1950s vibe, 21st century audience: Australia’s dearth of on-screen diversity

Abstract

The difference between how multicultural Australia is ‘in real life’ and ‘in broadcasting’ can be seen through data from the Census, and from Screen Australia’s most recent research into on screen diversity. In 2016, these sources of data coincided with the Census, which takes place every five years. Conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, this presents a ‘snapshot’ of Australian life. From the newest Census figures in 2016, it appears that nearly half of the population in Australia (49 percent) had either been born overseas (identifying as first generation Australian) or had one or both parents born overseas (identifying as second generation Australian). Nearly a third, or 32 percent, of Australians identified as having come from non-Anglo Celtic backgrounds, and 2.8 percent of Australians identify as Indigenous (Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander). Nearly a fifth, or 18 percent, of Australians identify as having a disability. Screen Australia is the government agency that oversees film and TV funding and research. Conducted in 2016, Screen Australia’s study looked at 199 television dramas (fiction, excluding animation) that aired between 2011 and 2015. The comparison between these two sources of data reveals that with one exception, there is a marked disparity between diversity as depicted in the lived experiences of Australians and recorded by the Census, and diversity as depicted on screen and recorded by the Screen Australia survey.

Distributing Whiteness: Please Like Me and Global Television Circulation

“…When characters of color appear on Australian TV, they are often portrayed as outside of mainstream Australian culture (Bahfen 2019, 32). PLM only features one recurring character of color: Mae (Renee Lim), a Thai woman who is Josh’s father’s second wife, and who remains a one-dimensional character who is loud, bossy, and speaks English with an accent.…”

“…In other words, race often only becomes noteworthy in scholarly discussions of LGBTQ media when non-white queer representations are the focus (Kohnen 2016, 18). It is important to note that Australia and the U.S. have distinct media histories, but scholars like Monaghan (2020) and Bahfen (2019) point out existing similarities in how discourses of sexuality and race, respectively, shape Australian and U.S./Western media.…”

“…It is telling that this fleeting engagement with multiculturalism has no room for Indigenous representation, which is largely absent from Australian television and conceptualization of national belonging. Only 5 percent of TV characters were Indigenous as of 2016, with the majority appearing in ABC programs produced under a public interest mandate (Bahfen 2019, p. 31; Screen Australia 2016, p. 10). As Moreton-Robinson (2015) argues, “the egalitarian myth that Australia is a ‘tolerant society’ is deployed to mask the persistently privileged position of whiteness” (p. 24).…”