In the wake of so many decades of colonial myth rehashed as Australian national identity, Australians were grappling for a self-image, fashioned ou of the colonial imperialism of the past and the uncertainties of the immigration influx of the then-present.
The ocker film period therefore reveals the Australian national identiy at its most unflattering. It shows Australian racism, sexism and homophobia in all its bad taste and lack of distinction. 11).
Most unflattering of all is the dark underlying concept that Australia itself becomes a place where weird things happen-both naturally and socially someting to be expected of a society derived from a nation of white crooks, slaves and jailers. 12).
The New Wave films of the late 1970`s - .
a reaction to ocker films'.
The next generation of Australian films can be seen as an attempt to undo the damage done by Ocker films' and to be accepted again on a more serious level both by Australian and European audiences. Films throughout the later 70's were the fruits of plentiful funding by the Australian Film + Television Corporation which later became the Australian Film Comission (AFC). This pool of new financial resources resulted in [.] a new wave of talent and films 13).
Australian films became part of a larger narrative of a culture undergoing development and flowering maturity.
After the shocking crudity and self-depreciation of ocker films there was a, there was a hunger, almost a craving to see our past on screen. 14).
This new, albeit self-conscious shift in in Australian filmmaking neccessitated a more sensitive portrayal of British-Australian relations, due to a largely shared heritage. Australian culture and identitiy was then senn as somehow being derived from British, whilst simultaneously constructed as struggling against it' 15). The point of differentiation was represented by competing stereotypes'. 16).
This is profoundly underscored in Gallipoli.
