Key Findings
Through this research project we explored the representations of Australians while evaluating the extent of the ocker stereotype. Ranging from past ocker representation in 1986 with Crocodile Dundee, which portrayed the ocker as a down to earth, genuine representation of Australian outback, to the contemporary ocker representations in 2008 in Australia of Hugh Jackman, ‘the drover’, as a modernized, rugged, aussie wanderer. Hugh Jackman's character in Australia presents a reshaping of the concept of the Australian ocker stereotype.
All three case study films highlight the importance of the Australian landscape. The location has been dramatized and stylized in Wolf Creek and Australia to portray the Australian outback as rugged and wild. Whereas in Animal Kingdom, the setting is suburban with no familiar landmarks being shown.
The four films studied; Crocodile Dundee, Animal Kingdom, Wolf Creek and Australia, are vastly different but manage to display a unique portrayal of the Australian ocker character. Each of the representations clearly take themselves from the original images of the ocker in 1970's and even earlier and vary them to be appropriate for the time and space in which the particular film is placed.