The Sun-Herald

The Tribal Mind: How good are we!

To compare 21st century Australia with 20th century Australia, go to Another country.

by David Dale
Yeah, yeah, Toni Collette plays a bunch of Americans and wins a Golden Globe, but is it enough? As we approach January 26, patriotism requires this column to examine the success of Australian entertainment ventures at home and abroad and to ask the question: Are we currently gripped by a cultural cringe or entitled to a cultural strut?

The case for the cringe: We're barely buying our own music. There was not one Australian album in the top ten for 2009. Number 1 is Susan Boyle, 2 is P!nk, 3 is Black Eyed Peas, 4 is Taylor Swift and 5 is Lily Allen. The first Aussie effort appears at the 12 spot - State of the Art by Hilltop Hoods.

Nor is there any local work among the top five singles, a chart dominated by Black Eyed Peas. The first glimpse of green and gold among the singles is at No 7, with Guy Sebastian's Like It Like That.

Of course an optimist might take the view that P!nk is an honorary Australian, since she spent half of last year in our hemisphere and is more popular here than in her homeland. She could enjoy the same status as that excellent Aussie ensemble Abba.

The cinema box office chart also holds little cheer for the nationalist. Mao's Last Dancer made $15.2 million and revived the career of director Bruce Beresford, but it featured American and Chinese actors, and was set in China and America (even if filmed in Sydney). A sharp-eyed contributor to the movie website imdb.com recently added this detail to the Mao's Last Dancer entry: "Errors in geography. When Liz is leaving for San Francisco, she is driving out of the street. In the corner, it is obvious there is a street post saying 'Darling St', with the City of Sydney logo on it. This scene is played in Houston."

The next most successful local movies were Charlie and Boots, with ticket sales of $3.7m and Samson and Delilah, with $3.2m. You can't exactly claim that we love our own stories.

The story for the strut: Our actors bestride the universe. This column used to argue that the most bankable actor in the world was Hugo Weaving, based on the total earnings of his films (including three Matrixes and three Lord of the Rings). He was briefly surpassed by Harrison Ford in 2008, when Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull came out (and remember who was Ford's costar), but he climbed back on top by voicing a giant robot in two Transformers flicks.

Now Weaving looks like getting bumped again, but he won't mind, because his replacement will be a fellow Aussie -- Sam Worthington, who has appeared in the blockbusters Terminator: Salvation, Avatar and Clash of the Titans.

The only other contender for the most bankable title is yet another Aussie -- Eric Bana, with a list that includes Troy, Hulk, Munich, Star Trek, The Time Traveller's Wife and Funny People, where he was actually allowed to use an Australian accent. Of course they could all be passed ultimately by Canberra's own Mia Wasikowska, who has just completed Alice in Wonderland and is moving on to Jane Eyre.

Lets turn to television. Here is every Australian I can find who worked in an American television series during 2009: Simon Baker (The Mentalist); Rose Byrne (Damages); Alan Dale (Ugly Betty, Lost); Emily de Ravin (Lost); Melissa George (Grey's Anatomy); Rachel Griffiths (Brothers and Sisters); Stephanie Jacobsen (The Sarah Connor Chronicles); Ryan Kwanted (True Blood); Dichen Lachman (Dollhouse); Anthony LaPaglia (Without A Trace); Ben Lawson (The Deep End); Julian McMahon (Nip/ Tuck); Poppy Montgomery (Without A Trace); John Noble (Fringe); Jesse Spencer (House); Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck); Rachael Taylor (Washingtonienne); Anna Torv (Fringe).

Stirring stuff. Compare that with the number of British actors on US television. We've knocked our former colonial masters out of the game.

Go to Comments to suggest any other reasons to strut on Tuesday.

David Dale is the author of The Little Book of Australia -- A snapshot of who we are (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.