SOC 118"The Last Wave"-Peter Weir dir.(1977) In the film, The
Last Wave, the director is trying to communicate the idea of aculture
within a culture or sub culture. The dominant culture in the film is the
whitemembers of society living in Australia. The subculture in the film is
the Aborigines whowere natives to the land before the white people
settled in Australia. The nativessustained their cultural beliefs and
ideologies while living in largely populated cities. The dominant white
culture imposes their laws , ideas of societal values and moralbeliefs on
the native Aborigines. Forcing them to abide by a different law system
andway of life than what their peoples have practiced for hundreds of
years. In the moviethe lawyer, David, represents the dominant culture to
the Aborigines because herepresents the law that is controlling their fate
in the white culture. The director is also giving us many symbols or
visual communication such as theconsistency of water in the film as well
as, the overbearing control of darkness. The filmis shot in shadows and
overall is very dark , almost forcing us to look beyond the obviousplot and
storyline and into the meaning or what the film/director is trying to tell us.
Thedarkness in the film can be seen as unconsciousness. It can also be
seen as a predictionof the darkness that will occur in the world when the
last wave comes. Thelast wavemeaning a giant tidal wave that will cover
the earth , killing humanity. This idea issimilar to the Christian belief in
the flood that was sent down centuries ago to destroy allthe evil in the
world. Also, all the modern aspects of the movie (courtroom,
David'soffice etc) are filmed in light. While, all of the Aborigines' scenes
are filmed in darknessor shadows. Giving me the impression of
something mysterious or not understood by thewhites concerning the
Aborigines. The fact that all the modern scenes are filmed in lightcan
also support the idea of the white culture being the predominate culture in
the filmbut yet not dominant enough to take away the
shadows(mysterious , mystical)aspect ofthe Aborigines. The lawyer,
David, Also goes through a series of dreams and premonitions. Thisis
stressing the idea of mind power and mystical strength that the
Aborigines have. Inthat way they can be seen as the dominant culture.
David is stuck between two worlds. The world he knows and understands
and the other world that he is definitely a part ofbut does not understand.
As he tries to grapple with the idea that he may be linked to
theAborigines, his own cultural beliefs are changing. He is forming a
complex view on life,a combination of ways of viewing the world by both
the white Christians and theAborigines. The dream sequences in the film
are sometimes difficult to distinguish from thewarped reality that is being
portrayed. Overall, they do give us a chance to think andattempt to
comprehend what is going through the mind of David. For he
cannotdistinguish at times what is real and not real. But what is real
depends on if you perceiveit as real as an individual. To me, the film is
saying that their is a definite cultural conflict between theChristians and
the Aborigines living in Australia. Whichever one the viewer perceives
asbeing dominant or subdominant, he will perceive the fact that their is a
culture clash. The viewer may also see the idea that the Aborigines(tribal)
are not understood in whitesociety and David is the only one who can.
He is the link between the two worlds, and atthe same time he is the wall
separating them. Overall, I feel the film was good concerning the ideas
behind the storyline. Butdue in part to the director's fetish for water and
darkness, he almost destroys the storylineto me. And without the
storyline, you cannot interpret the film in a well structured way. Also, the
symbolism is so predominant, it points at the viewers lack of intelligence .
Similar to someone repeating themselves while speaking over and over
and over andover, merely to stress a point. Too bad by that time the
point is beyond stressed it isalmost destroyed completely.
SOC 118"The Last Wave"-Peter Weir dir.(1977) In the film, The
Last Wave, the director is trying to communicate the idea of aculture
within a culture or sub culture. The dominant culture in the film is the
whitemembers of society living in Australia. The subculture in the film is
the Aborigines whowere natives to the land before the white people
settled in Australia. The nativessustained their cultural beliefs and
ideologies while living in largely populated cities. The dominant white
culture imposes their laws , ideas of societal values and moralbeliefs on
the native Aborigines. Forcing them to abide by a different law system
andway of life than what their peoples have practiced for hundreds of
years. In the moviethe lawyer, David, represents the dominant culture to
the Aborigines because herepresents the law that is controlling their fate
in the white culture. The director is also giving us many symbols or
visual communication such as theconsistency of water in the film as well
as, the overbearing control of darkness. The filmis shot in shadows and
overall is very dark , almost forcing us to look beyond the obviousplot and
storyline and into the meaning or what the film/director is trying to tell us.
Thedarkness in the film can be seen as unconsciousness. It can also be
seen as a predictionof the darkness that will occur in the world when the
last wave comes. Thelast wavemeaning a giant tidal wave that will cover
the earth , killing humanity. This idea issimilar to the Christian belief in
the flood that was sent down centuries ago to destroy allthe evil in the
world. Also, all the modern aspects of the movie (courtroom,
David'soffice etc) are filmed in light. While, all of the Aborigines' scenes
are filmed in darknessor shadows. Giving me the impression of
something mysterious or not understood by thewhites concerning the
Aborigines. The fact that all the modern scenes are filmed in lightcan
also support the idea of the white culture being the predominate culture in
the filmbut yet not dominant enough to take away the
shadows(mysterious , mystical)aspect ofthe Aborigines. The lawyer,
David, Also goes through a series of dreams and premonitions. Thisis
stressing the idea of mind power and mystical strength that the
Aborigines have. Inthat way they can be seen as the dominant culture.
David is stuck between two worlds. The world he knows and understands
and the other world that he is definitely a part ofbut does not understand.
As he tries to grapple with the idea that he may be linked to
theAborigines, his own cultural beliefs are changing. He is forming a
complex view on life,a combination of ways of viewing the world by both
the white Christians and theAborigines. The dream sequences in the film
are sometimes difficult to distinguish from thewarped reality that is being
portrayed. Overall, they do give us a chance to think andattempt to
comprehend what is going through the mind of David. For he
cannotdistinguish at times what is real and not real. But what is real
depends on if you perceiveit as real as an individual. To me, the film is
saying that their is a definite cultural conflict between theChristians and
the Aborigines living in Australia. Whichever one the viewer perceives
asbeing dominant or subdominant, he will perceive the fact that their is a
culture clash. The viewer may also see the idea that the Aborigines(tribal)
are not understood in whitesociety and David is the only one who can.
He is the link between the two worlds, and atthe same time he is the wall
separating them. Overall, I feel the film was good concerning the ideas
behind the storyline. Butdue in part to the director's fetish for water and
darkness, he almost destroys the storylineto me. And without the
storyline, you cannot interpret the film in a well structured way. Also, the
symbolism is so predominant, it points at the viewers lack of intelligence .
Similar to someone repeating themselves while speaking over and over
and over andover, merely to stress a point. Too bad by that time the
point is beyond stressed it isalmost destroyed completely.
SOC 118"The Last Wave"-Peter Weir dir.(1977) In the
film, TheLast Wave, the director is trying to communicate the idea of
aculture within a culture or sub culture. The dominant culture in the film is
the whitemembers of society living in Australia. The subculture in the film
is the Aborigines whowere natives to the land before the white people
settled in Australia. The nativessustained their cultural beliefs and
ideologies while living in largely populated cities. The dominant white
culture imposes their laws , ideas of societal values and moralbeliefs on
the native Aborigines. Forcing them to abide by a different law system
andway of life than what their peoples have practiced for hundreds of
years. In the moviethe lawyer, David, represents the dominant culture to
the Aborigines because herepresents the law that is controlling their fate
in the white culture. The director is also giving us many symbols or
visual communication such as theconsistency of water in the film as well
as, the overbearing control of darkness. The filmis shot in shadows and
overall is very dark , almost forcing us to look beyond the obviousplot and
storyline and into the meaning or what the film/director is trying to tell us.
Thedarkness in the film can be seen as unconsciousness. It can also be
seen as a predictionof the darkness that will occur in the world when the
last wave comes. Thelast wavemeaning a giant tidal wave that will cover
the earth , killing humanity. This idea issimilar to the Christian belief in
the flood that was sent down centuries ago to destroy allthe evil in the
world. Also, all the modern aspects of the movie (courtroom,
David'soffice etc) are filmed in light. While, all of the Aborigi
. SOC 118" ;The Last Wave& quot; -Peter Weir dir.(1977) In the film, The
Last Wave, the director is trying to communicate the idea of aculture
within. predictionof the darkness that will occur in the world when the
last wave comes. The last wavemeaning a giant tidal wave that will cover
the earth , killing