Australian fantasies of colonial power in late twentieth century film: Orientalism and The Year of Living Dangerously

Abstract

This article examines how Orientalist frameworks appear in films dealing with the role of Australia in the Asia-Pacific region in the late twentieth century. We argue that the nation’s nervousness about the new power of the Asian region at the end of the millennium, is reflected in a number of films such as The Year of Living Dangerously (Weir, McElroy and McElroy, MGM 1982), Far East (Duigan, Alfred Road Films, Sydney 1982) and Turtle Beach (Wallace, Regency International Pictures, 1992). These films present Asia as a dangerous place from which the main protagonists must ultimately flee, returning to the safe haven of either a substantially white Australia or the motherland. © 2012 Intellec..