spiritual power, in this case theoutback itself, such trivial things such as race and nationality are conpects created by man and therefore don'tmatter. The only thing that matter is the goodness of a person. In that regarde, all people on this planet, not matterwhat race, creed or nationality they are, are equals on this planet. All people can be hurt and sometimes needhealing and all people seek the ulitimate truth of life and love. For truly in the outback, in our pureest forms awayfrom the trapping of the city, we are all equal.
