Constructing Communication: The Proposition

The media is forever an omnipresent force in society; its ability to regulate and influence public opinion is almost unrivaled. It is easily accessible, informative, and remains one of the key promoters of contemporary Australian culture. It tells us how we should relate to one another, and perhaps more importantly, how we should relate to those unlike ourselves, people with differing cultures, backgrounds, and identities. In this essay I will be exploring the way in which the Australian media represents these people, how it presents cultural differences, customs, and beliefs in comparison to a standardized perception and essentially a stereotype of the Western 'civilised' world. To do this I will be analysing Nick Cave and John Hillcoat's recent film The Proposition (2005), focusing on its ingrained representations of ethnic groups and ethnicity, colonialism and colonisation. Colonialism in its most basic definition refers to the "the acquisition and maintenance of colonies," and often involved a control and subsequent domination and in some cases eradication of indigenous populations who were subjected to a Western system of values and law (O'Shaughnessy, Stadler, 2005:376).

The structure of this essay will be as follows; I will briefly outline the nature of The Proposition with a focus on certain key scenes, which will lead on to a detailed discussion of relevant contemporary media theory, in particular writings by Michael O'Shaughnessy and Jane Stadler, related to representations of ethnicity in accordance with examples derived from the film. I will be looking at how ethnic groups are defined in relation to standardised European or Western civilised culture. Furthermore I will be exploring the film's intertextual relationship to colonial literature that creates a focus on ethnicity through the presentation of basic binary oppositions: the way in which white culture uses a series of categories and oppositions to define and delineate itself as well as other cultures in accordance with a certain set of characteristics (O'Shaughnessy, Stadler, 2005:384). Finally I will be discussing the actual value of these representations in accordance with the subject matter of the text, and perhaps more importantly in relation to their accuracy as a reflection of the real world.

The Proposition is an Australian take on the Western genre set in 1880's outback Queensland, the story focuses on the Burns brothers, a family of four all held responsible for numerous crimes including rape and murder that were committed by the misanthropic Arthur Burns, the eldest of the brothers. Charlie (Guy Pearce) and Mike Burns are captured whilst Arthur remains at large, following on from their capture the police captain puts forward a proposition to Charlie to gain pardon and save his beloved younger brother Mike from the gallows, he must track down and kill Arthur, who is hiding in the outback, within nine days.

From the very onset of The Proposition we are introduced to the barren and desolate landscape of early colonial Australia. A landscape that is best described in accordance with Captain Stanley's questioning Shakespearian comment, "what fresh hell is this?" The white colonialists are in a foreign and discomforting environment that both the script and direction are keen to point out. We see a large number of shots of disgruntled colonial officers, who look malnourished, sweaty, unshaven, dirty, and at the mercy of the scorching Australian sun. In essence we see a sect, or group of people who are entirely out of their element, and more importantly these people are representative of the Western, and at this point in time, European section of the civilised world. Their purpose for being in Australia is to "civilise this place (Captain Stanley)," and impose upon it a set of Western values.

This train of thought is heavily indicative of nineteenth century Western thinking, or essentially a European belief in racial superiority that was seen as justification for subsequent colonialism (O'Shaughnessy, Stadler, 2005:382). This idea of white superiority was supported and reinforced by the religious, scientific, and philosophical discourses of the time. And despite the fact that colonialism is in its base nature beneficial to European culture and detrimental and destructive to foreign culture, colonial agents believed that their actions were beneficial to indigenous cultures and people, as it was thought that the imposition of Western values on these people would in essence bestow upon them a greater quality and understanding of life (O'Shaughnessy, Stadler, 2005:383). In particular white civilisation saw it as its personal responsibility to civilise the savage world, in turn bringing light to the darkness of Africa (a continent and world that was seen as far removed from Western culture and values as it could possibly be), and in the case of The Proposition; Australia.

When looking at this description of nineteenth century Western culture, it is also important to see how it relates to or opposes a Western view, of the same time period, of 'the other:' everything foreign that fell outside the culture, practices, understandings, and teachings of the Western world (O'Shaughnessy, Stadler, 2005:380). One of the most common representations that stemmed from this xenophobic fear of that which was foreign is the idea of the 'dangerous savage,' an untamed, wild, animalistic, exotic, and primitive form of human existence that represented everything oppositional to a standard perception of Western and European civilisation, or 'the civilised white' (O'Shaughnessy, Stadler, 2005:388). In The Proposition the 'dangerous savages' are the Australian aborigines, and throughout the course of the film they are presented in two equally important yet startlingly different ways. Our first introduction to the aboriginals, or 'blacks' as they are termed in the film, is not a visual one, instead we learn about them through conversations between the colonial officers, who describe them effectively as a nuisance that needs to eradicated. However, they also describe anecdotes of brutal savagery and violence involving attacks by renegade tribes on the white settlers. Essentially the aborigines are described as dangerous, mysterious, animalistic, and unintelligent, they perfectly fit the image of the 'dangerous savage' outlined in the preceding theory. But this initial description is purely conjecture, small talk among bored and restless officers, the visual representation that the film offers is a whole lot more insightful. As noted before, the aborigines are represented visually in two different ways in the film: as wild exotic savages, and as helpless prisoners subject to colonial law. The aborigines seem to occupy the majority of the cells in the only prison and town, and it is in this restrained manner that the camera allows us to see them up close and personal, as human beings as opposed to animals. However, it is their other depiction that is perhaps more important to a broader understanding of the film. In the 'wild,' so to speak the aborigines are dangerous, as Charlie Burns (the main protagonist) finds out. When he enters the outback in search of his brother he is attacked and speared through the chest by a group of renegade aborigines. In this scene the natives are particularly elusive, they are heard as opposed to seen, and when the camera does show them it is only fleetingly whilst they are shrouded in shadows, furthermore, Charlie is saved by his brother who shoots one of the aboriginals with a shotgun. This scene is very intense, very fast, and excessively violent, the screenplay deals with the aboriginals in extremes, and this representation readily conforms to the idea of the 'dangerous savage.'

After outlining these two different descriptions of the aborigines, it is important to discuss the films intertextuality, in particular its links to colonial literature, as the film is essentially a rehashed version of Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness. These textual relations are relevant as,

One of the key effects texts have is to provide a context in which other texts are read and experienced. They suggest...cues through which a text's codes may be recognised, understood and often questioned. And they link up with the contextual function, through which a text indicates the context in which it is operating (Thwaites, Lloyd, Davis, 2002:96).

Essentially Thwaites, Lloyd, and Davis propose that our understanding of texts relationship or resemblance to other media can impact on our overall understanding and interpretation of it. Conrad's novel is in essence a political satire outlining the flaws and misgivings of European colonialism and imperialism. It is suggestive of nihilism, misanthropic behaviour and basic evil against indigenous peoples of foreign lands, ideas and issues that resonate throughout the course of The Proposition. Our knowledge of texts such as this and our awareness that Western Colonialism was in its basic nature morally unstable renders the depiction of the aborigines as 'dangerous savages' not a damming one. It is simply a depiction that we see as a product of xenophobic fear and subsequent violent clashes between colonial agents and the natives. It is a depiction from a colonial perspective that is important to the telling of the story, however, it is not a defining aspect to the viewers final interpretation of Australian aborigines. And Following on from this idea, despite the fact that the Europeans in the film are often presented as victims, or at least, not at fault, we come to completely opposite interpretation of them. We the audience see them as invaders to a foreign land who are strangling the natural vitality of the indigenous population.

To determine the overall accuracy of these different representations of specific cultural groups as a reflection of the real world it is very important to first look at the subject matter of the film, and essentially its broader meaning, encompassing any messages it may be trying to convey. Evidently the film deals in the extremes, as it explores the dark recesses of humanity, making the characters appear cold, extremely unforgiving, and essentially unrealistic. Also the film, like a lot of colonial literature, relies a lot on its presentation of binary oppositions (as mentioned earlier) to define its characters. Essentially we see from a farcical perspective that the white Europeans are civilised, sophisticated, rational, modern, scientific, Christian, and good, whilst the aborigines are presented as primitive, savage, irrational, mysterious, and evil (O'Shaughnessy, Stadler, 2005:384). However, in the broader context of the film the Westerner's are perceived as evil and in the wrong despite their 'noble' cause. Essentially the films overall message is one of nihilism, evident as the Burns brothers question themselves, "are we misanthropes?" The final scene in which Charlie shoots his older brother shows an ending, of life and of their relationship, all the Burns brothers are dead except for Charlie who is likely to be arrested and hung despite the fact that he saved the lives of Captain Stanley and his wife.

Thus the film's various representations of different cultural groups are not balanced or realistic, they are extreme and have been presented in this way to reinforce the meaning of the film. In his screenplay Nick Cave has deliberately drawn on a past representation of indigenous people (from colonial literature) to make his film appear particularly brutal and unforgiving whilst still pointing out the flaws and misgiving of Western colonialism and imperialism. It is this broader message that he has deemed more important than the accurate presentation of indigenous Australians.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cave, N, Hillcoat, J (2005). The Proposition. First Look Pictures, Sony Pictures Releasing Int.

Conrad, J (1995). Heart of Darkness. Melbourne: Penguin Group Publishing.

O'Shaugnessy, M, Stadler, J (1999). Media and Society: An Introduction. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Thwaites, T, Davis, L, Mules, W (2002). Introducing Cultural Studies and Media Studies: A Semiotic Approach. New York: Pelgrave.