Bran Nue Dae Argument Exposition

Bran Nue Dae is an extraordinary musical drama directed by Rachel

Perkins and released in 2010 (creative spirits, 2010). The movie expertly
depicts an impressive story about the main character Willie, who is an
ordinary aborigine and freely lives in the peaceful town Broome. However,
good times do not last long after his mother sends him back to the
religious school and he gets a severe punishment due to his greed for
food. After that, he resolutely begins a journey with another aborigine and
finally comes back home (IMDb, 2016). Numerous issues that affect
Australian aborigines are touched on through the characters, songs and
visions in Bran Nue Dae. In this exposition, the collision between the
religion of the aborigines and Christianity will be shown by the analysis of
the main character Willie. The aboriginal issues of land rights will be
demonstrated from the expression of the song Nothing I Would Rather
Be. Furthermore, the unfair treatments to the aborigines will be
elaborated through the evaluation of Willies dream in the prison.
To commence, the acute collision between the aboriginal religion and
Christianity will be thoroughly analyzed in accordance with the actions and
dialogues of the main character Willie, as he is haunted by the religion,
which is a relatively serious problem that the Australian Aborigines have.
According to the website aboriginalculture.com (2016), the aborigines
have their own beliefs, they unswervingly believe in their own gods, who
created the world in their own cultures. Several symbolic things have
direct relations to their religions, such as landscape features and so on.
Nevertheless, when the European colonists took over the land in the
eighteenth century, they cruelly forced most of the aborigines to abandon
their own religions, and the destructions of the treasured relics of the
aborigines are also caused by the colonists. The collision of the religions
has huge impact on the aboriginal cultures (Korff, J., 2015). Various
evidences that refer to this problem can be found from the actions,
dialogues and scenarios of the lovely main character Willie in the film Bran
Nue Dae (Perkins, R., 2010). For instance, in the scene which Willie is
praying in a church, he is not focused at all, since he cannot understand
the importance and the sanctity of the church. After that, Willies mother
asks him to be a priest, but he is fairly reluctant to do that. (Perkins, R.
2010, 01:00) Willies mother sends him to a Christian mission, though he is
not interested in being a priest. To specify, Willie lives in a tranquil place.
His live is absolutely carefree, which makes him unable to understand the
significance of Christianity. Whereas, as an aborigine, he has very low
social status, he might not be respected when he grows up unless he
becomes a priest. Therefore, his mother and the Father in the mission
wants him to be a priest. The religious school where Willie stays is called a
mission. According to the official website of Australian Institute of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies:
missions are reserves of land to which Aboriginal people were
forcibly relocated. The missions were in the control of churches and

missionaries with little

(aiatsis.gov.au, 2015).

or

no

government

involvement.

Obviously, the missions are the evidences of the issues of the aboriginal
religions. In general, the big annoyance of the religion on the main
character Willie makes him distressing and also undoubtedly shows the
collision of the aboriginal religions and Christianity.

In the next place, the funny song Nothing I Would Rather Be in the film
Bran Nue Dae makes reference to the aboriginal issues of land rights. From
research, Australia was first discovered and developed by the aborigines
(centrallandcouncil.com, 2016). After the arrival of the colonists, most of
the aborigines were compelled to move away from their ancestral
homelands. The aborigines persistently struggled for their own lands.
Many of them were dead or enslaved by the colonists, the others tragically
roamed the streets and suffered hunger and coldness. The loss of the
aboriginal land rights brought serious consequences to the lives of the
aborigines. The land rights of the Australian aborigines were not improved
since last century (Wood, S., 2016). In the movie Bran Nue Dae, the
problems of the aboriginal land rights are touched upon by means of the
lyrics of the amusing song Nothing I Would Rather Be. For instance,
when Willie takes the punishment by the Father, Willie humorously sings
this song and runs out of the school. In the meanwhile, all the aboriginal
students stand up and sing with him. They repeat the lyrics There's
Nothing I Would Rather Be than to be an aborigine, and watch you take
my precious land away (Perkins, R., 2010, 20:30). Specifically, the proud
expression on Willie and other students faces and their exaggerated
actions show their anger to the pillage of their lands by the colonists.
According to the film, all the students stand up and give supports to Willie
manifest that the land rights issues are experienced by not only Willie, but
also the majority of the aborigines. Hence, the land rights are a
widespread aboriginal problem in Australia. The lyrics that are repeated
many times And watch you take my precious land away also effectively
prove the existence of the aboriginal issues of land rights. As discussed
above, the amusing actions of Willie and other students and the ironic
song Nothing I Would Rather Be strongly link to the land rights issues
experienced by the Aborigines in Australia, which are serious and
widespread.
Finally, the unfair treatments that the aborigines withstood will be
elaborated through the evaluation of Willies dream in the prison. When
the colonists first arrived in Australia, they could not understand the
aboriginal culture at all. As a result, the misunderstanding of the
indigenous culture brought countless deaths to the aborigines
(aiatsis.gov.au, 2015). The aborigines in the society were unaccountably
isolated by others. The human rights of the aboriginal Australians were not
protected by the laws until 1970s (Leannesultana.global2.vic.edu.au.,
2016). In the movie Bran Nue Dae, the unfair treatments that are
experienced by the indigenous people are mentioned through Willies
dream in the prison, which includes the song called Listen To The News.
For example, when Willie falls asleep in the prison, he has a dream about
uncle Tadpole, and many indigenous people are passionately dancing and
singing in a typical aboriginal way. The lyrics of the song Listen To The

News are quite impressive, man of the gun come shot up the son, and
the girl and the child and the mother, discussing a way, Is this the end
of our people (Perkins, R., 2010, 57:20). To be more specific, the dance of
the aborigines in Willies dream looks powerful and inspiring, which shows
their desire to be impartially treated by others. Through the lyrics of the
song Listen To The News, the unfair treatments can be seen. The
colonists used guns to shoot the aboriginal people and killed the
aborigines from generation to generation. Consequently, the aboriginal
cultures are hard to pass along. When the aborigines in Willies dream first
appeared, they are locked by the chains, this means that the colonists
used the chains to expel and enslave the indigenous Australians. The last
sentence Is this the end of our people tells the audiences that the
aborigines worry about the loss of their cultures, since the colonists could
not understand their cultures at all and treated the aborigines and their
cultures with extremely discriminatory attitude. (Nguyen, A., 2012).
Therefore, Willies dream in the prison definitely links to the unfair
treatments, which is further demonstrated through the lyrics of the song
Listen To The News, and the dance of the aborigines.
In conclusion, the serious issues that highly affects Australian aborigines
are mentioned in terms of the character, the song and the vision in the
movie Bran Nue Dae. The collisions of the religions are shown through the
main character Willie. The lyrics of the song Nothing I Would Rather Be,
and the humorous actions of the students refer to the land rights issues
that the aborigines have. The song Listen To The News and the imposing
indigenous dance in Willies dream makes reference to the unfair
treatments that the aborigines suffered. The international students who
study in Australia ought to watch this film, as they do not know much
about the aboriginal history in Australia. The overseas students can
certainly realize what they should do to make the aborigines live better.
Reference List:
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. (2015).
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Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. (2015).
Mission and reserve records. [online] Available at:
http://aiatsis.gov.au/research/finding-your-family/family-historysources/mission-and-reserve-records [Accessed 21 Sep. 2016].
Clc.org.au. (2016). The History of the Land Rights Act | Central Land
Council, Australia. [online] Available at:
http://www.clc.org.au/articles/info/the-history-of-the-land-rights-act/
[Accessed 20 Sep. 2016].
IMDb. (2016). Bran Nue Dae (2009). [online] Available at:
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Available at: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/bran-nuedae-brand-new-day [Accessed 20 Sep. 2016].

Leannesultana.global2.vic.edu.au. (2016). The unfair treatments of the

aboriginals in the time of the colonization | 8 F Nanberry Blog 2014.
[online] Available at:
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Nguyen, A. (2012). Bran Nue Dae 'Listen To The News'. [online] prezi.com.
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Available
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