Jackie Keyes
Discover Australia
25/8/14

Re-Branding a Multicultural Australia

The Opening Ceremonies of the Olympic Game’s are intended to be a way for the hosting country to present them selves to the rest of the world, along with welcoming them to their country. Such ceremonies are planned to be visually pleasing and exploding with dramatic representations of the host countries past and present culture, lifestyle, and rituals. Sydney used 2000 Opening Ceremony for the Olympic games as a way to demonstrate the important roll the British had in colonizing Australia while easing up previous racism accusations, as well as portraying Australia to be home to a vibrant unified multicultural society, offering world-class destinations.- All throughout the Opening Ceremony an evolution of stories were played out for viewers; certain stories were more centralized narratively then others in particular. A sugarcoated version of the Aboriginals history, British Colonies exploration and the evolution of a young Australia, are considered the primary tales narrated. Starting out with a large horse and man scene which spoke strongly to the tourist market specifically Americans, this was perceived as a stunt to attract viewers to Australia along with scenes involving Australia’s beaches, outback territory and high ratio of animals throughout the ceremony. The connection and reconciliation between the white girl who represents a young Australia and the aboriginal man spoke to the multicultural unity acted out in Eternity. Previously was the awakening of nature after a bush fire in which the arrival of a new era was presented. As the British settled “productively” in Australia, the new world appears to be bursting with progressive new life, and a soon to be unity under the southern skies. The quote used to wrap up the ceremony, “two cultures intertwined sharing Australia’s past, present and future, beginning a new world- eternity” suggests that all events leading up were civil and in the best interest for the progression of Aboriginals. Yet while highlighting such attractive diverse togetherness, the Opening Ceremony spoke little to Australia’s convict backgrounds. Granted the ceremony was created with intentions of being a visually pleasing and entertaining event for viewers apposed to a harsh, discomforting truth to the Aboriginals role in Australian history, and how they were treated by White people “… the performance privileged the “narrative of traditional Australian ethnic nationalism” in which “Australia is a former British colony” :dominated by a White English speaking majority”. Although the Aborigines stared as a large part in the ceremony their history was overtaken by a more dominant story line. Some critics stated that representation of aboriginals and immigrants only reinforced talk of otherness and separation, whereas the message of diversity was intended to be positive, “such messages of diversity were staged against a backdrop of White masculinity” With that being said, the true history of Australia’s first people, the Aboriginals was never reenacted in the ceremony it was merely a cycle leading up to the modernization of Australia. “The Sydney Olympic Games Opening Ceremony is established as a critical component of the country’s re-branding through the narratives of reconciliation and multiculturalism”. Rebranding areas of the countries image into a more cosmopolitan, non cliché society consumed with proud ancient heritage was a prominent intention of the ceremony and an became pretty evident as the show went on. With intentions to avoid accusations of racism or misinterpretations, the ceremony presented Australia as a cultured, diverse society, appealing to all people. Themes such as migration, reconciliation, stunning vast beaching and unique landmarks helped draw on the message that Australia is the ideal country, united in one nation. “Deep Sea Dreaming” and “Nature” represent Australia’s terrestrial qualities that prove to be very likeable. Although, directors found it difficult to make a national ceremony embody the truth about a troubling history such as aboriginals in early Australia, thus they concluded that the evolution was inevitable, “White infiltration and its companion, industrialization, were represented as a natural, ever-flowing, unstoppable tide that subsumed “ancient” Aboriginal culture” an idea that does not so positively represent Australia. While avoiding the truth about past struggles Aboriginals went through, the ceremony audience saw this as Australia’s fault in undermining their past. Essentially what was intended to be avoided from the start of planning the 2000 ceremony. At last the Opening Ceremony is anticipated to be something everyone around the world can enjoy and appreciate. Australia had certain expectations they wanted to meet and specific was they would like to be perceived after the ceremony. With a timeline from past to present the representation of Australia was primarily positive as their culture, lifestyle and rituals were expressed through theatrical dances and exotic touristy sequences. Granted the focus was largely on the British colonization and the over looked aspects of the Aboriginal history the Opening Ceremony help Australia in presenting itself as a multicultural country that welcomes all other countries.

Footnotes 1. Teresa Heinz Housel, ‘Australian Nationalism and Globalization: Narratives of the Nation in the 2000 Sydney Olympics’ Opening Ceremony’, Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol 24, Issue. 5, 2007 pg. 451 2. Jess Berry, ‘A Uniform Approach? Designing Australian National Identity at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games’, Oxford Journals, [website], July 28, 2012 http://jdh.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/1/86.full#xref-fn-62-1 accessed 20 Aug. 2014. Hogan, op. cit., p. 111. 3. Jess Berry, ‘A Uniform Approach? Designing Australian National Identity at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games’, Oxford Journals, [website], July 28, 2012 http://jdh.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/1/86.full#xref-fn-62-1 accessed 20 Aug. 2014. ‘Abstract’ 4. Teresa Heinz Housel, ‘Australian Nationalism and Globalization: Narratives of the Nation in the 2000 Sydney Olympics’ Opening Ceremony’, Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol 24, Issue. 5, 2007 pg. 451 Bibliography
Teresa Heinz Housel, ‘Australian Nationalism and Globalization: Narratives of the Nation in the 2000 Sydney Olympics’ Opening Ceremony’, Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol 24, Issue. 5, 2007
Jess Berry, ‘A Uniform Approach? Designing Australian National Identity at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games’, Oxford Journals, [website], July 28, 2012 http://jdh.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/1/86.full#xref-fn-62-1 accessed 20 Aug. 2014.

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[ 1 ]. Teresa Heinz Housel, ‘Australian Nationalism and Globalization: Narratives of the Nation in the 2000 Sydney Olympics’ Opening Ceremony’, Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol 24, Issue. 5, 2007 pg. 451
[ 2 ]. Jess Berry, ‘A Uniform Approach? Designing Australian National Identity at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games’, Oxford Journals, [website], July 28, 2012 Hogan, op. cit., p. 111.
[ 3 ]. Jess Berry, ‘A Uniform Approach? Designing Australian National Identity at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games’, Oxford Journals, [website], July 28, 2012
[ 4 ]. Teresa Heinz Housel, ‘Australian Nationalism and Globalization: Narratives of the Nation in the 2000 Sydney Olympics’ Opening Ceremony’, Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol 24, Issue. 5, 2007 pg. 451