The Tribal Mind: Free spirits or mini-Yanks

Wednesday May 9, 2007 04:08 PM

Who We Are

To discuss the most significant moments in the history of Australian television, go to Who We Are.
by David Dale
This is scary. I was going to write a column about how Australians are becoming less like Americans -- how we seem finally to be asserting our cultural independence from the entertaining empire. That trend is obvious on television, where local drama, comedy, variety and reality pull much bigger crowds than the US product. It seemed to be happening also in cinemas, where Australians are responding to the latest blockbuster, Iron Man, with far less enthusiasm than our transpacific cousins.

Over recent decades movie distributors have relied on the formula that a big US movie will make in Australian dollars roughly one tenth of what it makes in US dollars. Our tastes have been that predictable. But in its first two weeks in Australian cinemas, Iron Man, with no serious competition, has made $12.4 million, while in its first two weeks in US cinemas, it made $195 million.

Iron Man is an unfortunate choice of movie on which to display our independence, since it offers a rare combination of wit, special effects and social conscience. And Gwyneth Paltrow. But at least we are no longer marching in lock step with Them Over There. Or so I thought.

To test the trend, I compared the US and local takings for the movies seen by more than a million Australians since May, 2007. Here's the list. Next to each movie, divide the first figure you see by ten and compare that with the second figure you see.

The highest grossing films of the past 12 months:
1 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix $US292m, $A35.5m
2 Shrek The Third $US320m, $A33.7m
3 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End $US309m, $A33.1m
4 The Simpsons Movie $US183m, $A31.4m
5 Transformers $US319m, $A27.9m
6 I Am Legend $US256m, $A23m
7 The Bourne Ultimatum $227m, $A21.9m
8 Alvin and the Chipmunks $US217m, $A17.5m
9 Hairspray $US119m, $US16.5m
10 Death At A Funeral $US9m; $A16 m
11 27 Dresses $US77m, $A15.5m
12 Bee Movie $US127m, $A15m
13 The Golden Compass $US70m, $A14.7m
14 Knocked Up $US148m, $A14.5m
15 Ratatouille $US206m $A14.4m
16 Iron Man $US195m $A12.4m (so far)
17 National Treasure: Book of Secrets $US219m $A13 m
18 Enchanted $US128m, $A12.5m
19 Ocean's 13 $US117m $A12.3m
20 Dr Suess Horton Hears a Who $US151m $A12m
21 American Gangster $US130m $A11.5m
22 Juno $US143m $A11.5m
23 Die Hard 4 $US134m, $A11.3m
24 Atonement $US51m $A10.5m
25 Rush Hour 3 $US140m $A10.4.

This is not exactly a landslide of support for my theory about the collapse of coca-colonisation. Half of Australia's favourites were American favourites to the power of ten (give or take $4 million).

We liked Harry Potter, Death at a Funeral, Atonement and The Golden Compass far more than they did (higher tolerance for British accents?). We liked The Simpsons, 27 Dresses and Hairspray more than they did (a quirkier sense of humour? Higher proportion of female cinema-goers?). They liked Alvin and the Chipmunks, Ratatouille, and Iron Man more than we did (more innocent and childlike in their thinking?) After that, we're pretty much twins. Might as well enjoy it.

To offer your explanation for the similarities and differences, go to Comments

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). To discuss Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

COMMENTS

WTF? I think you're drawing big brush strokes, it's also too early to call it a trend, let the history books decide. There's also no talk of context.
The best measure of Australian 'independence' IMO has always been music. The US popular charts is dominated by hip hop. In comparison, places like Australia and the UK it's largely rock and pop. The UK and Australian music scene is much 'whiter' than the US - we're rockist. However, it's starting to change; the big drivers of non-rock music in Australia is coming from the non-Anglo population. Anecdotally it seems that every non-Anglo young person in western Sydney listens to 96.1FM (a station thats not counted on official measures).

by canoli on May 19, 2008 at 10:43 AM

The popularity of British film and television in Australia, especially with films such as Death at a Funeral and Hot Fuzz and television such as Spooks, Little Britain and even The Bill is because socially and culturally, Australia is closer to the UK than it is to the United States. Australians viewing British film and television are more comfortable and can identify better with British constructs, as we are surrounded by them here. Australia is, and I know republicans will hate me for saying this, the Antipodean Britannia. We have different accents and live in eternal sunshine, sure, but our society is pretty much the same. We have the same ideals. We have very similar systems of government. We name (and spell) things similarly (and arguably more logically than the Americans - 'trooper' for a policeman, anyone?). Inherent social attitudes are undeniably British in origin - Australian determination of spirit in the face of adversity is clearly a stiff upper lip by another name. We drink copious amounts of tea. We proudly march under our own defaced Union Jack (which I think is cheeky to say the least). We don't take ourselves too seriously. And we share a similar national sense of humour. This is not to say that we have not developed our own unique identity - we have - but we have basically taken the best of British and moulded it to suit ourselves.

So then, we identify with British culture more readily than United States culture. And this is despite the infiltration of American media and products into our society. Perhaps, in a rather perverse observation, clinging to British constructs is one way of resisting Americanisation?

by Adam on May 19, 2008 at 01:38 PM

Why does everyone assume we should be embarrassed about Americans being bigger versions of Australians? It shows they've got good taste. If the US ever asserts its independence from us, we ungrateful buggers will probably just call it unilateralism. Um... Dropping the sarcasm, US culture is one of the world's most diverse except India and Indonesia, and one of the most vibrant. A country where Rush Limbaugh and Michael Moore have equal access to harangue their listeners, and Toni Morrison and Tom Clancy both make truckloads of money off their readers, isn't one we should be ashamed of being like - assuming, given this diversity, that we actually can. The greater worry is which elements of that culture come to the top. Of the eight top movies on your list, four are sequels (actually sequels of sequels), five are film versions of existing hits, and one is a remake. Rewriting the list in terms of per-screen takings would emphasise our diversity much more effectively - and probably our difference to the US at the same time.

by Nicholas on May 19, 2008 at 03:26 PM

America is a fading nation. The differences will become more pronounced as they disappear up their own backside.
What's the bet Baz's Australia will flop? He's a good director but we wont like his subject material. The cultural cringe hasn't completely gone yet.

by trevor on May 19, 2008 at 05:24 PM

Although the trend is there (and we have less than one tenth of the US population) the one thing TM and others have raised in the past is that Australians are not going to the movies as much - would be interested to see a comparison on DVD purchases versus cinema numbers to see what the real trend may be.
I am one of the rarer beings who still goes regularly to the movies - of the 25 films listed I saw 17 at the cinema.
This year I have already seen 30 movies - and unlike others I do not watch as many on DVD - I have no current memberships to my local DVD stores to rent and I cannot remember the last time I rented a DVD!

by Cathy on May 20, 2008 at 12:01 PM

Australia is becoming ever more Americanized. The horrible Americanisms that have become part of Ozenglish prove that, particularly the revolting expression "to raise children". We used to bring up children and raise sheep. And oh the horror of US immigrants shoving their ludicrous political correctness down our throats and even getting jobs as TV journos. Save us!

by Judith Golden on June 05, 2008 at 08:55 AM

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