The Tide Weavers Project examines the representation of landscape
in motion picture films and explores the ways in which certain filmmakers
closely reference the desert landscape to mirror and represent notions of self
and consequently, to shape film character portrayal. I argue that these
filmmakers use this setting to describe a particular relationship for
themselves and their characters. In this relationship the desert becomes a
space in which to project and examine aspects of self and it can initiate a
transaction or relationship so intimate that at many points, (human) being
becomes landscape, and landscape becomes being.
I will draw on the work of a range of Philosophers and Postcolonial
theorists to inform my reading of this relationship and to frame my
engagement with specific Australian and international films. The inclusion
and analysis of my own desert-based motion picture script Tide Weavers will add to my understanding of the possibilities of film (as a medium) provides
for altering an audiences' reading of landscape. I challenge the notion of
estrangement from the land, either though ignorance or where colonialist
landscape theory detracts from a sense of connectedness, such as through
the superficial or subjective application of cartography, fear arising from
monotonous and unfamiliar geography, and the eroticising of land as
woman. I engage with current theory surrounding the idea of fusion with
landscape to open new opportunities for exploring landscape/character
interaction. I also propose that collaborative working processes between
indigenous and non-indigenous filmmakers have the potential to alter the
ways in which landscape is both represented and interpreted.
I then look at how these ideas are translatable to the themes of the
Tide Weavers script. Grief and gender are primary themes, with an
emphasis on how respite, sacred space and surrender to landscape can
lead to healing. I believe this work will contribute to exciting new filmic
interpretations of landscape theory.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/197623 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | julieraff@yahoo.com, Julie Raffaele |
| Publisher | Murdoch University |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.murdoch.edu.au/goto/CopyrightNotice, Copyright Julie Raffaele |
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