Comparing Australian and American films is both easy, because there are so many American films known and available to choose from, and difficult because Australian films are not widely circulated, promoted or advertised outside of Australia. Through my recent explorations into the realm of Australian film, I have discovered a few gems that stand up against many American knockouts and are able to hold there own in the Hollywood climate. Australian experiences, while taking place on a separate continent, are no different in emotional strength than many American experiences. Films tap into these emotions and are able to connect to audiences regardless of their nationality. In the case of this comparative analysis I am going to collate the likeness of experience, emotion, and familial dynamics in two coming-of-age films from the United States and Australia.
Black Balloon (2008) and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) are both films that explore the difficult subject of autism and the ways it affects family lifestyles, emotions, responsibilities, and development. Both Black Balloon and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape use teenage boys dealing with an autistic sibling as protagonists to drive the evolution of learnt lessons and accepted love. The boys are faced with adversity that they have been familiar with since they were born or their brothers were born, but find themselves dealing with it very differently when their attitudes and desires start to change as teenagers and they are dealt much more familial responsibility as a result of it. The films are incredibly similar in that the drama is ignited by the autistic brothers’ unpredictable and often unmanageable actions, outbursts, and curiosities. Charlie, in Black Balloon, and Arnie, in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, have multiple moments throughout the film that stimulate commotion and chaos that not only affect and disrupt the families and communities within the film, but impact and challenge the audience as well. While these tense moments create anxiety and stress, they are also, in many cases, the reason the plot evolves, develops, and spawns opportunities for new relationships and personal reflection. The ways in which the characters deal with these events showcase a continuous learning process through humility, compassion, tolerance and forgiveness.
A point of interest in both the films is the overwhelming sense and power of female agency in both the stories. Becky, the teenage girl in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, and Jackie in Black Balloon, both convey assured acceptance of the teenage boys and their autistic brothers. They are compassionate and free-loving without judgment or criticism. They provide support and emotional outlets to the boys who, at various points in both the respective films, are on the verge of lashing out because of the injustices of their situations and their desires to lead “normal lives”. The girls are genuine and sources of strength and wisdom in both the stories providing security and praise to the boys who are in desperate need of it. The mothers in both the films are also very dynamic characters. Both women, despite their own struggles and vices, represent the core of the families; central to the reasons things are looked after and people are loved.
The concept of the “dysfunctional” family is explored in both the films as well. Their own circumstances as well as the pressures and judgments of the communities they find themselves within challenge both families. The tagline for Black Balloon is “Normality is relative”, which could work easily for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape as well. Gilbert Grape’s family is quite a bit more dysfunctional with his obese mother who will not leave or look after the house, his stubborn siblings, and the loss of his father to suicide, however, there is normalcy in the way the family is growing and learning and loving each other. All the things they feel and convey to the audience are integral to the narrative and also to the process of growing up and accepting yourself and the ones you love. Autism, in this sense, is just a complexity of both the stories that adds detail and depth to family expectation rather than an excuse for character development and coming-of-age.
While representing two separate countries and cultures, the films to not necessarily promote or showcase blatant American or Australian traits. Without the accents, the stories could be internationally interchangeable. Focused more on family values and the trials of growing up, the films use universal themes to get their messages across instead of elements of specific national identity. This said, there are certain landscape and lifestyle traits that do act as national subjects, representing each respective country and providing opportunity for the national audiences to make deeper connections.
Black Balloon was criticized for using stereotypes of the ocker father and the tireless mother and was said to have “darkened sooner than you would expect for an Aussie drama” which made some audiences uncomfortable watching the film. The landscape is representative of Australian suburbia and mirrors modern “western” style family landscapes in most ways. Comfort and freedom is sought by venturing into the bush away from civilization, and the ideologies behind Australian spirit and tenacity provide an emotionally and narratively strong and positive ending.
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is set in a small American town, which is associated with typical American fried food, motor-homes, and the free landscape. Again, the characters drive or run out into the country and the open space to get away from the stresses of their lives. The film forays into other themes of corporate takeover and the demise of family run businesses and honest independent entrepreneurship; themes that are central to American culture.
Both films deal with the concept of acceptance and societal judgments and expectations of a certain degree of order and normality. In challenging these conventions, both films bring to light the raw importance of family and love, tolerance, and compassion for those we care about which transcend the borders of national film. Both Black Balloon and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape are films that showcase emotions that the human race, no matter the nationality, can connect to. National cinemas, while influenced by culture, politics, and social systems, are integral to other national cinemas in inspiring comparative differences and sharing common and universal themes of natural human nature and emotion.
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