Open AccessA Criminal as the Main Movie Character, or Old Themes and New Solutions
Author(s) -
Irina Anatolyevna Zvegintseva
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
vestnik vgik
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2713-2471
pISSN - 2074-0832
DOI - 10.17816/vgik83115-125
Subject(s) - convict , injustice , symbol (formal) , hero , adventure , movie theater , character (mathematics) , conviction , economic justice , sociology , law , history , media studies , criminology , art history , literature , political science , art , philosophy , linguistics , geometry , mathematics
The former British colony, emerged as a place of exile for the most dangerous criminals and unreliable people from the metropolis, Australia began its existence very unenviable, appearing on the world map called "The Earths hell", which was used to frighten children in Europe. The fact is: the gene fund of the nation - the convicts, their guards, and adventurers came from all over Europe in hope of a better life. The first half of the 19th century Australia, in fact, remained a giant reforming home, a jail. And whatever paradoxical it might explain the significant number of films shot in the 20th and in 21st centuries with criminals as protagonists. When touching upon permanent plots and problems in Australian cinema, it should be noted that the "eternal" love of the inhabitants of the Green continent to the favorite national hero Ned Kelly, a former convict and burglar has not disappeared. In the minds of the Australians the burglar has become a symbol of the fighter against injustice, a sort of "Australian Robin Hood". The main characters of the movies were bushrangers in Australia called escaped convicts, pariahs of the society, hunting armed robberies and burglaries, hiding from justice in the vast valleys of the Australian Bush. Here, incidentally, there is a parallel with the American film industry that also has surpasses the rank of the most beloved and popular criminals in the country from Al Capone, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow up to Bugsy Siegel and John Dillinger. But soon such films were banned because of the monopolies of the USA and the UK movies on the Australian market. However, life itself has started to supply filmmakers with the stories that hardly could come to the minds of writers with the wildest imagination. The real horrible crimes and not less real maniacs, sadists, pedophiles, whose actions have forced to shudder the whole society, both in the past and the present, formed the basis of a number of films shot in Australia. The analysis of these movies, the authors' position, the artistic value of works have become the target of this article.