Film Muriel example essay topic

Watching Muriel's Wedding again in the context of this class allowed me to view the film from a new perspective. I approached the film with the questions we have been discussing in class in mind. What does the film say about national identity? How does it use landscape in its representation of Australian identity? How do the themes / myths of mateship and individuality factor into the film? In general, where does Muriel's Wedding fit into the overall scheme of Australian Cinema?

Muriel's Wedding is one of three films, The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Strictly Ballroom being the other two, that represent the recent "glam / kitsch " or "glitter" cycle in Australian cinema. These three films have also come to represent Australian cinema to the outside world as they were each commercially and critically successful films internationally. Films in the glitter cycle are known for their flashy production values, rooted in the tradition of MGM muscials of the 50's, over-the-top acting, and thematically similar plot lines. The narratives of the kitsch comedy films are all loosely based around the heroes and / or heroines breaking free from repressive societal / familial restrictions. Muriel's Wedding is clearly part of the glitter genre. Music plays a pivotal role in the film.

Though it is not quite so imitative of the Hollywood musial, the scene where Rhonda and Muriel perform "Waterloo" on Hibiscus Island, shot much like a cheesy music video, is clearly referential to that genre and to the glitter cycle. Muriel defines her life through the songs of her favorite band, Abba. The fact that Muriel's life throughout the film is so pathetic makes for a biting commentary on the pop culture generation that has been brainwashed by MTV. Gaudy visuals are also highly present in the film which highlights tacky clothing and color combinations and overly abundant tropical vistas.

Muriel embodies the typical kitsch comedy heroine in her journey in breaking away from her oppressive family and the societal values, mainly marriage, that she herself has internalized and made her own. Of course, the film also contains elements of previous cycles in Australian Cinema. Elements of the Gothic style are evident in the corruption of Porpoise Spit as symbolized by Muriel's father. The theme of coming-of-age is very present in the films of the Australian New Wave.

The film presents rather problematic depictions of the themes of mateship and rugged individualism so common to Australian cinema and literature. One can perhaps argue that mateship is a purely masculine concept and therefore not applicable to Muriel's Wedding since male interrelationships are all but ignored in the film. That fact in itself may be indicative of Paul Hogan's opinion of the idea of mateship. If one widens the spectrum to include female companionship, there is still not a very pretty picture painted of Australian mateship. Muriel's 'friends' are heartless bitches, completely devoid of character. Until the very final scene of the film, Muriel herself embodies these qualities, rejecting her friends (be it Rhonda, or the heartless bitches) in order to pursue and idealized image of herself.

Muriel certainly undergoes a journey, but it is not quite the heroic journey idealized in Australian fiction. She harms many people, some irreparably, on her way to self-discovery. It clearly represents a break from the tradition of the Australian New Wave films that defined Australian identity in close connection to the landscape. Landscape plays a much more minor role in the glitter cycle films, as is true in Muriel's Wedding. Yet it is not absent. Several critics see the glam / kitch cycle as a violent response to the films of the Australian New Wave which were seen as very self-reflexive films seeking to define Australian national identity.

In a way, the filmmakers of the glitter cycle sought to create a more internationally approachable cinema. A cinema that is, at least less outwardly, less occupied with defining Australian ness. It's ironic to consider the fact that the films of this genre have, indeed, been taken as a representation of Australian cinema as whole. Clearly the film's commentary on the social degradation of the suburbs and the illusion ment of the MTV generation are not solely applicable to Australian society. Yet Muriel's Wedding does speak specifically to Australian identity, or rather representations of national identity. The film is an alternate take to traditional representations of national identity focused on landscape.

Landscape is mostly replaced by family and society, though the emphasis on tropical locales reinforces the showy, yet shallow nature of the society in which Muriel and Rhonda interact. The film is full of depictions of representation from the postcards Muriel sends her family to the polaroids with which she fills her fabricated wedding album. Throughout the film Muriel, a pathological liar, is nothing but a representation of the self she wishes to be, symbolized by the creation of her "new" personality, Mariel. Hogan, by avoiding the usual issues of national identity in Muriel's Wedding, highlights the fact that the films of the Australian New Wave were merely one kind of representation of Australian identity..