Ryan, Mark David (2015), Australia cinema studies: how the subject is taught in Australian universities, What’s This Space? Screen Practice, audiences & education for the future decade, Australian Screen Production Education & Research Association (ASPERA) Conference, Flinders University, Adelaide 15-17 July.

1. 1
Australia cinema studies:
how the subject is taught in Australian
universities
Mark Ryan (aka Mark David Ryan)
Queensland University of Technology, E:
m3.ryan@qut.edu.au T: @Markdavidryan
Australian Screen Production Education & Research
Association (ASPERA) Conference, Flinders University,
Adelaide 15-17 July.

2. Gap in knowledge
2
Limited insight into the types of courses and approaches to curriculum and
syllabus offered at an undergraduate level
Limited empirical data into how the subject in taught more generally as a discrete
unit of study in higher education.
Without such a mapping it is difficult to position pedagogical approaches in
relation to other courses, standard or atypical approaches or a benchmark to
gauge the innovation of what they teach.

3. Framing the research problem
3
Australian screen is at an interesting juncture:
• Industry and structural changes
• Rapidly changing viewing practices & decline in the primacy of cinema
• Critical questions in relation to the value/marginality of Oz cinema in terms of
‘national’ viewing practices
• Should Oz Cinema be treated less as a distinct industry practice and more
as an embedded industry (Verhoeven 2014)

4. Research and Australian cinema studies
4
Australian film studies emerged from the institutionalisation of films studies in the
early-mid 1970s
Coincided with Australian film revival and public investment in production, culture
and training (King, Verevis and Williams 2013)
Academic film studies has been a small and volatile but resilient field of study
National cinema has been a dominant conceptual paradigm:
‘how the ‘Australian’ in Australian cinema should be distinguished, both
in the sense of how it can be differentiated from other national cinemas
and how it contributes to abiding discourses of Australian excellence
and ‘goodness’ (Deb Verhoeven (2014a: 152).

5. An international turn?
5
‘Post-national cinema’ in literature since the 1980s
National cinema & attendant debates i.e. representation of national identity and
‘Australianness’ less dominant for discourses in contemporary research
An international turn in the Australian cinema since 2000s (Goldsmith 2006) and
a growing critical response:
• Aesthetics/production of outward looking Australian cinema
• Transitional and regional production relations (Transnational Australian
cinema: ethics in the Asian diasporas)
• Local Hollywood and footloose production

6. Australian cinema studies curriculum a
thin strand in the literature
6
Key perspectives:
An emphasis on the Australian production industry, the films it produces and the
policy frameworks that sustain them (Bowles 2006)
Decline in textual analyses of Australian cinema due to influence of cultural
studies and political economy (Martin 1992)
Bowles advocates a shift towards an audience approach
A question to ask is whether the policies themselves represent
effectively the interests and diversity of the Australian audience, who
may quite legitimately prefer to watch movies from other places, for as
long as they continue to watch movies at all. Our responsibility …. is to
develop research questions and methods that will improve our
understanding of the broad and variegated nature of the Australian
market.
Martin (2010) argues for a comparative approach to Australian cinema

7. Project aims and objectives
7
Project duration: June 2013 to December 2014
Preliminary scoping of course offerings June to December 2013
This study investigates how ‘Australian Cinema’ and synonymous subjects are
taught by Australian universities.
The broad aims were to examine:
1.Key approaches to curricula and syllabus content and design
2.Typical learning outcomes and assessment items
3.The types and range of movies or television programs set as required
screenings in curriculum

8. Research phases
The study involved several research phases:
1.Web-based search of Australian universities for courses and units that
offered the study of Australian cinema
2.Collation of unit outlines by 1) learning outcomes, 2) unit content/synopsis, 3)
assessment items and 4) movies/television programs set for required viewings
or weekly screenings.
3.Dual content and thematic analysis of learning outcomes, unit
content/synopsis, assessment items, and the movies set as required weekly
screenings
4.semi-structured interviews with select unit coordinators to gain a more
detailed understanding of their teaching and learning approaches to the unit
8

9. Determining the sample
The study focused on the 39 members of Universities Australia - the peak
association for higher education institutions
Each institution’s online ‘course handbook’ or ‘study guide’ was searched for
individual units and course options according to the following search terms:
‘Australian cinema’, ‘Australian film’, ‘Australian national cinema’, ‘Australian
film and television’, ‘Australian screen’
Universities not yielding results: search was broadened looking for any subject
with ‘film’, ‘screen’, ‘cinema’, ‘television’ or ‘Australia’ in their title.
Also examined related subject areas that could embed Australian cinema – i.e.
Australian studies, popular culture and global cinema.
9

10. Thematic and content analysis
Unit content examined through a combination of content and thematic analysis
broken down into:
• learning outcomes
• unit content/synopsis
• assessment items
• movies set as required weekly screenings
Key terms extrapolated from and searched across all outlines:
• National cinema/national identity/nationalism, national myths
• Culture/cultural (not screen culture)
• International/transnational, global; Society/social contexts; Contemporary;
Television; Genre; Industry; Policy; Gender; New media/new
technologies/digital technologies/technological change/technologies
10

11. Australian
cinema
subjects by
university
University Unit
1. Australian National
University
Australian Cinema: The Kelly Gang to Baz Luhrmann’s
Australia (FILM2066)
2. Bond University Film Analysis 2: Australian Cinema (FITV12-230)
3. Deakin University Contemporary Australian Cinema (AAM319)
4. Edith Cowan University Australian Screen Studies (SCR2116)
5. Federation University Australian Cinema (FLMOL 1001)
6. Flinders University Australian Cinema (SCME2101)
[Renamed: Australian/Indigenous Media (SCME2101)]
7. Griffith University Australia Screen (3012HUM)
8. MacQuarie University Australian Film and Television (CUL221)
9. Monash University Australian film and television: Nation, culture and
identity (ATS2529)
10. Queensland University of
Technology
Australian Film and Television (KPB212)
11. Royal Melbourne
Institute of Technology
(RMIT University)
Australian Cinema (COMM1033)
12. Swinburne Australian Film and Television History (FTV20005)
13. University of Canberra Australian National Cinema (9016.2)
14. University of Melbourne Australian Film and Television (SCRN20013)
15. University of New
England
Australian Cinema (COMM385/585)
16. University of Notre
Dame
Australian Cinema (CO363)
17. University of NSW Australian Cinema and Television (ARTS2062)
18. University of Queensland Australian Cinema (MSTU2006)
19. University of Southern
Queensland
Australian Television (CMS2017)
20. University of Sunshine
Coast
Upfront: History of Film in Australia (HIS290)
21. University of Technology
Sydney
Australian Film (58321)
22. University of Western
Sydney
Postcolonial Australian Cinema (101987.1) 11

12. Subjects by university cont. …
University Unit
23.
Charles Sturt University Australian Screen and Stage (COM122)
24.
James Cook University Regional Features: Place, Location, Australia
and Asia in Cinema (CN2205)
25.
University of Adelaide Australian Classics: Literature and Film (ENGL
2055)
26.
University of South
Australia
Australia Imagined: Identity and Diversity in
Australian Film and Literature (COMM 3048)
27.
University of Sydney Australian Stage and Screen (ASLT2616)
“Australian cinema” units with a dual focus
University Unit
28.
Australian Catholic
University (no course
outline available)
Australian Popular Culture (HIST228)
29.
Curtin University World Cinemas (SCST2000)
30.
University of Western
Australia
National and Transnational Cinemas
(ENGL3401)
31.
Victoria University World Cinema (ACC3061)
Broader units with content that also
includes “Australian cinema”
12

13. Mapping of Australian Cinema Studies
31 total
Breaking this down:
22 universities offered Australian cinema units (sole object of study)
5 offered Australian cinema as a dual area of study with literature or stage
4 units where Australian cinema constituted a minor component of syllabus
(‘Australian Popular Culture’ and ‘World Cinemas’)
Units without a central Australian film focus were not analysed
So sample consisted of 27 units
13

14. OZ Cinema: Degrees and Faculties
Services a range of degrees:
Bachelor of Arts, Fine Arts, Media Studies, Creative industries, Creative Arts,
Communications and Bachelor of Education
Majors and minors:
Cultural studies, media studies, creative industries, screen studies, screen
production, Australian studies
Bachelor Arts most common degree; followed by Bachelor of Education (for
English curriculum or film studies minors/majors).
The major/minor/degree impact greatly on the focus of curriculum
14

15. A Decline in Australian Cinema Studies?
Noticeable contraction in offerings
4 units offered in 2013 were either discontinued or unavailable in 2015
Other units renamed/subsumed into other areas of study:
Flinders University’s Australian Cinema (SCME2101) renamed
Australian/Indigenous Media (SCME2101)
QUT’S Australian Film and TV (KPB212) amalgamated into Global Screen
Industries (KPB206)
15

16. National Cinema Curriculum and Australian
Cinema Studies
Australian cinema studies is firmly embedded within national cinema
curriculum
Focussed on Australian cinema’s distinctiveness as a national cinema and
attendant discourses
22 of the 27 units foreground ‘national cinema’ or ‘national culture’ as
central to curriculum
Principal focus of curriculum is analysing, critiquing, discussing and in
some cases problematising national issues and discourses
History is also central (18 of the 27 units)
Most units have modules dedicated to contemporary issues, only a
handful focussed on contemporary cinema
16

17. ‘Australian cinema’ or ‘Australian film’ most common titles
Only 4 universities offered joint film/television subjects
USQ only university offering a standalone undergraduate Australian TV unit
identified
Curricula privileges cinema over TV, documentary, online screen content etc.
Cinema remains synonymous with ‘Australian screen’ despite importance of TV
(employment, popularity).
TV a marginal module in many programs of study
17
National Cinema Curriculum and Australian
Cinema Studies

18. Common approaches to syllabus
Four key approaches to curriculum are:
1.Historical and chronological accounts of Australian cinema
(historical/industry/policy/text during a specific period of time)
2.Study of a key film and corresponding theme (textual/thematic, history)
3.Key discourses of Australian cinema and critical issues (cultural, critical theory)
4.A modular approach (a combination of the above)
18

19. 1. Historical and chronological accounts
19
Table 1: ‘Upfront: History of Film in Australia’, University of the sunshine Coast
Lecture
week
Lecture topic/key concepts
1. Introduction: The invention and early historical transitions of film: what was
cinema?
2.
The Silent Era 1: the first Australian (and international) documentaries
(‘actualities’) and the early feature film history of Australia
3.
The Silent Era 2: the development of documentary and feature film, and the
cinema industry, in Australia to the end of the 1920s: structures, techniques,
narratives, themes
4.
The coming of sound in late 1920s and 1930s – new techniques, old themes?
5. War, propaganda and colour film: WW2 and the effects on Australian film
6. 1940s-50s Britain/Australia/Hollywood: the links
7.
Documentary film: supporting the film industry during the decline in feature
productions
8. The start of the revival of Australian film
9. The film revival in full swing
10.
Suburban/urban film 1980s-1990s
11.
Diversity, glam musicals and the marginalised
12. A second revival? New directions
Key issues that shape
production, policy
settings and ultimately
the textuality of films in
a specific era
Provides a holistic
account of OZ cinema
– from silent cinema to
now …
Emphasis tends to be a
combination of text,
history, industry, policy

20. 2. Weekly film & corresponding theme
20
: ‘Australian Cinema’, University of Notre Dame
Lecture
week
Lecture schedule and content breakdown
1. The history of Australian cinema: The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906)
2. Film and theory (no screening)
3. Australian film and genre: Not Quite Hollywood (2008)
4.
Jedda (1955) and Night Cries of Rural Tragedy (1994)
5. Mad Max (1979)
6. Muriel’s Wedding (1994)
7. The Tracker (2002)
8.
Balibo (2009)
9. Animal Kingdom (2010)
10.
Red Dog (2011)
11. Lore (2012)
In-depth textual analysis
of a key movie and
attendant themes.
Aligned themes typically
lend themselves to
issues which broader
implications
representative of issues
for OZ cinema as a
whole

21. 3. Key discourses of Australian cinema
and critical issues
21
Critical issues: ‘Australian Film and Television’, Macquarie University
Lecture
week
Lecture schedule and content breakdown
1. Screening Australianness – Newsfront (1977)
2. Screening National Identity – Kenny (2006)
3.
Screening Indigeneity – Mabo (2012)
4.
Screening Multiculturalism – Temple of Dreams (2007)
5. Screening Australia –Australia (2008)
6. Screening Space – Bra Boys (Sunny Aberton, Macario De Souza, 2007)
7. Screening Gender – Suburban Mayhem (Paul Goldman, 2006)
8. Screening Sexualities – Strange Bedfellows (2004, Dean Murphy)
9. Screening Religion – The Devil’s Playground(Fred Schepsisi, 1976)
10. Screening Diaspora and Detention – Go Back to Where You Came From, Season
1, Episodes 1 and 2 (2011, SBS Television)
11. Screening Badlands – Underbelly: The Golden Mile, Season 3, Episode 1 – ‘Into
the Mystic’ (2010, Nine Network)
12. Screening Futures
Aligned with critical
theories/approaches
common in film theory/
Screen studies
Critical positions not
necessarily unique to
Australian cinema
studies but applied to
the Australian context

22. Key discourses of Australian cinema
22
Mateship and masculinity
ANZAC Legend
Ocker Larrikin
Outback and National identity
Landscape and mythology
Indigenous Australia
The Aussie battler
Outback legend
Suburbia and the ocker
Ethnicity and multiculturalism
Australianness and the Australian vernacular

23. Discourses of Australian cinema
(and genres)
23
KPB212: Australian Film and Television
Lecture
Week
Lecture Screenings
1. Introduction: Australia film and television – Crocodile
Dundee
Crocodile Dundee (1986)
2. Constructing a nation in 1970s and 1980s – Gallipoli Gallipoli (1981)
3. Aesthetics of commercialism: Ozploitation and
blockbusters – Not Quite Hollywood
Not Quite Hollywood
(2008)
4. Diversity and Australian Screen in the 1990s: Men,
women and suburbia
The Adventures of Priscilla,
Queen of the Desert (1994)
5. Post-national cinema: contemporary Australian cinema Tomorrow, When the War
Began (2010)
6. The Australian television industry
and TV soapies
Episode of Neighbours
Or Home and Away (2006 and
1993 series available)
7. Indigenous filmmaking The Sapphires (2012)
8. Suburban mayhem: crime films Gettin Square (2003)
9. Revenge of nature: Australian horror films Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
or The Tunnel (2011)
10. Ocker comedy The Castle (1997)

24. 4. A modular approach
24
Modular approach: ‘Australian Cinema’, Federation University
Lecture
week
Lecture schedule and content breakdown
1.
Introduction; early Australian cinema’s relationship to Hollywood – Hunt Angels
(Alec Morgan, 2006)
2. Early Australian film and the larrikin type – The Sentimental Bloke
(Raymond Longford,1919)
3. Melodrama in the Australian landscape – Jedda (Charles /Chauvel, 1955)
4. International filmmaking in Australia after World War Two –
(Michael Powell, 1966)
5. The Australian film revival I: Exploitation film – The Adventures of
Barry McKenzie (Bruce Beresford 1972)
6. The Australian film revival II: Australian Gothic – The Last Wave (Peter Weir,
1977)
7.
Cult film and subculture –Dogs in Space (Richard Lowenstein, 1986)
8. The bushranger film – The Proposition (John Hillcoat, 2005)
9.
Suburbia in Australian Comedy – Muriel’s Wedding (P. J. Hogan, 1994)
10.
Australian cinema after Mabo – Yolngu Boy (Stephen Johnson, 2001)
11.
Contemporary Australian screen Drama – The Slap (2011)
Historical development
Select discourses of
Australian cinema
(Larrakin, suburbia and
the national, post-
Mabo)
Looks at specific
genres and aesthetics
cycles
- Australian Gothic
- Cult film
- Ozploitation
-Bushranger movies
- Comedy

25. A Summary of approaches
Rarely does a unit adopt a single analytical/conceptual lens
Each approach tends privilege a hierarchy of concerns
Most subjects have an overarching narrative that attempt to give a holistic
overview of the development of Australian cinema
Rarely is audience a central focus of study nor is contemporary issues or
transnational approaches
25

26. Assessment & skills for graduate
outcomes
26
Type of Assessment Specific Assessment Task Number of Units
offering Task
Total
Written Essay (< 1,000 words) 8 29
Essay (> 1,000 words) 21
Examinations Exam 8 13
Viewing Exam 1
Take Home Exam 3
Test/quiz 1
Tutorial-Based
Assessment
Tutorial Reports/Journals 2 13
Critical Contribution 1
In-class Review 1
Attendance/Participation 7
Weekly Tutorial Exams 2
Oral Presentation Presentation 11 11
Exhibition Exhibition Program Rationale 2 4
Exhibition Catalogue 2
Creative Creative practice
(short film/multimedia piece)
1 4
Creative Research Project/
Creative reflection
2
Creative Response (to film
history, recurring themes)
1
Bibliography Annotated Bibliography 3 3
Company/Institution
Profile
Company/Institution Report 1 2
Filmmaker profile 1
Multimedia Blog Entries 1 1
Fundamental critical literacy
skills
Graduate destinations are:
Education, production,
support roles in ‘production
culture’, criticism, higher
degree research and
academic professions
But largely textual based,
not fusing of
production/theory little
experimentation with new
media technologies

27. Canon of Australian cinema? Curriculum and
Screenings
The subject of a ‘canon’ in film/literary studies is vexed, slippery and
contentious issue
The terms “classics” or “masterpieces” mistrusted within academia
(Rosenbaum 2008: XVII).
“There is much debate about the canons but no agreement. Not only is there
no agreement about what a canon should include, there’s no agreement about
whether there should be canons” (Schrader 2006: 35). all … Yet de facto film
canons exist – in abundance” (Paul Schrader 2006: 35).
One way to understand a canon is three overlapping categories:
canonical (measure of artistic value/high-culture), popular and sub-cultural
27

28. What is the Canon of Australian cinema?
Curriculum and Screenings
The canon of Australian cinema is heterogeneous
Heavily dependent upon the individual focus of the particular unit (historical,
critical, Australian cinema discourses, modular)
Films screened in Australian cinema units are not generally the most popular
Measure of aesthetics/artistic quality is clearly a factor
Currency/timeliness a key factor
28

29. A published version of this presentation is available at:
Ryan, Mark David (2017) Australian cinema studies: How the subject
is taught in Australian universities. Journal of Australian Studies, 41(4),
pp. 518-535.
29
References