Australia in Pop Culture

[butterfly]

Kristy's his granddaughter

See? I don't even know that much!

[angelaudie]

I have no idea who any of these people are but I'm learning the Australian entertainment community is just as effed up Hollywood. That's kinda amusing since many Australian actors seem to act like they are above Hollywood's insanity simply because they are Australian. Not slamming the Australian Greecies btw!

[GinFizz]

Sept 6, 2010 23:24:16 GMT -4 angelaudie said:

I have no idea who any of these people are but I'm learning the Australian entertainment community is just as effed up Hollywood. That's kinda amusing since many Australian actors seem to act like they are above Hollywood's insanity simply because they are Australian. Not slamming the Australian Greecies btw!

ITA, it bugs when Aussie celebs bang on about being "real" and "humble" by virtue of their nationality when they are often as phoney and superficial as anyone. The only thing that keeps Aussie egos in check when working at home is that there is very little money, comparatively speaking, in our entertainment industry, and the unions are not as powerful (which is why, for example, you will see Australian crews praised for their willingness to perform any task, whereas American crews' duties are strictly prescribed by their unions).

[Yossarian]

Hah Hah! Stupid Stephanie Rice lost her Jaguar sponsorship - and hence her car - over her homophobic comments!

[Deleted]

Aussie Greecies, Julia Gillard can form a government.

[Deleted]

It's kind of anti-climactic now. I think it was always going to be Julia by the skin of her teeth.

[bklynred]

This is a real basic question, but I was wondering: what's the status of African Americans like in Australia? I always read about Aborigines, but is there a large population of minorities?

[Deleted]

There are African Americans who live in Australia; many move here to play in the National Basketball League - like many Americans play in the European basketball leagues - among other reasons. Australia wasn't a destination on the slave trade route, so there's not a population of African Australians like there are African Americans, if that makes sense. There are reports of Afro-Caribbean convicts being sent to Australia, but not en masse, I don't think.

There is a pretty sizeable African diaspora in Australia; in the city in which I grew up there were many Nigerian immigrants. There are also fairly large pockets of Somalian refugees around the country.

There are a lot of Australians who have their origins in East / South-East Asia. To use my hometown as an example again, there's a large Chinese population that arrived in Australia during a gold rush in the 1860s. Obviously I'm referring to their descendents, not gold-seeking Chinese vampires.

There's a pretty big Vietnamese population in Sydney, but other people might be able to talk more about that, I haven't spent a lot of time there. Sydney also has a pretty big Lebanese population, I'm sure you heard about the riots a few years ago. I don't really think that's typical of how Anglo-Australians view non-Anglo Australians, but I think a lot of people are nervous about non-Anglo immigration into Australia. Australia struggles with its identity as a British colony that's geographically in the Asia-Pacific region.

I grew up in a small city that's pretty multicultural, with a large Aboriginal and Chinese population as well as huge Greek and Italian communities (as there are throughout Australia), so I'm happy to welcome anyone here, but I still get the impression that some people make a distinction between Anglo- and non-Anglo Australians.

Here are some figures for you.

[bklynred]

You guys are so fast! Thanks, EvilMinion.

[Deleted]

You're welcome! I'm at work, it's not like I've got anything better to do, heh.