Stacia+Dragon's+Wiki+Project

= AUSTRALIA- A PROSE POEM BY ANIA WALWICZ = You big ugly. You too empty. You desert with your nothing nothing nothing .You scorched suntanned. Old too quickly. Acres of suburbs watching the telly. You bore me. Freckle silly children. You nothing much.

With your big sea. Beach beach beach. I´ve seen enough already. You Dumb dirty city with bar stools. You´re ugly. You silly shoppingtown. You copy. You too far everywhere. You laugh at me. When I came this woman gave me a box of biscuits. You try to be friendly but you´re not very friendly.

You never ask me to your house. You insult me. You don´t know how to be with me. Road road tree tree. I came from crowded and many. I came from rich. You have nothing to offer. You´re poor and spread thin. You big. So what. I´m small. It´s what´s in. You silent on Sunday. Nobody on your streets. You dead at night. You go to sleep too early. You don´t excite me. You scare me with your hopeless. Asleep when you walk. Too hot to think. You big awful. You don´t match me. You burnt out. You too big sky. You make me a dot in the nowhere. You laugh with your big healthy. You want everyone to be the same. You´re dumb. You do like anybody else. You engaged Doreen.

You big cow. You average average. Cold day at school playing around at lunchtime. Running around for nothing. You never accept me. For your own. You always ask me where I´m from. You always ask me. You tell me I look strange. Different. You don´t adopt me. You laugh at the way I speak.

You think you´re better than me. You don´t like me. You don´t have any Interest in another country. Idiot centre of your own self. You think the rest of the world walks around without shoes or electric light. You don´t go anywhere. You stay at home. You like one another. You go crazy on Saturday night. You get drunk. You don´t like me and you don´t like women. You put your arm around men in bars. You´re rough. I can´t speak to you. You burly burly. You´re just silly to me. You big man. Poor with all your money. You ugly furniture. You ugly house. Relaxed in your summer stupor: All year. Never fully awake. Dull at school. Wait for other people to tell you what to do. Follow the leader. Can´t imagine. Work horse. Thick legs. You go to work in the morning. You shiver on a tram.

=ANNOTATIONS:= Bad English Repetition- use of ‘You’ Alliteration Juxtaposition

=COMMENTARY:= The poem ‘Australia,’ is a prose poem written by Ania Walwicz in the 1990’s. It’s written in an Australian immigrant’s perspective in incorrect English to mimic a new migrant’s status as an outsider and in a negative manner. Walwicz was born in Poland and moved to Australia when she was 12, having experience as Australian immigrant and feeling like an outsider. In this poem she conveys Australian Migration through rhythm and language.

The text stereotypes a typical immigrant in Australia, and in any other country. A stereotypical immigrant in Australia is significantly ‘different’ to white and indigenous Australians by appearance, accent and culture. New immigrants have noticeable accents or cannot speak English fluently, like the character in this text. Here, the perspective of migrants in Australia, (or other foreign countries) is privileged, and the Englishmen/ indigenous citizens of Australia are silenced.

Walwicz represents migrant Australia through short simple sentences which creates a rhythm and flow to the poem. These types of sentences are simple, and usually structured such as “You bore me… You big cow… You’re dumb.” They get straight to the point to create a more negative affect in opinion towards Australia. Short sentences are easier to construct, and conjunctions aren’t used. This is to imply that the character is not strong in English, which is Australia’s main language, therefore suggesting she is a foreigner to Australia.

The author also represents migrant Australia through the use of language. She intentionally uses bad English to identify the character’s persona as a migrant throughout the entire poem. “ You average average… You too far everywhere… Idiot center of your own self.” Here, the author makes the character seem as if she really hates Australia, but doesn’t know how to explain her hatred in the language Australia uses. This supports her status as an immigrant who isn’t strong in English. In conclusion, Ania Walwicz was very successful in portraying a migrant Australian only through Language and sentence structure. It only gives us a further understanding of Australian identity, but in a negative way

=ADVERTISEMENT:= []

=COMMENTARY:= The purpose of this advertisement is to get people to go to the migration museum. The video represents all races belonging to Australia brought together by immigration, in the government's perspective to give a sense of acceptance. It represents migrant Australia through film techniques to show Australia's diverse culture and races. This is shown through the use of shots, text and non-diegetic sounds.

Firstly, a mid-shot is used throughout the whole advertisement so that the viewers can easily identify the people's faces. Everyone is against a white background and different races people in the foreground. The effect of the white background is to emphasize on the person the race and emotion. The facial expressions of the people show their emotions clearly, and most of the people involved in the advertisement have smiley and happy faces. Most texts in this topic deals with being an outsider, and this text portrays the opposite, implying that everyone is accepted in Australia and are happy to be Australian, even though they aren't by blood and race.

The use of text is significant in this advertisement when portraying Australian migration. Instead of simply stating where the migrants are from when the characters come up on screen, they state well-known events in history of the country they are from. E.g. 'the holocaust survivor', 'Nazi concentration camp survivor', 'from the stolen generation' and 'Polish weapon smuggler' These descriptions makes race sound much more interesting and important. The ad ends with 'ordinary people, extraordinary lives' This breaks the common outsider stereotype of migrants.

=THEY'RE A WEIRD MOB= COMMENTARY: 'They're a Weird Mob' is a 1966 film based on the book by John O'Grady, directed by Michael Powell. The film is about a man named Nino Culotta, an Italian immigrant who recently arrived in Sydney, Australia to work for his cousin's business. Upon his arrival, he learnt that the business was shutting down, and his cousin went into debt. Nino declared that he will help pay back the debt by getting a job in Australia as an immigrant. The movie poster above represents the story, and migrant Australia through stereotypes, text, and color.

Firstly, Powell symbolizes an outsider against stereotypes. In the shape of the country, there are people dressed in beach attire and outback clothing, which are some of the main stereotypes of Australians. Australian trademarks are also used, such as the Aussie flag and the Sydney harbor bridge to support that the main image IS in fact Australia. There is a character's head just outside of the main image, showing that he does not fit in with these stereotypes and is not 'Australian' thus proving he is a foreigner.

The director supports the character being a foreigner through the use of text and perspective, such as the one in the speech bubble coming from the man's head. We are assuming he is the main character of the film. The speech bubble says 'they're a weird mob.' We understand that it is coming from the character's perspective as an outsider, implying he is not one of 'them,' 'them' being the country he is looking at which has been identified as Australia. This expands on the fact that he is a foreigner, possibly a tourist or immigrant.

Thirdly, Powell illustrates Migrant Australia by the use of color. The main character is colored in black and white, contradicting with the image above that is bright and colorful. This supports his role as an outsider. He stands out because he is colored in dull, bland colors, unlike the rest of the poster that is made up of dark, bright and vivid colors. An outsider is defined as different, unconnected and who does not belong within a society, which is what the color contradictions express in this example.

In conclusion, Michael Powell was successful in portraying an outsider as a migrant in Australia, through Australian stereotypes, text, perspective, and color. These simple techniques have a major effect on the concept of the movie poster. It briefly explains what the film is about, which is the purpose of a movie poster after all.