The Sun-Herald

The Tribal Mind: Preserved for posterity, the unexpected classics

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

by David Dale
Do these revelations make you proud of the tastes of Australians, or a bit embarrassed? One in every nine homes in this country owns a copy of Mamma Mia!; Love Actually is in more homes than The Lion King; Zoolander is in more homes than Twilight (despite the resemblance of vampires to male models); The Notebook (about a love that outlasts Alzheimer's) is in more homes than Australia (about a love that outlasts invasion); Dirty Dancing is in more homes than Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith; Underbelly Series 1 is in more homes than Summer Heights High, but only just.

Those insights emerge from an analysis of DVD buying habits conducted for this column by the research organisation GfK Australia. I had wondered which films and TV series over the years had evoked a desire for long term commitment instead of a one-night stand -- as in, the DVDs we bought, rather than rented.

Since Australians spend $1.5 billion a year on a form of entertainment that did not exist 15 years ago, I was curious about the libraries we've been building around our giant TV screens. GfK Australia found the 50 discs which sold the most copies since the technology landed in 1997 (when the first DVD to arrive upon our shore was Evita, starring Madonna).

The top selling DVDs of all time: 1 Finding Nemo (2004); 2 Mamma Mia! (2008); 3 Monsters Inc (2002); 4,5,6 The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2002-04); 7,8,9 Harry Potter and the ... Chamber of Secrets (2003), Goblet of Fire (2006), Prisoner of Azkaban (2004); 10 Pirates of the Caribbean (2004); 11 The Notebook (2005); 12 Shrek 2 (2004).

Except for The Notebook, those choices are films we loved at the multiplex and wanted to see again. But further down the 50 you find less familiar titles that suggest extraordinary discernment or mystifying obsessiveness. These were our unexpected icons ...

13. Dirty Dancing (2000). Somehow Australians made an emotional connection with a Jewish schoolgirl who falls in love with a WASP dance teacher in a summer camp near New York in 1963. Go figure.

17. The Matrix (1999). This film started the DVD revolution, when the geeks found a bonus feature in the form of a white rabbit that popped onto the screen during key sequences. Click your remote and you're transported to a mini-documentary on how it was made. Suddenly we knew why DVDs were better than videos.

26. Dances With Wolves (2001). Having embraced this tale of a soldier who goes native, Australians were fully prepared for Avatar.

32. Love Actually (2004): Some say silly sentimentality, some say sweet storytelling, but this film's appeal reaches beyond the DVD -- whenever it's repeated on TV, it pulls more than half a milion viewers. There must be more to it than Bill Nighy's channelling of Keith Richards.

34. 10 Things I Hate About You (2000) This is an updating of The Taming of the Shrew, in which visiting Aussie bad boy Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger) charms sulky schoolgirl Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles). Testament to the enduring genius of Shakespeare?

39. Grease (2002). This flick convinces your kids that a girl like Olivia Newton-John must take up smoking in order to attract a boy like John Travolta.

49. Zoolander (2002). This incisive expose of the fashion industry contributed many phrases to the language: "So hot right now"; "Blue Steel" and "Magnum" (looks used by models); "Eugoogoolizer" (one who speaks at funerals); "I feel like I'm taking crazy pills"; and "Have you ever wondered if there was more to life, other than being really, really, ridiculously good looking?"

Go to The DVDs Australia loved for the complete list and to Comments, below, to explain why these became classics.

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.