It always makes me cringe with second hand embarrassment when people compare Melbourne to Europe without irony; that people think Australian cities are even comparable to some of the major European ones makes me snort. Apparently the differences between Sydney and Melbourne — in culture, fashion, music, lifestyle – are vast and many.
I’m no snob, I love Australia, I love Sydney, and Melbourne charmed me when I visited, but to be quite honest they’re both much of the same, really. (I.e. There are wankers in both cities.) The only difference is Sydney has the ‘big city’ feel that I crave in a city, which gives it more of a dynamism; but it also comes with many of the big city problems.
Regardless, this rivalry does reveal something about the Australian consciousness which I think is a shame: this desire to be something else, to be comparable to something else. Sydney is apparently a global city — so much so it’s been dubbed the ‘Harbour City’. Melbourne would rather die than be compared similarly to its popular, older sister and has decided she’ll forge its own identity as the younger, ‘precocious’ sibling with a chip on her shoulder and something to prove.
You know it's true. And Tasmania is Alice.
Yet, this seems to be contradictory to the Australianness that’s rammed down our throats by the True Blue Brigade. But that’s because Australia is a big contradictory mess when it comes to figuring out who she is; what identity she wants to present to the world.
In the last few years we’ve been introduced to two major advertising campaigns to lure tourists to our fair shores. One caused the British to fetch their smelling salts because they were so scandalised by use of the word ‘bloody’; and the other, which was directed by Baz Luhrmann, had a global reaction equivalent to the universal facial expression for ‘wtf’.
So where did they go wrong?
From a completely communications standpoint it was probably that they didn’t anticipate how these advertisements would translate to a non-Australian audience. But, from a socio-cultural perspective, I‘d say it was due to the lack of a cohesive Australian identity that they could sell effectively. Let’s be honest here, the spectral form of Crocodile Dundee still haunts this country’s image. It’s a stereotype that we both shed and embrace. When we’re not complaining about dingoes eating our babies, we’re comparing knives.
To reconcile the cosmopolitan Australia (we so desperately push in order to make us comparable to other countries) with an updated idea of the amiable, Croc Dundee persona, Lara Bingle was chosen because she imbued the ‘modern’ Australia; a blonde, bronzed, beach babe who lives in a chic, cultural mecca.
However, the different flashes of Australian lifestyle — rent-a-culture Aborigines in the outback [1], white people at the beach, fireworks at every opportunity over the harbour, white people playing golf, restaurants in the middle of nowhere, and white people flying planes — understandably, flopped. Too many things were happening at once, and the catchphrase “So where the bloody hell are you?” just made the intended audience cock their heads to the side and mutter, “Huh?”
So, if our white people’s fun-loving nature and weekend activities couldn’t get the damn Yanks, Europeans, and Japanese to our country, maybe a simpler idea of Australia would.
And so we have Luhrmann’s ‘Come Walkabout’ advertisements, which sought to represent a romantic Australia; a magical getaway for those who dreamed to escape the big city lifestyle of Shanghai and New York City [2].
Australia, the advertisement seems to suggest, would be a transformative experience. Beautifully shot in Luhrmann’s typical fairytale aesthetic, the advertisements juxtaposed the hustle and bustle of the city with the solitary, open spaces of Australia… where no one can hear you scream. And, maybe it’s just me, but the idea of a little kid appearing suddenly in my bedroom, whispering for me to go ‘walkabout’ while I’m lucidly dreaming creeps me out. Just a tad. While the advertisement won a prestigious Clio Award, it has yet to be seen whether this campaign will have any positive impact on tourism numbers.
However, neither of these advertisements reflect other factors, such as the current economic slump (and relatively weak foreign exchange rates compared to our own [3]), or things such as Indian students being assaulted, racial tensions at the beach, and Australian ‘pride’ being used as a façade for a sinister, ugly version of nationalism. Here’s a thought: perhaps advertisements extolling our natural wonders aren’t the only things that can affect global perceptions, and the desire for foreigners to visit our country.
Crazy idea, right?
But I wonder how many people are aware that Stormfront poster girl, Pauline Hanson, affected tourism from Asia back in the late 90s. Who’d have thunk, eh? Luckily we had a little something called The Olympics not long after; and not only was it Australia’s best tourism advertisement ever, Matt Groening finally took back all the mean things he said about Australia in that one Simpsons episode Australians got butthurt over.
Fast forward to 10 years later, and, now, on the one hand we have advertisements that encourage people to visit Australia, and on the other we have xenophobes telling them they’re not welcome. Well, unless they’re…
Pretend this water fountain's Australia. Okay, are you with me?
So, what is it? Are we multicultural? Are we cosmopolitan? Are we a land of great desert plains and postcard perfect beaches? Are we ideological schizophrenics who can’t decide if we’re racist or not? We’re all of the above. I think we should own up to our identity problems, address socio-cultural tensions, and educate the minority that give us a bad name. Fix up our issues, kick out the bigots, seduce tourists with our ‘No Racist Dickheads’ policy and we’re all happy Vegemites, right? Easier said than done.
The thing is, I think Australia does know who she is, essentially, but we’ve a long way to go to achieving that ideal. It’s no use trying to compare us to other places we have little in common with. The French have the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and hundreds of years of history, museums, palaces, architecture and culture, which will compensate for them being frommage-eating snobs [4]. But Australia? As a young country, we only, really have our natural beauty and the smiles on our face. But when those smiles are actually just mid-spit at a foreigner, taking the 24 hour flight from the Northern Hemisphere to laugh at how ridiculous of an animal the platypus is, just doesn’t seem worth it anymore.
We are the lucky country, and this is what we should be promoting here and overseas. While variety is the methamphetamine of life, we should claim ownership to who we are as a country and as people, distinct from anywhere else (so we can effectively sell ourselves. Heh.), rather than get anal over inter-city rivalries, trying to be something we’re not; ‘cause, really, no one gives a shit (especially the other capital cities). We have to face the fact that we are neither Europe nor America, and never will be. Get over it. It’s just embarassing.
On a related note, I present my favourite tourism advertisement ever, courtesy of the Swiss. Now, this is how you get people to visit your country.
[1] Admittedly, “We’ve been rehearsing for 40,000 years” was pretty awesome.
[2] I actually like the Shanghai version more. Maybe the scene of the tree and candles just appeals to the closet-romantic in me, or maybe it’s because I can’t forgive Sibylla Budd’s dodgy American accent.
[3] It has actually gotten a lot better for foreign currencies in the last year.
[4] I lie, I heart French people — especially Parisians!
I think our biggest downfall is that we’re so bloody far away from everyone! I know my rellos in Eastern Europe couldn’t come here on their wages – even if they are earning above their nations average. While we are becoming more fortunate in that Aussies love to travel and we are getting lower fares now, but it’s not the same for people wanting to come here!
So what would motivate someone to spend so much more money to get here than anywhere else in the world? We do have spectacular beaches and unspoilt nature in general
But that is often thwarted by those groups that would leave nature so unspoilt as to not let a single human foot on such hallowed ground.
We do have an awful lot of growing up to do that’s for sure! And I think we are unique in being such a new nation but also being so westernised. Our only idols are western Europe and north America.
I don’t know what the solution is really – as usual, the problem is multi-faceted. Australia is barely a teenager, and we’ve got the same identity issues. Hmmmm
I loved those Lara Bingle ads. I don’t understand how bloody hell could be considered too profane for telly, either. I think it portrayed the way I see Australia pretty well.
It’s pretty idealistic to have an immigration rate as high as ours and expect not to have racial tension. People bring with them different cultures and expectations for society, and we place new standards on them that they may not be used to. For example, I find that many Chinese students don’t use common etiquette when being served at my work. I don’t blame this on them, because in their own culture it isn’t something that is expected of them. Although it’s nobody’s fault, it does cause tension.
esz – i know what you mean. i think even though our dollar is comparatively weaker than other currencies, the cost of living in australia in higher; not to mention we always forget how far away we are. i like your analogy, though, australia is definitely a teenager with a few identity issues.
coco – i think you hit the nail on the head when you said, “It’s pretty idealistic to have an immigration rate as high as ours and expect not to have racial tension. People bring with them different cultures and expectations for society, and we place new standards on them that they may not be used to.” for e.g. even though canada is apparently the most multicultural place in the world, and we don’t really hear about it, they, too, still have racial tensions/issues.
no doubt, i’ll be blogging about this some more in future. i don’t have the answer but i sure do like to rant! i just thought it was interesting to use our tourism advertisements as a talking point of how we try to represent/understand australia.
I totally agree with your contempt for comparisons between Melbourne and Europe. In my first week back from a 5 month fashion tour of US/Europe/Asia I have written a guest article for a US mag on Melbourne style/fashion and damned if I’m unleashing ‘very European’! There is plenty to say, and much of it good. Independent labels run in a kitchen showing at Loreal Melbourne Fashion Week, a handful of people with daring personal style… But we just don’t have the market size to sustain a scene to rival Milan or Paris. Nor do consumers have access to much of what’s scene on the European stage. David Jones is hardly Au Printemps and I hope anyone who calls Collins St the ‘Paris End’ has tongue firmly in cheek. I’m still deciding whether to finish the post ‘We’re just not that into you.’ Perhaps silence says it best. (Great blog!)
Haha! I would love to read the article. I think Australia tries too hard to be something they’re not (fashion wise anyway). There’s nothing wrong with the fashion we have now – we just have to cultivate it so it’s distinctly our own. Sometimes Australian fashion is so painfully derivative.