'10 Australian films that 'shook the world' appeared as a headline on BBC Culture online (bbc.com) on June 2, 2015. What does 'shook the world' mean in this context?
Shook is the past tense of the verb, shake. So, did the ten Australian films 'shake' the world? Shake, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is to hold something and 'move it quickly backwards and forwards or up and down' such as an object or a person 'because you are angry with them or because you want them to wake up.'
The title is also a reference to the 1919 book 'Ten Days that Shook the World' by American journalist John REED (1887-1920). It was about the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia. Interestingly, Reed, who was on duty covering the Russian Revolution, admitted that when he was writing the book he tried to be neutral, but 'in the struggle my sympathies were not neutral.' The historical narrative leans toward the Bolsheviks as it recounts the seizure of state power and its transfer to the Soviets.
The BBC Culture article stated that the 'Australian film industry has always battled for eyeballs in a market saturated with foreign content - but to say it has pulled off some coups along the way is something of an understatement.' The author discusses the films on show at the Sydney Film Festival in the first week of June as 'cinematic treats.' He references a 'strong contingent of Australian-made films ... that have had a lasting impact around the world.'
The author lists ten examples of Australian-made films that he maintains have had a global lasting impact: 1. The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) - the first full-length (about one hour) narrative feature film ever made in the world (by the Tait family in Melbourne), 2. Crocodile Dundee (1986), 3. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), 4. Mad Max (1979), 5. Evil Angels (1988), 6. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), 7. Young Einstein (1988), 8. Bad Boy Bubby (1993), 9. Samson and Delilah (2009), and 10. The Badadook (2014).
Lasting impact? Some surely have had a lasting impact, but for anything to have a lasting impact is should at least be five or more years old. To list a 2014 movie is pushing the boundaries of the meaning of 'lasting impact.' Have these 'global' lasting impacts been tested? Any list is debatable. I have my own version of a list that would include the 1976 film Storm Boy, from the children's book by Colin Thiele, with a boy, a pelican called Mr. Percival, the Coorong beach, and the boy's friend, Fingerbone.
Scorecard for the BBC Culture headline: 60% - BBC Culture pushes the 'global lasting impact' meaning of 'shook the world' too far. Like John Reed, the author is not quite neutral.
Shook is the past tense of the verb, shake. So, did the ten Australian films 'shake' the world? Shake, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is to hold something and 'move it quickly backwards and forwards or up and down' such as an object or a person 'because you are angry with them or because you want them to wake up.'
The title is also a reference to the 1919 book 'Ten Days that Shook the World' by American journalist John REED (1887-1920). It was about the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia. Interestingly, Reed, who was on duty covering the Russian Revolution, admitted that when he was writing the book he tried to be neutral, but 'in the struggle my sympathies were not neutral.' The historical narrative leans toward the Bolsheviks as it recounts the seizure of state power and its transfer to the Soviets.
The BBC Culture article stated that the 'Australian film industry has always battled for eyeballs in a market saturated with foreign content - but to say it has pulled off some coups along the way is something of an understatement.' The author discusses the films on show at the Sydney Film Festival in the first week of June as 'cinematic treats.' He references a 'strong contingent of Australian-made films ... that have had a lasting impact around the world.'
The author lists ten examples of Australian-made films that he maintains have had a global lasting impact: 1. The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) - the first full-length (about one hour) narrative feature film ever made in the world (by the Tait family in Melbourne), 2. Crocodile Dundee (1986), 3. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), 4. Mad Max (1979), 5. Evil Angels (1988), 6. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), 7. Young Einstein (1988), 8. Bad Boy Bubby (1993), 9. Samson and Delilah (2009), and 10. The Badadook (2014).
Lasting impact? Some surely have had a lasting impact, but for anything to have a lasting impact is should at least be five or more years old. To list a 2014 movie is pushing the boundaries of the meaning of 'lasting impact.' Have these 'global' lasting impacts been tested? Any list is debatable. I have my own version of a list that would include the 1976 film Storm Boy, from the children's book by Colin Thiele, with a boy, a pelican called Mr. Percival, the Coorong beach, and the boy's friend, Fingerbone.
Scorecard for the BBC Culture headline: 60% - BBC Culture pushes the 'global lasting impact' meaning of 'shook the world' too far. Like John Reed, the author is not quite neutral.
MARTINA NICOLLS
SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES
MARTINA NICOLLS is an international human rights-based consultant in education, healing and wellbeing, peace and stabilization, foreign aid audits and evaluations, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
Comments
Post a Comment