Rabbit Proof Fence: Physical Journeys
Physical Journeys
The concept of physical journeys creates and shapes understanding by revealing that journeys are complex, entailing both physical and mental components in which travellers often embark on an exploration of themselves physically, intellectually and emotionally. The experience of journeys provides opportunity for obstacles and determination. Bystanders possess an important role in journeys as they maybe the facilitators, of change or be the audience who themselves have to go on their own journey. “Rabbit Proof Fence” directed by Phillip Noyce in 2002 in conjunction with the related texts The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame and the audio text Mawson: Life and Death in the Antarctic directed by Malcolm Mcdonald capture the intricacy of the experience and conceptual ideals of physical journeys through a bountiful array of techniques including symbolism, juxtaposition and register so that the responder can relate to these aspects in everyday life.
Physical journeys are rarely simplistic, travellers encounter obstacles that test them along the way. The ‘Capture’ scene in “Rabbit Proof Fence” cultivates the idea of complexity through Phillip Noyce’s portrayal of obstacles in the form of cultural barriers. We see Molly Gracie and Daisy’s lives move from a veritable Utopia to Dystopia as the handheld camera creates the illusion that we too are being manhandled. The responder feels powerless as the women ineffectually slap the windows of the vehicle in which the girls are physically incarcerated, this is not only symbolic of a prison but of the cultural division separating European and Aboriginal cultures. The director uses the motif of the hands commonly used in aboriginal artworks to suggest a lack of communication and an inability to connect. As an audience responding to the context of these obstacles we become emotionally involved and are therefore bystanders as we are informed of the Europeans ignorance to aboriginal culture and therefore
The concept of physical journeys creates and shapes understanding by revealing that journeys are complex, entailing both physical and mental components in which travellers often embark on an exploration of themselves physically, intellectually and emotionally. The experience of journeys provides opportunity for obstacles and determination. Bystanders possess an important role in journeys as they maybe the facilitators, of change or be the audience who themselves have to go on their own journey. “Rabbit Proof Fence” directed by Phillip Noyce in 2002 in conjunction with the related texts The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame and the audio text Mawson: Life and Death in the Antarctic directed by Malcolm Mcdonald capture the intricacy of the experience and conceptual ideals of physical journeys through a bountiful array of techniques including symbolism, juxtaposition and register so that the responder can relate to these aspects in everyday life.
Physical journeys are rarely simplistic, travellers encounter obstacles that test them along the way. The ‘Capture’ scene in “Rabbit Proof Fence” cultivates the idea of complexity through Phillip Noyce’s portrayal of obstacles in the form of cultural barriers. We see Molly Gracie and Daisy’s lives move from a veritable Utopia to Dystopia as the handheld camera creates the illusion that we too are being manhandled. The responder feels powerless as the women ineffectually slap the windows of the vehicle in which the girls are physically incarcerated, this is not only symbolic of a prison but of the cultural division separating European and Aboriginal cultures. The director uses the motif of the hands commonly used in aboriginal artworks to suggest a lack of communication and an inability to connect. As an audience responding to the context of these obstacles we become emotionally involved and are therefore bystanders as we are informed of the Europeans ignorance to aboriginal culture and therefore