The Tribal Mind: The superstars of endless summer

Wednesday May 9, 2007 04:08 PM

Who We Are

by David Dale
Give that woman her own series. The most watched piece of television so far this summer has been Jelena Dokic's last match during the Australian Open, which attracted 2.3 million viewers in the mainland capitals. The men's final, which has been the most watched program of several previous years, drew only 2.2 m this year (for all the record breakers, go to The TV Australia loved).

If this were America, Dokic would by now be hosting a talk show about defeating depression or a reality show about girls freeing themselves from loony fathers. Since this is Australia, she is simply the summer's temporary talking point.

Every silly season seems to throw up one individual who captures the conversation of a nation with nothing better to do. The superstar of early 2008 was Corey Worthington, who went from public nuisance to Big Brother participant. In February 2007, Schapelle Corby's sister Mercedes had her 15 days of fame.

This summer, we've been lucky enough to get two heroes, both with stories much more inspiring than Worthington's. The second was already a familiar figure, mainly because of her impeccable interpretation of an earlier icon, Lindy Chamberlain, in the film Evil Angels. She cemented her place in our hearts during the past three months because she became entangled in Australia's continuing obsession with all things ABBA.

The research organisation GFK Australia has just revealed that the best selling DVD of 2008 was not Underbelly or The Dark Knight, as everyone assumed, but Mamma Mia! Released in November, it is already the number 15 best selling DVD of all time in Australia (just ahead of The Matrix). With 450,000 copies out there, it remains in the top 20 sales chart this week and has a good chance of bumping Finding Nemo off our all-time number one spot, as it has just done in Britain (for full details, go to The DVDs Australia loved).

Mamma Mia! isn't Meryl Streep's only claim on summer stardom. Last Monday The Devil Wears Prada attracted 1.4 million viewers in the mainland capitals, outrating the once unstoppable Desperate Housewives and becoming the most watched TV movie of the past 12 months. Every programmer knows movies don't work on television any more, but Channel Ten took a risk because if anyone can overturn conventional wisdoms, it's Our Meryl.

And in the art cinemas, Streep is knocking them dead in Doubt, where she plays a paranoid nun. Sister Aloysius Beauvier is as different from Donna Sheridan in Mamma Mia! as Donna is from Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada. Compare the performances and you are sure these must be three different actresses.

Which points to a clear conclusion: Streep will have no trouble playing the lead in Baz Luhrmann's next project, Comeback: The Jelena Dokic Story. Unless Dokic gets in first and stars in Chameleon: The Meryl Streep Story, set to the music of Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Anni-Frid, and opening in the summer of 2011.

If Meryl Steep is not the greatest actress of all time, tell us who is at Comments. And while you at it, please explain Australia's obsession with ABBA.

To learn why geeky heathens will inherit the earth, go to Who We Are.

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

COMMENTS

Yep, she's a pretty darn hot actress. Agreed.

by Mikey on February 08, 2009 at 06:36 PM

As I pondered the proposition that Meryl might be the greatest actress since the dawn of cinema - I can't vouch for the abilities of Sarah Bernhardt because there isn't enough movie material of her performances to rate her by.... I thought to myself that perhaps Katherine Hepburn eclipses Streep - but Streep obviously isn't done yet.
Then I realised that no actress alive has got anything on Germaine Greer! A homegrown product that has lived most of her life on the other side of the planet (maybe not so bad really), who's performances are good enough that there's still Aussies who think she's one of us.
Even when she knocks the crap out of us from her home in Blighty, there's an audience here that is enraptured enough that they'd like to see her enrolled in our pantheon of "Great Australians".
Now if a lifetimes' worth of non-stop performances that have sucked a Nation in doesn't trump momentary by comparison performances for a movie camera... I don't know what does! :)

by Steve C on February 08, 2009 at 09:52 PM

Jelena smiled once that I saw in that match. The circumstances, and the smile, were such that this was possibly the best piece of television so far this year, and fully justified the size of the audience.

by Tony O'Brien on February 09, 2009 at 05:11 AM

I agree with you over Streep. She never fails to surprise us and out do herself. The thing is people are confident to give her juicy and difficult roles because they know she will nail it. However, it has become that she raised the bar so high that people start to take it for granted that she is good and sometimes think that she is annoying because she is so good. However, it is still everytime when you see her name printed on a movie poster, you know that's someone you want to see.
Our Cate seems to be following the footsteps but still has some catch up to do. Sometimes I wonder whether Rachel Griffiths will have a similar path if she doesn't stay just inside Six Feet Under and Brothers and Sisters (which I think both are brilliant!) I wonder which American actress can succeed Meryl. For once I thought Angelina Jolie but then she is more like a showcast of jokes and scandals nowadays. Maybe Hilary Swank but she yet to prove she is a commercial hit too. But at anytime, I will gladly wait for Cate to show up on the silverscreen, though I did enjoy her in "The War of the Roses" and can't wait to see her in "The Streetcar Named Desire"

by Haven Tso on February 09, 2009 at 06:53 AM

Abba? It's simple: it's simple pop. Not since the Beatles did a pair of songwriters craft (and it was craft, not dumb luck) such memorably simple pop songs. If someone better had come along since, then that someone would be fawned on in the same way (not likely to happen now, in the multi-media society of 2009). Bjorn and Benny knew how to push people's buttons, and were able to do it again and again. Why US, here in Australia? Maybe because we had loyalties to defend (unlike the US and UK), we were freer to accept what came along. We liked what we heard,and bought it in spades in the 70's. And those 10-30 year olds are now 40-60 year olds, cashed up to buy ABBA Gold CD's (oh, Vol's I, II and III, please!), and happy to set the Nielsens on fire reliving thier youth and The Good Old Days when Agnetha wiggles her Rear Of The Year on the idiot box...
Or is it only about Agnetha?

by Hansolo on February 09, 2009 at 07:03 AM

Meryl is a great actor but the best female actor around today is Kate Winslett in my view. Jelena is a good tennis player but was unfortunate to inherit the Damir scowl.

by rufus on February 09, 2009 at 08:43 AM

Yep, Meryl is queen.

by Phil on February 09, 2009 at 08:55 AM

Still can't work out why ABBA is so popular. COuldn't stand them in the 70's as a kid and the revival is just as painful.
My wife made me sit(suffer) through Mama Mia in the holidays so I made her watch Alien Vs Predator in vengence the next night. She won't do that again.....

by randy on February 09, 2009 at 10:41 AM

Meryl's so great she gets special dispensation for "Mamma Mia'. I think Laura Linney is nipping at her heels for the title. See 'The Savages'.
Personally, I hate ABBA, but still get the ear-worm whenever I hear some of their songs. And I wasn't even of listening age in their heyday. Listened to parents' cassettes and I think it entered the DNA. Can't get rid of it. Causes mutations.
As for Jelena Dokic, I think the Rosemeadow Effect explains that brief flirtation i.e: It was really hot and we drank too much.

by darren on February 09, 2009 at 11:18 AM

Rufus, I don't think Kate Winslet is quite there in terms of being superior to Meryl - she's really only beginning her career - but she's the only actress working in movies today who is really poised to be the greatest actress of her generation. Angelina is just too much of a hoopla - she is never truly in the role, I'm always very aware of who I am watching while she is on the screen (and also makes some questionable choices - Tomb Raider?). Cate Blanchett comes close too, but I think she spreads herself too thin - she's in theatre, now she's working with the govt, now she's focusing on environmental issues - plus the Indiana Jones choice? Yeesh. Rachel Griffiths is solid and her television choices are outstanding, but I feel she will reign as queen of tv rather than hollywood, which is also a fantastic achievement. For me, Kate is the next step. Which is clearly being demonstrated on the awards show circuit this year.

by Beckala on February 09, 2009 at 12:05 PM

The only place in the world with this kind of ABBA obsession is Australia (perhaps the UK, too). The explanation is simple- run of the mill Australians like things camp and daggy. The number of times that you see drunken, simple-minded girls sans footwear that go ape when Dancing Queen plays in a pub/club is proof enough.
Musically, there is some complexity in the composition and arrangements of Benny and Bjorn but I'm pretty sure that's not why Australians like ABBA.
There's a similar case to be made for the Sound of Music, Bon Jovi, Kylie Minogue, and Robbie Williams as well, but that's probably best saved for another time.

by Link-age on February 09, 2009 at 12:05 PM

Why is it that all men think Sister Meryl is paranoid and all women think she's right?

by amy on February 09, 2009 at 10:18 PM

I recently saw Doubt at the theatre and enjoyed it. Then I saw Merryl Streep was in the movie version and my heart sank.
Her box office track record is good in dollar terms, but the woman cannot act.
Looking vague, avoiding eye contact with fellow actors and mumbling a bit isn't acting ; having a bad accent in the Lindy Chamberlain role or Karen Blixen isn't good acting.
Have a look at her scenes with Jack Nicholson in Heartburn: there are two people on screen, and only one of them is acting, and it's embarrassing to see Streep on screen with him.
I would rather watch Vivienne Leigh or Hedi Lamarr any day ; Doris Day does the light-hearted schtick better ; Holly Hunter is better -- hell, Noni Hazelhurst is better, as are any number of Australian actresses with their wide range of training in screen and stage craft. I don't much like Helen Mirren, but I would rather watch her than Merryl Streep.
Darren, I can't give Merryl special dispensation for Mamma Mia -- she has been in too many stinkers, and has caused too many movies to be stinkers by her presence, that she has no credit in the bank.

by Professor Rosseforp on February 10, 2009 at 07:09 AM

Professor Rosseforp, I agree with the "A dengo's got my bebey" anomaly, but I respectfully disagree with the rest. Don't have the theatre version to compare the movie of 'Doubt' with though.
Amy, I fluctuated between paranoid / right, through the whole thing before settling on right....or maybe paranoid. All I know is I enjoyed the confusing feeling of ...doubt. No nicely sewn up every 'T' crossed and 'I' dotted hollywood ending. And that's okay.

Tribal Mind asks: How did Meryl's kiwi accent compare with Matthew Newton's in Underbelly 2?

by darren on February 10, 2009 at 08:38 AM

OK... I've pondered upon why ABBA was and still is a 'phenomenon' in Aus.
I realised there was no way that ABBA could have originated in the U.S.
Such a combination could have originated in the U.K. but it's unlikely given that the 'quirkiness' of two married couples being at the heart of the band would be a tad out of character with some antiquated English perceptions.
The rather relaxed and accepting nature of Sweden was probably the only place such a combo could have originated from - well, maybe Iceland or Denmark... but until Bjork and Princess Mary, both nations weren't as 'known about' as the home of the Volvo, saunas, sexual freedom and quality porn.
If any country had a lifestyle that sort of 'fitted' the kind of lifestyle we prided ourselves on having back then - it was certainly Sweden.
Sure they came across as 'campy', but they weren't self-conciously playing upon it as a gimic that was more important than their music, and for those who actually listened there was some pretty raw and revealing emotions behind the lyrics that hadn't been heard since some of the Beatles best. Tied to some pretty catchy and very competently composed tunes, these lyrics provided pretty much "something for everyone"...
If ABBA represented "Naivety"; it was the sort of naivety that people could appreciate because it was honest and simple, rather than the more stupid forms of being naive.
If Australia's appreciation of a group of men and women - former husbands and wives, continues: it may be because "ABBA" and it's members not only survived the fame, the divorces, the highs and the lows... they did so with their dignity and sense of humour retained: that's something I'm sure many Aussies would like to believe they'd have too if they'd lived similar lives. :)

by Steve C on February 10, 2009 at 11:00 AM

I don't watch 'Underbelly' TM. Does Matt Newton's accent matter? I thought it was just about tits and bums and killing people and stuff. Not art. He could do a Polish accent and people'd still watch.
By the way was Lindy Chamberlain a kiwi or just Meryl's version?

Tribal Mind wonders: Why did you not watch Underbelly? We rely on you as an analyst of our culture. And yes, Lindy was partly kiwi.

by darren on February 10, 2009 at 12:06 PM

Matthew Newton's accent bothered me less than his resembalnce to Darren Hayes from Savage Garden. Speaking of accents in Underbelly, I'm not sure who played the Scottish drug dealer in Thailand, but surely we have Scottish actors in Australia, or Australian actors who can do a more convincing Scottish accent? It wasn't essential to the part, and would have been better left out.
It might also have been a good idea for the director to talk to Roy Billing about his role as Robert Trimbole, as he appears to have no idea what kind of character he is playing.
As to Merryl S, might I tender "Death becomes her", and the shocking U.S. adaptation of "She-devil" -- not to mention the interminable "Bridges of Madison County" as examples of her underwhelming performances?

by Professor Rosseforp on February 10, 2009 at 12:26 PM

Yo Dave... What happened to my post about ABBA? Ensnared in the 'digital ether'? I put such thought and effort into it too. It obviously met it's Waterloo!

Tribal Mind replies: The SMH firewall had put it into the junk folder, for no apparent reason. I have salvaged it and published it, above.
But please, in future, could you make a distinction between its (possessive) and it's (short for "it is"). I am about to 'start another purge on unnecce's'sary apo'strophe's.

by Steve C on February 10, 2009 at 03:57 PM

That's good news about Lindy. I always thought Meryl's accent was a bad Australian one but that's what a NZ accent is after all.
I'm talking about 'Underbelly' on two fronts (including the Who We Are blog) here TM, getting confused. But it's good therapy.
Isn't it time Aussie film production grew up? If 'Underbelly' is anything to go by, we're still stuck in the 70's. It's just 'Number 96' with more shooting isn't it? Don't bother with art, just give 'em tits and willies and naughty words and that'll keep the s.o.b's. Then cross-promote the bejesus out of it until everyone can't think straight and that's what you call Kwality.
Not interested.

by darren on February 11, 2009 at 08:41 AM

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The Tribal Mind: The superstars of endless summer

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