ETR Topic 1

We imaginatively forge connections between familiar places and strange places because we experience places in the mind.

What are some things that you can talk about to answer the question?

An example:
1. Caylin Calandria forges connections between the death of her mother (familiar) and the death of other living creatures (even causes this death- strange) so that death can make sense to her and she can have control over it. This is a coping mechanism and a way of making the memory of her mother's death (the story within her mind) seem within her control. - this fits with internal landscapes. Internal because she is manipulating the external world (killing birds and rabbits) so that she can help to change the way she feels about a real memory experience. If she can distance herself from death and also control it she can feel better about it

What are some more examples from the film?

Jindabyne- Geographic Landscape

The Geographic landscape is all that is external (everything that can be seen).

The Geographic landscape is the landscape that links with ALL of the other landscapes, in the film it symbolises the internal, social, historical, natural and political in different ways.

EXAMPLES
1. Hidden Valley
- hold many of the stories- what happened to the girl?, spirits, what really happened with the men? previous trips stories (connection to the internal and historical landscape)
- Men's business- "secret mens business" - no women allowed out here (political- gender)
- Sheer effort to get there- snaking of the trail through the wilderness (masculine effort- relates to gender hierarchies)
-constant long sweeping landscape shots underline the significance of the landscape and the characters connection to the landscape. The vastness of the landscape shows how insignificant the men are compared to the natural.

2. Hidden City (under Water)
- water is metaphoric/symboilc of weakness and frailty
- When in the water characters appear weak and lost
- Tom nearly drowns (death symbol)
- Camera always looking up - watching the characters- who are 'alive' - spiritual
- 'Tom nearly 'snatched' when Clare was swimming (powerlessness)
- Susan found in the water facing down in the water (spirit world connection)- can't move from one plane to another (men stopped this connection to the spirit world by tying her up- interfered with what was natural)
- also a metaphor for the hidden secrets of Jindabyne

Water is nature; nature has all of the power.

Jindabyne- Social/ Cultural Landscape

The Social Landscape refers to where the characters belong and where they feel most like their true selves.

Vanessa- relates better to Ireland and defines herself by relating to the Irish culture
Aboriginals- define their identity through spiritual and natural connections
Clare- doesn't have a solid identity, is a very confused character because she doesn't belong anywhere. She is like a stranger in her own home (she has no power), she has a strong American accent (an outsider to the Australian Jindabyne)and doesn't know where her loyalties lie (son or sister, husband or Susan's family)

Can you think of anymore examples or anything more to add under the banner of social landscape?

Jindabyne- Historical Landscape.

This landscape ties in very closely with the social/cultural landscape as it holds all of the stories which help to define the characters.

A LANDSCAPE TELLS US ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE ON IT
-A landscape carries historical meaning and the mythologies of the people who live on it.

-A strong relationship exists between places and identity.

-Australian identity is reevaluated through the transcendence of cultural archetypes and rigid social boundaries- we aren't expected to be our stereotype. Stewart can be Australian even though he is Irish if he can bond with the Australian history/ landscape. (when he tells the story of Old Jindabyne he is showing he is part of the Australian identity because he can relate to the place - even though he wasn't there he can become a part of the history by retelling the story)

- Australia's trouble history with our indigenous people is also a part of this landscape.

STORIES
- associated with place (social and cultural)

1. stories of the Dreamtime and spirits of the dead finding release
2. The newsreel shown tot he primary children telling the tale of Old Jindabyne submerged under Lake Jindabyne... and several original homes moved to the newly established town of Jindabyne
3. Caylin Calandria's story of the drowned town
4. Stewart's story of the sound of the drowned town
5. The story told in the poem recited by Stewart before the men leave for their fishing trip
6. the Irish Celtic story of St Brigid told when Stewart and Vanessa ask her to bless the house.

Why do you think these stories were included?
What do they show about the characters and the imaginative landscape?

Jindabyne- Political Landscape- RACIAL

An individuals experience is what gives a landscape meaning. People experience the landscape differently depending on the personal circumstances of their life, their race, their religion, class and gender.

The landscape takes on a politicised meaning through the representation of distinct or dual experiences, such as the contrasting experiences of Aboriginals and Anglo-Saxons.

RACIAL HIERARCHIES IN A POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
Inner landscapes projected onto the external world reveal the ways that Indigenous Australians are marginalised in a cultural landscape which values Anglo-Europeans.

An example of this is Clare's ignorance to the Aboriginal belief that the spirit doesn't leave the body of the dead until after it has been officially blessed into the spirit world. She shows this when she visits Susan's deceased body. This shows racial superiority because it shows that Clare feels her Anglo Saxon beliefs are the only beliefs.

Can you think of any other examples of racial hierarchies? (even where racial hierarchies are questioned)

Jindabyne- Political Landscape- GENDER.

THE LANDSCAPE CONVERYS POLITICAL MEANING
GENDER HIERARCHIES IN A POLITICAL LANDSCAPE

An individual's experience is what gives a landscape meaning. People experience the landscape differently depending on the personal circumstances of their life, their race, their religion, class and gender.

The landscape itself takes on politicised meaning through the representation of distinct or dual experiences, such as the contrasting experiences of men and women.

What are examples from the film that show the contrasting/ unequal experiences of men and women?

Jindabyne- Natural Landscapes

THE NATURAL LANDSCAPE IS IMAGINED AS AN IDYLLIC SPACE

- Aboriginals- sense of harmony between Aboriginals and idyllic natural world

Where in the film is the Natural landscape imagined as an idyllic/ ideal space?

Jindabyne- Internal Landscapes

EXTERNAL LANDSCAPES MIRROR INNER LANDSCAPES
- In an imaginative landscape, the outer, physical landscape mirrors the inner, emotional life, or inner landscape, of the characters that inhabit it.

What are some examples of external landscapes mirroring lamdscapes in Jindabyne?
Why/How do they do this?

Look so fine feel so low

I've been seen on the street
Wearing brand new clothes
I guess I've landed on my feet
I'm a lucky guy I suppose

She tells me that she loves me
She buys me things
She wants to take care of me
And all I gotta do is sing sing sing sing

Well I look so fine but I feel so low

She takes me by the arm
She takes me all around
She knows all her friends are talking
Saying look what our good girl's found

One thing she's got on you
she's so easy to impress
When she asks me dumb questions
All I gotta do is say yes yes yes yes

Yeah I look so fine but I feel so low

Dumb Things

Welcome, strangers, to the show
I'm the one who should be lying low
Saw the knives out, turned my back
Heard the train coming, stayed out on the track
In the middle, in the middle, in the middle of a dream
I lost my shirt, I pawned my rings
I've done all the dumb things
Caught the fever, heard the tune
Thought I loved her, hung my heart on the moon
Started howling, made no sense
Thought my friends would rush to my defence
In the middle, in the middle, in the middle of a dream
I lost my shirt, I pawned my rings
I've done all the dumb things
And I get all your good advice
It doesn't stop me from going through these things twice
I see the knives out, I turn my back
I hear the train coming, I stay right on that track
In the middle, in the middle, in the middle of a dream
I lost my shirt, I pawned my rings
I've done all the dumb things
I melted wax to fix my wings
I've done all the dumb things
I threw my hat into the ring
I've done all the dumb things
I thought that I just had to sing
I've done all the dumb things

Deeper Water

On a crowded beach in a distant time
At the height of summer see a boy of five
At the water's edge so nimble and free
Jumping over the ripples looking way out to sea
Now a man comes up from amoungst the throng
Takes the young boy's hand and his hand is strong
And the child feels safe, yeah the child feels brave
As he's carried in those arems up and over the waves
Deeper water, deeper water, deeper water, calling him on
Let's move forward now and the child's seventeen
With a girl in the back seat tugging at his jeans
And she knows what she wants, she guides with her hand
As a voice cries inside him - I'm a man, I'm a man!
Deeper water, deeper water, deeper water, calling him on
Now the man meets a woman unlike all the rest
He doesn't know it yet but he's out of his depth
And he thinks he can run, it's amatter of pride
But he keeps coming back like a cork on the tide
Well the years hurry by and the woman loves the man
Then one night in the dark she grabs hold of his hand
Says 'There, can you feel it kicking inside!'
And the man gets a shiver right up and down his spine
Deeper water, deeper water, deeper water, calling him on
So the clock moves around and the child is a joy
But Death doesn't care just who it destroys
Now the woamn gets sick, thins down to the bone
She says 'Where I'm going next, I'm going alone'
Deeper water, deeper water
On a distant beach lonely and wild
At a later time see a man and a child
And the man takes the child up into his arms
Takes her over the breakers
To where the water is calm
Deeper water, deeper water,
Deeper water, calling them on

Everything's turning to White

Late on a Friday my husband went up to the mountains with three friends
They took provisions and bottles of bourbon to last them all through the weekend
One hundred miles they drove just to fish in a stream
And there's so much water so close to home
When they arrived it was cold and dark; they set up their camp quickly
Warmed up with whisky they walked to the river where the water flowed past darkly
In the moonlight they saw the body of a young girl floating face down
And there's so much water so close to home
When he hold me now I'm pretending
I feel like I'm frozen inside
And behind my eyes, my daily disguise
Everything's turning to white
It was too hard to tell how long she'd been dead, the river was that close to freezing
But one thing for sure, the girl hadn't died very well to judge from the bruising
They stood there above her all thinking the same thoughts at the same time
There's so much water so close to home

They carried her downstream from their fishing; between two rocks they gently wedged her
After all they'd come so far, it was late
And the girl would keep; she was going nowhere
They stayed up there fishing for two days
They reported it on Sunday when they came back down
There's so much water so close to home
When he holds me now I'm pretending
I feel like I'm frozen inside
And behind my eyes, my daily disguise
Everything's turning to white
The newspapers said that the girl had been strangled to death and also molested
On the day of the funeral the radio reported that a young man had been arrested
I went to the service a stranger; I drove past the lake out of town
There's so much water so close to home
When he holds me now I'm pretending
I feel like I'm frozen inside
And behind my eyes, my daily disguise
Everything's turning to white

To Her Door

They got married early, never had no money
Then when he got laid off they really hit the skids
He started up his drinking, then they started fighting
He took it pretty badly, she took both the kids
She said: "I'm not standing by, to watch you slowly die
So watch me walking, out the door, out the door, out the door"
She said, "Shove it, Jack, I'm walking out the fucking door"
She went to her brother's, got a little bar work
He went to the Buttery, stayed about a year
Then he wrote a letter, said I want to see you
She thought he sounded better, she sent him up the fare
He was riding through the cane in the pouring rain
On Olympic to her door
To her door
To her door
He came in on a Sunday, every muscle aching
Walking in slow motion like he'd just been hit
Did they have a future?
Would he know his children?
Could he make a picture and get them all to fit?
He was shaking in his seat riding through the streets
In a silvertop to her....
Shaking in his seat riding through the streets
In a silvertop to her door
To her door
To her door
To her door

From St Kilda to Kings Cross

From St Kilda to Kings Cross is thirteen hours on a bus
I pressed my face against the glass and watched the white lines rushing past
And all around me felt like all inside me
And my body left me and my soul went running
Have you ever seen Kings Cross when the rain is falling soft?
I came in on the evening bus, form Oxford Street i cut across
And if the rain don't fall too hard everything shines
Just like a postcard
Everything goes on just the same
Fair-weather friends are the hungriest friends
I keep my mouth well shut, i cross their open hands
I want to see the sun go down from St Kilda esplanade
Where the beach needs reconstruction, where the palm trees have it hard
I'd give you all of Sydney harbour (all that land, all that water)
For that one sweet promenade

White Train

Standing on my doorway
I wondered why his hand was painted red
It's just a scratch he said
Here we go again
We stumbled to the car
By the time we hit Prince Henry's he was white
I said you looked such a sight
He said I don't feel no pain
And I know just what to do
And I know it's nothing new
We've been through this before
But I don't follow
Why must it be you
On a white train?
I stuck until the end
Though you said I was no friend
But you were blind
You really lost your mind
On a white train
Some will swill and some will sip
Some just find a place where they don't slip
Others take a trip
On a white train
And I know just what to do
And I know it's nothing new
We've been through this before
But I don't follow
Why must it be you
On a white train?

Before the old man died

BEFORE THE OLD MAN DIED

I used to walk in shadows
I stayed out of the sun
I used to sort informtaion
and I used to pass it on

Before the old man died
Before we came alive
Before the old man died

I used to follow orders
Did my duty like a son
But I fell in love with whispers
And I turned them into songs

Before the old man died
Before we came alive
Before the old man died

For the way he ruined our mother
Not enough blood can run
We had plans me and my brother
Every day I cleaned the gun

Before the old man died
Before we came alive
Before the old man died
Before we came alive