‘Genre and Nation: British and Australian cinema, 1960 – now’ Conference

5-7 September 2024

Leeds School of Arts, Leeds Beckett University, UK

Despite the brutal, colonial origins of Australian settlement, and the ongoing consequences for Indigenous people, an enduring connection between Britain and Australia remains. As Rolfe (2022) argues, until the 1960s, Australians incorporated a dual identity as both Australians and Britons, and although American influence has grown since then– the British/Australian relationship persists and has been widely explored in screen media.

The word "opportunity" in today's European languages is rooted in "port" as a coastal city, and "opportune" was first used to describe a wind that would be favorable to the European ships and explorers. As we know, for centuries, ports, seas, and oceans that surrounded Europe were considered as "opportunities" to discover new lands, dominate new populations, and to accumulate wealth.

In his poem "Man and the Sea," Charles Baudelaire, often known as the first modernist poet, addresses "the free man" who embraces the sea, regardless of how wild and indomitable it is, as they both "delight in death and carnage."