Indigenous Culture And Text

The two texts that have been chosen here are both written by two of the most eminent Australian creative writers of the modern era. One text is the famous ‘Taboo’ written by Kim Scott and the other text is “Charlie’s Country” by Rolf de Heer. Kim Scott is a very famous Australian author having an Aboriginal root and he considers himself to be a true son of the soil of Australia. No wonder that the pathos and emotions of the ever-disappearing Aboriginal culture under the invasion of modernization get so very alive and vibrant in his language. He is often seen as the voice of the Aboriginal Australian culture to the modern world. Hailing from the Aboriginal Noongar tribes of Western Australia he has come a long way to share the plight of the Aboriginals with the world using the might of his pen. Rolf de Heer, on the other hand, is a Dutch by origin who settled in Australia at a very early age. He is a very famous movie director in the Australian film industry and is recognized as one of the most eminent faces of Australian cinema in the global world of films. Many of his movies are being shown in different famous film festivals around the world and he is happy to term himself as the global ambassador of the Australian film industry. So, the second text is the screenplay based on which his famous movie of the same name was made and released in the year 2013, it was also shown in the prestigious Cannes film festival in 2014.

The storyline of Taboo is based primarily on traditional anecdotes where the Aboriginal clan of Noongars has been used as the backbone of the story. It has attempted to touch every chord of the Aboriginal history belonging to that part of Australia and has tried to bring in all the different types of twists and turns in the story to make it all the more palpable for the readers. It has blended in all the elements that are required to make a storyline interesting. It has a history, it has murder, it even has the ghostly impact of the past on the present generation. So, every such inclusion has been made so that the storyline gets more and more interesting and the various twists and turns keep on getting unfolded as the story progresses. The author himself being from the Aboriginal background knows the nuances of the Aboriginal society much better than others and has used such intrinsic knowledge of his Aboriginal origin to bring forth the various subtle aspects of Aboriginal traditions and lifestyles (Altman, 2018). The storyline though has been set up in the modern times has a root in the distant past and the entire set of events that keep happening is just a continuation of such deeds of past which has now been activated by a series of events that forms the crux of the storyline. So, this story is all about how the past unfolds in the present and leads towards the future where the past and present meets to end it all.

Charlie’s Country is again having a protagonist who is an Aborigine himself and the entire story is based on his identity crisis and how he keeps on attempting to find his own identity amidst all this chaos of modernization. Compared to “Taboo” this storyline can be considered less dramatic as it lacks certain elements of interest like assassination or history but on the other hand, its main appeal lies in its relevance of content in today’s context (Wheeler, 2016). It shows what probably thousands of Aborigines are going through daily getting stuck in this tussle between the modern and the traditional way of their life and culture. In an attempt to learn which they have never done before and similarly in an attempt to unlearn which they have been doing since ages they are caught in a catch twenty-two situations. The story shows the life of the urban Aborigines and how helplessly they are trying to cope up with the constant changes happening around them. No wonder this storyline has been critically acclaimed around the world because instead of heading for a more dramatic and suspense-oriented treatment this issue of Aborigines has been shown in the light of the more human background. Aborigines from across the globe will be able to identify their precarious conditions by looking at this tale of Charlie. The constant urge of going back to the roots has been a unique feature of the Aboriginal society since they have lost all that belonged to them once and now, they are living like a tenant in their lands. The emotional appeal of this storyline is hence simply exceptional.

One of the prime reasons for selecting these 2 texts is that both are talking about the various issues related to Australian Aboriginal background (Hamacher, 2018). The Aboriginal background is a great point to connect between the two storylines. The Aborigines across the globe are facing a threat of extinction both culturally and in the real sense and the Australian Aboriginal segment is no exception to that. There is a constant clash between the age-old traditions of the Aborigines and the norms of modern civilization. The Aborigines find it difficult to preserve and practise their age-old traditions because many times such acts are not accepted or allowed by the rules of the modern society which was shown very clearly in “Charlie’s Country” (Roche, 2020). If we consider the text of “Charlie’s Country” then we would we able to see the underlying message it tends to pass on about the Aboriginal way of living. The cultural loss is one of the biggest losses for any Aboriginal segment and that is exhibited very clearly in both the texts. The Aborigines have lost the land which once used to belong to them only. They have not only lost the land but have also lost their tradition and culture owing to the invasion of the modern men who have taken away everything from them by virtue of advanced power of machines and weapons.

In the text of “Taboo,” we can see that how in early years of colonization the Aborigines were ruthlessly treated and killed for the sake of taking away the control of the land which belonged to them. This text speaks about the plights of a particular Aboriginal group termed as the “Noongars” who is considered to be a true Aboriginal class still living in the Southwest part of Western Australia and how they have fallen prey to the greed and lust of modern people in the way of colonization of Australia over centuries (Roffee, 2016). Although set in the backdrop of the modern times the storyline revolves around the taboo or prohibitions of the Noongar tribes which has been a part of their tradition for centuries. In both the texts, the present condition of the Aborigines is shown in a very realistic manner.

In Taboo it shows that despite trying to embrace the modern cultures of education and living the age-old traditions and the past of origin for the Aborigines can never be ignored and similarly in “Charlie’s Country” also the struggle to adjust one’s lifestyle between maintaining the Aborigine way of living and trying to strike a balance with the modern ways of living is very much alive. Both the texts are connected by the common link of the past or root. They both echoed on the same theme that irrespective all the advancements of modern civilization the roots can never be ignored nor can one survive by ignoring their roots which have its base in the distant past. Both the texts have been highly vocal in highlighting the facts that how the Aboriginal past keeps coming back in the way of one’s living in the modern days. The plights of the Aborigines have been the focal point of both the texts.

In Taboo there has been a clear mention of mass killing and torture on the Aborigines in the past by the foreign settlers who had been using brutal force to occupy everything that once belonged to these Aborigines. A lot of innocent blood had been shed on this land for the sake of such power struggle and the foreign settlers by virtue of their advanced weapons had been able to massacre the Aborigines at will and snatched away everything that was owned by the Aborigines. Such heinous acts created great resentment among the Aborigines for the new settlers and some good soul of the foreign settlers still find those acts as a crime and are truly sympathetic and apologetic to the present generation of the Aborigines who are still surviving. They try to compensate those losses by whatever means they can by extending all types of helping hands to the Aborigines.

So, in both the texts we can see that the aboriginal background sets the moot point of the storyline and the pain, anger and losses of the aborigines that have been continuing for centuries has been stressed upon in both the texts as well.

The two texts have shown the social impact of aboriginal issues in two different ways. While in Taboo the storyline is based on the remorse of a white man who invites a group of Noongar Aborigines in his place which once belonged to the Noongar only and was forcefully taken away from them and a huge a massacre was carried on in the process of occupying this place by the ancestors of the very host who is now inviting the Noongars for a reason which might be termed as an act of apology on behalf of his forefathers who had once committed such sins. Here the society is shown as more benevolent to the Aborigines who have also come in terms with the changes around and are trying their best to live up with the ever-changing environment around them. Visiting this spot takes them back to that site of mass slaughter where their ancestors had been slain mercilessly but for them also it is all but a matter of recent past and they have only abided by the age-old tradition of their society which have classified this spot to be a taboo or a spot under the prohibition of a visit.

They have shown the results of imbibing the modern approach of questioning the tradition of past and have somehow managed to shed off such superstition and has agreed to visit the place by going against the rule of their tribe. This clearly shows the dilemma between the modern and the traditional approach of thought that has been constantly playing a part in making the final decision on such a sensitive issue. The Noongar have always considered them to be a son of the soil of this nation and their connection with nature around has been of a different level which they have been maintaining for centuries till date. It has clearly expressed the changes in society and how such changes have impacted the Aboriginal lifestyle over the years. It showed the underlying current between accepting and not accepting the various ways of modern life within the traditional space of the Aboriginal society and culture.

In the other text “Charlie’s Country” the protagonist Charlie suffers from an identity crisis all along the length and breadth of the storyline. The society he was used to is no more in existence and also the social ways of his living are now under the scrutiny of the modern way of living. Being an Aborigine he thought and believed it to be his basic right to earn his livelihood by stalking on the nature like fishing and doing works related to tree barks but is forced to realize the sorry state of his Aboriginal culture in the modern social structure of Australia where his way of living is no more acceptable and such ways are constantly being challenged by the flag bearers of the modern civilization to such an extent that he is forced to give up his traditional ways of earning a livelihood. In this text also we get to see that there are urban settlements of Aborigines so that they can get a chance to get a closer look at the modern society and can try to adjust themselves with the modern ways of the society but for someone like Charlie whose root lies beyond the urban limits of the society he is still under the dilemma of choosing between the new and the traditional and ultimately settles for going back to his ancestral roots in his original motherland.

The entire storyline is based on such conflict that highlights the social impact of urban invasion on the Aboriginal culture and lifestyle and how such Aborigines like Charlie who has been born and brought up in the lap of nature struggles to adjust between the two poles of the society and are constantly paying the price of the continuous loss of their traditional and cultural identity. It is this helplessness of tradition to modernism which has been portrayed in such an emotional manner in the storyline. The Aborigines can sense the inevitable but are too helpless to be able to do anything to prevent such a huge extinction of their tradition and culture owing to the difference in social framework between the modern and the traditional Aboriginal society.

The storylines of both the texts are very appealing as both of them deals with a burning issue of the modern world. The scope of the existence of Aborigines is one of the prime issues around the globe. Existence of Aborigines are under tremendous threat everywhere be it in Australia, be it in South America or in the USA everywhere the facts are same. Invaded by the traits of modernism they are now facing a threat of mass extinction. Going by this rate that day is not far when this earth will be left with not a single Aboriginal clan. Australia has always been a hub of Aboriginal issues owing to the large volume of Aborigines residing in and around this continent.

It can be seen by comparing and contrasting both the texts that both have a few things in common and have few differences as well. The common factors have been the Aboriginal background that has been used in both the texts and how the tradition, culture, history and lifestyle of the Aborigines have formed a strong framework for both the stories. Both the stories have used the Aboriginal issues of Australia as their cornerstone for developing the story ideas and have been able to provide a lot of historical as well as practical insight into the conflict of the Aboriginal societies in today’s world. The differences can be seen in the treatment of the two stories. While in “Taboo” the storyline has moved forward taking cues from the past and certain elements of thrill like assassination has been incorporated in it to make it more appealing and sensational the storyline of “Charlie’s Country” has been treated in an entirely different manner showing the emotional issues of the Aboriginal identity crisis in the context of the modern society of Australia and how that struggle influences the thoughts and actions of an Aborigine character. Both texts have been very insightful and interesting to read.

References for Indigenous Culture And Text

Altman, J. (2018). Appropriate income support for Aboriginal Australians: Options for the 1990s. Canberra, ACT: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR), The Australian National University.

Hamacher, D. W. (2018). Observations of red‐giant variable stars by Aboriginal Australians. The Australian Journal of Anthropology29(1), 89-107.

Roche, D. (2020). Experiencing the land: The politics of aesthetics in where the green ants dream (WERNER HERZOG, 1984) and Charlie’s country (ROLF DE HEER, 2013). La Furia Umana38.

Roffee, J. (2016). Rhetoric, Aboriginal Australians and the Northern Territory intervention: A socio-legal investigation into pre-legislative argumentation. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy5(1), 131.

Wheeler, B. (Ed.). (2016). A Companion to the Works of Kim Scott. Boydell & Brewer.

Remember, at the center of any academic work, lies clarity and evidence. Should you need further assistance, do look up to our Indigenous Studies Assignment Help

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