Below is a sample of books available on this topic. Search the library catalogue to locate other books.
Being Australian
Following a decade of major social and cultural change in Australia, this study looks at what exactlynbsp;it means to be Australian and examines how different concepts#151;such as egalitarianism and sporting prowess#151;have been used to create a national identity. Serving as a broad introduction to Australian history and social science, it explores the origins and effects of the national character, including the dominant ideas of class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and race in modern society.
World War II, Film, and History
The immediacy and perceived truth of the visual image, as well as film and television's ability to propel viewers back into the past, place the genre of the historical film in a special category. War films--including antiwar films--have established the prevailing public image of war in thetwentieth century. For American audiences, the dominant image of trench warfare in World War I has been provided by feature films such as All Quiet on the Western Front and Paths of Glory. The image of combat in the Second World War has been shaped by films like Sands of Iwo Jima and The LongestDay. And despite claims for the alleged impact of widespread television coverage of the Vietnam War, it is actually films such as Apocalypse Now and Platoon which have provided the most powerful images of what is seen as the "reality" of that much disputed conflict. But to what degree does historywritten "with lightning," as Woodrow Wilson allegedly said, represent the reality of the past? To what extent is visual history an oversimplification, or even a distortion of the past? Exploring the relationship between moving images and the society and culture in which they were produced and received, World War II, Film, and History addresses the power these images have had in determining our perception and memories of war. Examining how the public memory of war in thetwentieth century has often been created more by a manufactured past than a remembered one, a leading group of historians discusses films dating from the early 1930s through the early 1990s, created by filmmakers the world over, from the United States and Germany to Japan and the former SovietUnion. For example, Freda Freiberg explains how the inter-racial melodramatic Japanese feature film China Nights, in which a manly and protective Japanese naval officer falls in love with a beautiful young Chinese street waif and molds her into a cultured, submissive wife, proved enormously popularwith wartime Japanese and helped justify the invasion of China in the minds of many Japanese viewers. Peter Paret assesses the historical accuracy of Kolberg as a depiction of an unsuccessful siege of that German city by a French Army in 1807, and explores how the film, released by Hitler's regimein January 1945, explicitly called for civilian sacrifice and last-ditch resistance. Stephen Ambrose contrasts what we know about the historical reality of the Allied D-Day landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944, with the 1962 release of The Longest Day, in which the major climactic moment in the filmnever happened at Normandy. Alice Kessler-Harris examines The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter, a 1982 film documentary about women defense workers on the American home front in World War II, emphasizing the degree to which the documentary's engaging main characters and its message of the needfor fair and equal treatment for women resonates with many contemporary viewers. And Clement Alexander Price contrasts Men of Bronze, William Miles's fine documentary about black American soldiers who fought in France in World War I, with Liberators, the controversial documentary by Miles and NinaRosenblum which incorrectly claimed that African-American troops liberated Holocaust survivors at Dachau in World War II. In today's visually-oriented world, powerful images, even images of images, are circulated in an eternal cycle, gaining increased acceptance through repetition. History becomes an endless loop, in which repeated images validate and reconfirm each other. Based on archival materials, many of whichhave become only recently available, World War II, Film, and History offers an informative and a disturbing look at the complex relationship between national myths and filmic memory, as well as the dangers of visual images being transformed into "reality."
Try using a combination of the following search terms using the Advanced Search option when locating information using Google or a library database:
Popular Culture, Australia, Post World War II, Radio, Television, Film, Sport, Influences, Impact, Beliefs, Values, Heritage, National Identify
The Power of Radio in the 1930s (iTunes)
Listen to this three minute podcast about the impact radio had on popular culture.
Interactive Timeline (Australian Screen)
A great archive of Australian films, documentaries, television programs, news reels, short films, animations, and home-movies produced over the last 100 years. Use the Title tab to browse according to one of the above categories.
Film in Australia (Australian Government)
Provides a brief outline of the history of the Australian film industry. fi
The First Wave of Australian Feature Film Production: From Early Promise to Fading Hopes.
This PDF document provides a summary of the history of Australian film. The timeline at the end of the document provides a good summary.
Animation in Austalia
Provides a brief outline of the history of animation in Australia.
Popular Culture Post-War (ABC Splash)
Provides a variety of videos that examine popular culture after world war II.
People Culture Lifestyle (Australian Government)
Provides a description of the Australian people, culture and lifestyle.
Pearson History 10
This online chapter provides and excellent discussion of the changes and influences on Australia's popular culture since World War II
Australian Identify (Australian Government)
Discusses different aspects of the Australian identity such as food and drink, folklore, national dress and the outback.
Browse the Globalisation folder within the History section of our ClickView Library to access a variety of videos that examine popular culture in Australia.
