PowerPoint Presentation, Visual Arts and Film Studies

Screening Badlands

should choose one film and one television show – your own original choices, and you should analyse these for the group.

You should use the lecture as a springboard for your own original discussion of one Australian film and one Australian television program.

The instructions for the task are as follows:

You must present the weekly themes creatively by offering an analysis of two texts one Australian film, and one Australian television program – (think about the broad range of genres and styles within each). Your choice of screen texts must; 1) offer both industrial historical contexts of each, and 2) place each text in a relationship with the critical materials and concepts of the specific week. At the end you will allow time for the group to ask questions and respond to what you have done. Your tutor will grade you on a series of criteria including conceptual understanding (use the readings and your own research), analytical skills, originality, presentation and group engagement.

The theme of ‘badlands’ looks at the relationship between crime and Australian space. The week twelve questions are:

Are most Australian screen texts haunted by ‘criminal’ histories? What are some of the darker representations of Australian land and environment in film and television? From Jindabyne (2006) and Snowtown (2011) to Underbelly and the range of reality crime series, how do Australian screen texts construct relations between bad deeds/people/behaviours and iconic Australian spaces? What does the term ‘badland’ mean? How does this speak to the Australian obsession with grim stories and the ‘true crime’ phenomenon? How do we account for the relationship between crime, history, location and stream of films and commercial television successes?

Set Readings