Pulford, Donald (2002) Two plays, one nation. Meanjin, 61 (3). pp. 121-127. ISSN 0815-953XFull text not available from this repository.
Examining two related works by Alex Buzo, separated by more than thirty years, Donald Pulford measures changes to Australian self-identity in the light of the Pauline Hanson phenomenon and the refugee crisis. This article places Australian drama in its historical and cultural context. The two plays, by the same author, on which this article focuses are separated by thirty years. They both depict a young anglo-Australian's encounter with an Asian (a Pakistani in the first and a Vietnamese in the second) at a Sydney bus stop at midnight. The differences in the plays reflect differing Australian anxieties around race relations, masculinity, multi-culturalism and economic change. The discussion of the plays places them in their contexts of Australia in the 1970s and Australia at the start of the new century. In looking at contemporary Australia, the article examines the recent phenomenon of a racist conservative party, One Nation, its propaganda, marketing devices and reception, basing much of the discussion on Margo Kingston's research and journalism on the topic.
|Uncontrolled Keywords:||Alex Buzo, Australian identity, Australian plays, 'Norm and Ahmed', 'Normie and Tuan', Pauline Hanson, Refugees, Asylum seekers|
|Divisions:||School of Arts, Social Sciences and Management > Media, Communication and Production|
|Date Deposited:||23 Apr 2008 15:21|
|Last Modified:||12 May 2011 09:27|
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