Documentary Series Trailer – Once Upon a Time in Cabramatta (2011)
For this week’s blog post concerning the significant role of new media such as film and television, I chose the SBS documentary series ‘Once Upon a Time in Cabramatta’ (2011). As a son of two Vietnamese refugees who grew up in Cabramatta during the mid 1990s, I was able to both personally and culturally resonate with the documentary series as it highlights the various experiences and instances of racial vilification that my family and families alike experienced. The ability for the film to provoke such an emotional response from me was fundamentally due to the use of ‘socially constructed symbols, texts and meanings’ (Bailey, 2011, p. 78) whereby the accumulation of old documented photographs, news reports and personal anecdotes from Vietnamese refugees from a variety of generations reflected the feelings of anxiety and racism that I experienced as a child growing up in Cabramatta. With the documentary reflecting on the period of social and cultural unrest, Vietnamese people did not have a voice due to language and cultural barriers and as a result was reinforced as a minority- subject to abuse and negligent/biased representation in the media. What the 2011 documentary allowed was the liberation of voices that were previously unheard, whereby it allowed a negotiation of cultural identity, challenging of stereotypes and the development of the understanding of differences (Bailey, 2011, p. 79). The medium of film as one that can be edited to include aural and visual elements further reinforces the power of those involved in its creation to express their deep emotional feelings about their lives and communities.
References:
Bailey, B. (2011). “When I make a film, it’s out of my head”: Expressing emotion and healing through digital filmmaking in the classroom. Digital Culture & Education, 3(2), 76-97. Retrieved from http://www.digitalcultureandeducation.com/uncategorized/dce1056_bailey_2011_html/
mitchellhaedgu1002 