By Heinlein’s rule, the Australian and New Zealand arts and media are riddled with incompetent whores. Which I, for one, wouldn’t argue with. And, if the incompetent whores in the New Zealand media get their way, they’ll all be government sugar-babies.
In Australia, the incompetent whore squad are determined to leverage the Chinese pandemic to their advantage.
Hugo Weaving has urged the Morrison government to rethink its “disastrous” decision to suspend local content quotas during the coronavirus pandemic, saying Australian stories need greater support against the onslaught of overseas streaming giants.
The actor, celebrated for his work on stage and screen around the world, told The Weekend Australian that the local film and TV culture would be “destroyed” if the government’s temporary measures became permanent.
“It’s critical to protect the Australian voice, the Australian story, on Australian television screens and also in Australian films,” Weaving said. “Governments have been very supportive of the arts in many ways but this is the most critical thing.”
Perhaps the “Australian voice” wouldn’t need protecting if they were telling more stories that audiences are actually interested in. As many movies, from Crocodile Dundee to Red Dog, Babe, Strictly Ballroom and Mad Max have shown, when Australian artists make movies that are engaging and well-told, bums will happily fill seats at home and around the world.
But the Antipodean industry doesn’t ‘do’ bums on seats. Oh, no: they’re better than that. Instead, they churn out endless gripping dramas about same-sex relationships between disabled indigenous trans-women and genderqueer Muslim asylum seekers, set in the gritty confines of Ultimo or Ponsonby.
Weaving is concerned about the impact of the downturn on the thousands of Australians who make a living from the creative industries. He said many remained ineligible to receive the government’s rescue package because of the nature of their work.
“Most actors live day to day,” he said. “Not just actors but technicians — there are so many different jobs in the film and TV industry which don’t involve performance. The arts support a huge range of jobs. Everyone is working to get that art form up and running. Artists have absolutely fallen through the cracks.”
But they are eligible to register for the increased unemployment benefits. Just like millions of other small traders and contractors around Australia. Despite their towering self-regard, the luvvies aren’t all that special, you know.
Leaving the pandemic downturn aside, if the Australian and New Zealand arts industries want to thrive, then they have to give up being treated as a special school. Start making movies and music that audiences actually like, instead of using government funding as a bully-pulpit to brow-beat the rest of us with their right-on opinions.
If they want to stay woke, then they can keep going broke. It’s that simple.
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