Bran Nue Dae

Texts allow responders to enter different worlds through addressing the fundamental emotions of the human experience, such as alienation. The musical comedy ‘Bran Nue Dae’ composed by Jimmy Chi shows us the world of the Aboriginals around 1970s . . ‘Bran Nue Dae’ centres around a teenage Aboriginal boy named Willie, who escapes from his repressive school in Perth back to his hometown, Broome. During the journey, he undergoes events that allow him to truly find where he belongs and connect him with the Aboriginal culture.
In this movie we see a negative stereotypical representation of Aborigines, homelessness and the representation of their pride in their culture.
What do you think of homeless people? Do you think they’re all lazy? Alcoholics? Or Thieves? This stereotype of Aboriginal people is shown in the scene where Willie meets Tadpole and his other homeless friends drinking under the bridge. The combination of the mid shots, eye level shots and the diegetic sounds used during this scene engages the audience into their world. Irony is used when Tadpole says “We all wanna go home, but we’re a long way from our country” to emphasise the displacement of the Aborigines from their homeland that’s colonised by the English. The colour brown used in Tadpole’s costuming associates with dirt which adds to the lower class image along with the worn hat and old patched clothes. This scene portrays the stereotype that the Aboriginals are homeless.
However not every representation is negative, it’s shown that they’re proud of their Indigenous heritage despite the fact that they’re looked down in the society. There’s a sense of pride when Willie stands up for his race and says “There’s nothing I would rather be than to be an Aborigine". The non- diegetic sounds and the bright lighting of this scene provides comfort and reassurance which also creates an energetic mood and this engages the audience. His courage inspired the other students to join in and when they gradually stand on the benches looking down on Father Benedictus reminds the rest of Australia that they’re proud of their heritage.
Tadpole appears to be a homeless drunk, the stereotypical of the Stolen generation, but there’s another side of him, a caring and knowledgeable sid. He’s also metaphoric of the history of the Indigenous culture and this is shown when he’s dancing and singing spiritually with the ancestors about the effects of assimilation. By showing the more sophisticated side of Tadpole encourages people to look away from the stereotypes about Aborigines.
Bran Nue Dae uses black humour to convey deeper messages such as assimilation. For example the irony in the song lyircs “There’s nothing I would rather be than to be an Aborigine and watch you take my precious land away” relate to the degrading treatment endured by most Aborigines during assimilation and this reminds us of the struggles that they faced in gaining equality. Even though it was a dark period of Australia’s history, Perkins manages to transcribe it through humour. It’s effective to use black humour for confronting the sensitive issues of Aborigines while still providing and extent of entertainment.
Through the portrayal of homelessness and cinematic techniques such as eye level shots, Perkins was able to transport her viewers into the world of the Aboriginals during the 70s.