Bibliography/reference

Bibliography/reference

 Anderson, W, Denton, A 2008, The Grunen Transfer, online video, viewed 12^th May 2012, < http://youtu.be/I9aYT-GrG0s>

The Australian 2011, Geoffrey Rush exhilarating as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest, Australia, viewed 11^th May 2012, < http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/stage/geoffrey-rushs-lady-bracknell-exhilarating/story-fn9d344c-1226198768058>

Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2012, Australians Barry Humphries, Australia, viewed 10^th May 2012, <http://www.abc.net.au/schoolstv/australians/humphrie.htm>

Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2011, Spicks and Specks, Australia, viewed 12^th May 2012, <http://www.abc.net.au/tv/spicksandspecks/about/default.htm>

Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2005, We Can Be Heroes ABC Television , Australia, viewed 11^th May 2012,  <http://www.abc.net.au/tv/heroes/>

Australian Government 2007, Australian Comedy, Canberra, viewed 8^th May 2012, <http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/austn-comedy>

Australian Government 2007, Australian Humour, Canberra, viewed 8^th May 2012, http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/austn-humour

Australian Television Information Archive 2002, Kath and Kim jokes on us, Australia viewed 12^th May 2012,  <http://www.australiantelevision.net/kk/articles/kkjokesonus.html>

Axis of Awesome, 2009, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, online video, viewed 11^th May 2012 < http://youtu.be/OMshvUReunc>

Edgna, D 2005, Comedy Festival Just for laughs, online video, viewed 11^th May 2012 < http://youtu.be/YV6Q4Q9u1pU>

Elliott, S 1994, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, online video viewed, 12 May 2012 < http://youtu.be/MV-Zzasrky8 >

Elliott, S 1994, The adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the desert, online video, viewed 12 May 2012 < http://youtu.be/suzwaW_SqtU>

Flew, T, Cunningham, S,  2002 ‘Cultural Coordinates of the Australian Audiovisual System’, Special issue on Globalisation Audiovisual Indisutry and Culltural Diversity, pp 45-52

Herald Sun 2011, The Lady Has Classic Comedy In the Bag, Sydney viewed 12^th May 2012, <http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/arts-books/review-the-importance-of-being-earnest-starring-geoffrey-rush-melbourne-theate-company/story-fn7euh6j-1226198625095>

Johnova, L ‘Patterns of Crossdressing in Shakespeare Comedies’. Charles University, pp 1-5

Kohlmayer, R ‘Oscar Wilde’s Society Comedies with a National Socialist Message’, University Mainz, pp 1-15

LAFORTEZA, E 2006, ‘WHAT A DRAG! FILIPINA/WHITE AUSTRALIAN RELATIONS IN THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT’, ACRAWSA e-journal, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 2-18

Lilley, C, 2005, We Can Be Heroes, online video, viewed 12 May 2012 , <http://youtu.be/8lgf5Z_p8iY>

Pickering, C, Bickmore, C, Hughes, D 2009, The Project, online video viewed, 12^th May 2012, < http://youtu.be/jQ_5puTDOYI>

The Project 2011, About The Project, Melbourne, viewed 12^th May 2012, <http://theprojecttv.com.au/about-the-project.htm>

Sydney Olympics 2000, opening scene of the Sydney Olympics, online video, viewed, 10^th May 2012, < http://youtu.be/aBbkxoU5D_8>

Rudd, K 2009,  Sorry Speech, online video, viewed, 9^th May 2012, < http://youtu.be/B1jeWeDpc68>

Tranter, B, Donoghue, J 2007, ‘Colonial and post- colonial aspects of Australian Identity’, The British Journal of Sociology, Vo. 58, no.2, pp. 166-182

Turner, j, Riley, G 2002 Kath and Kim,  online video, viewed 12 May 2012, < http://youtu.be/ycme2flOmSY>

Twain, M ‘Greek Theatre’ pp 1-3

Walsh, M, Karolis, A 2008, ‘ Being Australian, Australian Nationalism and Australian Values’, Australian Journal of Political Science,  vol. 43, no.4, pp. 720-727

Wickman, J 2003, ‘Masculinity and Female Bodies’, Nora journal, vol. 11, no.1, pp, 41-54

gender roles in society

Definition of gender roles- the overt expression of attitudes that indicate to others the degree of your maleness or femaleness; "your gender role is the public expression of your gender identity"

The visibility of feminine-to-masculine, transgenderism increased in the 1990s. The late modern/postmodern concept of the body as malleable in service of (gendered) identity presentation facilitated this upsurge in two ways: first, transgenderism became intelligible in society through this discourse. Second, representations of masculinity became increasingly, per formative, and thereby more adoptable for a female-bodied person. As mentioned by Wickman (2003)


 Since Greek Theater began over 2,500 years ago in festivals, the earliest plays where stories told by a chorus of men and boys, the actors portrayed a variety of roles and to do so the actors work different masks. The masks of comedy become symbols of the theatre.  Aristophanes and Menader wrote comedies with humorous dramas that ending with a happy ending. As mentioned by Twain (no date). For over 2,500 years ago men have been dressing up as women to portray a more femimne character for comedy to make the audience laugh. The play writers such as Aristophanes, Mender and Shakespeare are smart and knew that a comedy was not a documentary but served as entertainment for the audience to escape into reality and forget it was a temporal escape from everyday reality for both the audience (to laugh in the comedy plays) for the actors (to perform as character in costume in front of live audiences of thousands of people). As mentioned by Twain (2004). 

Cross-dressing in Shakespeare comedies the audience sees men dressed in women’s clothes. Renaissance audience came to watch a story; a boy-actor playing a woman was a stage convention, something to forget.

In Shakespeare’s most famous comedies, two women characters all possess a masculine disguise. In A Twelfth Night (1600), Viola becomes a eunuch to win the Dukes Orsino’s love over. In As you like it (1600) Rosalind acts as a shepherd to escape from Duke Frederick and to test Orlando’s love. The cross-dressed Rosalind’s identity is more ambiguous. Rosalind disguises herself as Ganymede, then acts as Orlando’s Rosalind in the wooing scenes. Rosalind portrays three roles: Rosalind, Ganymede, and Orlando’s. By performing the last role, Rosalind plays on the masculine constructions of femininity. Cross- dressing enables her to demonstrate femininity in a man’s disguise. As mentioned by Johnova (1997). 


In Shakespeare comedies and Greek Theatre, women would have been to delicate to portray an woman and a man, the men had the voices, and the physical features and structures to pull both a female character with femininity physical features and men’s physical features as well to perform in plays for entertainment as comedy was seen as entertainment with live theatre. As mentioned by Norton (1997)

Androgeny Dreher (1986) explores how cross-dressing is connected with the concept of androgyny, popular in the Renaissance. One of the key terms of alchemy was balance, and androgyny is an expression of a balance between the masculine and the feminine principles. On the physical level it can be seen in the figures who carry both masculine and feminine features; beautiful boys with feminine grace and boyishly slender women.

Cross-dressing stresses the idea of androgyny by giving it a physical dimension, but most of Shakespeare’s comedy heroines are active, dynamic and resourceful, which

Are the qualities associated rather with masculinity than femininity, adds the funny moments in the plays. As mentioned by Norton (1997) 

A definition of cross dressing- transverses: the practice of adopting the clothes or the manner or sexual role of the opposite sex.  An example Shakespeare’s plays as men dressed up as women characters to portray the opposite sex to perform the qualities of female characters. Where as drag is a man who dress’s up in women’s clothes, for the purposes of entertainment. Comedy is a form of entertainment.

In the Adventures of Priscilla Queen Of the Dessert (1994). It’s an Australian comedy-drama film written and directed by Stephan Elliott. The plot is based on the journey of three drag queens (Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, and Terence Stamp) who travel across the Australian Outback from Sydney to Alice Springs in a tour bus that they have named "Priscilla", along the way encountering various groups and individuals. Containing elements of comedy, the film's title is a pun on the fact that in English speaking cultures; "queen" is a slang term for a male homosexual.

According to Stephan Elliot, director of Priscilla: ‘I chose to write a film where in the first half you laugh at the [white drag-queens] characters, and in the second half you are laughing with them’ (1994). As mentioned by Laforteza (2006). 

Thomas states that Priscilla’s drag queens offer a model for this ‘impure’ identity which “articulates itself through that which is not self, that is through performance” (1996: 105). Thomas further specifies: “Traditionally... drag has offered the spectacle of gay men and/or transsexuals playing out an exaggerated version of a culturally coded version of femininity...” (105). This interpretation of drag declares that specific people can be named as performing drag. These people are ‘gay men and/or transsexuals’, and the gender to be performed is a ‘version of femininity’. As mentioned by Laforteza (2006).

Before Cynthia arrived, Anthony/Mitzi, Adam/Felicia and Ralph/Bernadette were performing the ‘real’ drag show, in that they dressed in cabaret outfits normatively designed for women.9 As their performance is considered as drag within the film, their performance is the self-conscious representation of an identity that is ‘Other’ to them.

Priscilla’s white drag queens embody roles that cannot be fully embodied. Their overt ‘masculine’ bodies and voices show that despite dressing as women and acting in a ‘feminine’ manner, their bodies cannot be contained within their performances. It is this slippage within the performance that constitutes their actions as drag. As mentioned by Laforteza (2006).

http://youtu.be/MV-Zzasrky8 

Two drag queens, Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) and Felicia (Guy Pearce), and a transsexual, Bernadette (Terrence Stamp) contract to perform a drag show at a resort in Alice Springs, a resort town in the remote Australian desert. They head west from Sydney aboard their lavender bus, Priscilla. When they arrive they discover that it is more than just a cabaret job waiting for them.

http://youtu.be/suzwaW_SqtU

Opening scene of Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Female masculinity (Halberstam 1998a, 231– 266; Maltz 1998). Still, the drag king as a concept and the drag king performance as a form of expression could also play a part in identity construction (Halberstam 1998a, 242–248; Murray 2001). As mentioned by Kohlmayer (1998).

IN Oscar Wilde’s play the heroic male and female characters display self−discipline and strength of will. The characters speak "strongly", "genuinely", "resolutely", "with fanatical resolve", "with the chill of unrelenting resolve", "with a steely tension of will" and so on. 

This year Geoffrey Rush played Lady Bracknell in Wilde’s Importance of Being Earnest (year). Rush does something far more interesting and exhilarating in the role. He plays Lady Bracknell perfectly straight. There's not the slightest hint of travesty in his performance, He exudes authority via voice and face and glittering eyes. The Australian (2011) Geoffrey Rush exhilarating as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest

In the photograph (Geoffrey Rush exhilarating as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of being Earnest, 2011)

Rush is engrossing to watch and, of course, to listen to. His "I think it is high time that Mister Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or to die" speech is master class material. Time and time again, Rush strikes certain syllables in certain words (morbid, shocked, posture) with the tiniest of poetic downbeats. It has a weirdly telekinetic effect. Rush possess the felinity features with comedy, the physical mannerisms the way Rush sits proper, and wears the dress, and his voice high pitched and they way Rush played with certain syllables and used his facial expression. In many ways it seemed more powerful as a man playing Lady Bracknell than a woman. The Australian (2011) Geoffrey Rush exhilarating as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest.

In the photograph (Herald Sun stories start here 2011) on can observe that the lady has classic comedy in the bag. 

As a child Barry Humphries used to spend hours playing dress-ups in the back garden.

"Disguising myself as different characters and I had a whole box of dressing up clothes...Red Indian, sailor suit, chinese costume. I also found that entertaining people gave me a great feeling of release, making people laugh was a very good way of befriending them."

In London, Barry wrote a comic strip about an Australian bloke called 'Barry Mackenzie". His adventures were a success. Mrs. Everage had a starring role. its the characters he's invented that's made him famous.It was the start of something big. Edna became a mega star. Dame Edna was asked to host shows. "They love me...they love me listeners." (Edna Everage)
"Edna is well...she's rather timeless. She began as a Melbourne housewife and now she's a megastar and the reason she's a megastar is that she tells people she is."

Barry Humphries has continued producing his own shows. He enjoys every minute of it.
"I'm very lucky to do a job that gives a lot of people pleasure because when you laugh you know you use muscles that you don't use in any other way and so it's very good for you when you laugh."  ABCnet,(2012) Barry Humphries. 

In Conclusion there have been arguments with the way men dress up as drag or cross dress and gender stereotypes. Since Greek theatre and Shakespeare’s time there has been a use of cross- dressing, more traditional Drag Queen Dressing. Its only works while cross dressing, and Drag dressing for the right reasons otherwise it will become controversial and more debates. If it’s used for performances and comedy and entertainment and to dress up as another character to escape reality, again to make the audience laugh that is appropriate. 

 

Australian Comedy on Television- Melbourne International Comedy Festival

Australian comedy on television shows- Comedy was represented on Australian television throughout the 1960s and 1970s with In Melbourne Tonight, Sunny Side Up, The Mavis Bramston Show and later The Naked Victor Show and The Paul Hogan Show. The most successful humorous look at life in Australia is Kath and Kim, a cringe-worthy look at life in the Australian suburbs set in Melbourne. Australian Government your connection with the government (2007) Australian comedy. 

THEY'RE annoying, vulgar and chaotic characters. Kath & Kim, the comic creation from Gina Riley and Jane Turner, has succeeded. They've found an audience, more than one million people a week. The mother, Kath, and her daughter, kim, loafing in their suburban ‘townhouse’ are characters the viewer laugh at, rather than with. For example Kim’s exposed g-string or kath’s frightful perm are ‘funny because they’re true,’ Australian Television Information Archieve (2002) Daily telegraph Kath and Kim Joke’s on us.

Australian tradition of "comedy grotesque" that at its best included Barry Humphries' Sir Les Patterson and Dame Edna Everage or Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom. Kath and kim patronises many of the things- as disparate as fitness fads, glossy magazines or the quest for romance that sustains so many Australians. There’s a stink of the upper and middle classes sneering at those ‘below’ them. Australian Television Information Archieve (2002) Daily telegraph Kath and Kim Joke’s on us.

http://youtu.be/ycme2flOmSY

this is an episode of Kath and Kim 

Another successful comedy television show is We Can be Heroes which is an international hit comedy series created and written by Chris Lilley. This groundbreaking mockumentary follows the daily lives of five individuals who are among ordinary citizens nominated for the prestigious title of Australian of the Year. As portrayed by Lilley on screen, the five nominees are from different parts of the country and represent the full spectrum of Australian society: young and old, male and female, urban and rural; native and emigrant. ABC television (2005) We Can Be Heroes finding the Australian of the year.

http://youtu.be/fVQr1JHRvBU

An Episode of We Can Be Heroes 

Shows such as Kath and Kim and We Can Be Heroes have some Australian slang or colloquial words some are shorter versions of words and some are longer versions of words. Many were expressions already used by migrants who came from the north of England but which have since been adopted as Australian words. Australians also often shorten words, for example football becomes ‘footy’, television becomes ‘telly’ and barbecue, ‘Barbie’. Here are a few more examples of colloquial worlds.

Bloke: a man. Digger: an Australian soldier. G’day: Hello. How are you? Fair go: equitable treatment. This means that what someone achieves in life should be a product of their talents, work and effort rather than an as a result of their birth or favouritism.

Ocker: a boorish, uncouth, chauvinistic Australian/or, alternatively, one who displays qualities considered to be typically Australian such as good humour, helpfulness and resourcefulness. Shout: to buy someone a drink. At a bar or a pub when a group of friends meet, it is usual for each person to ‘shout a round’, meaning buying everybody a drink. Each person takes a turn at buying a ‘round’.

By using some Australian slang on comedy television shows it brings the truth, and entertainment and can usually be funny when used right and it has its unique Australia-ness spin. That Australians appreciate.

Another Popular Television show called Spick and Specks hosted by Adam Hills, one of Australia's favorite comedians, is joined by two team captains, comedian and actor Alan Brough and radio breakfast announcer Myf Warhurst, as well as brave personalities who enjoy having long forgotten embarrassing stories laughed about on national television. Two teams go head to head as they sing, shout and delve deep into the recesses of their collective minds to help earn their team a victory. Whether discussing the lyrical genius of Gilbert and Sullivan, the reasons Ozzy Osbourne wore a dress or just how a musician can choke on a harmonica, no musical genre is overlooked. video clips, album covers, and information you never thought anyone could know the answer to, Spicks and Specks enlightens and entertains - and exposes the world of music like never before. ABC Spick and Specks (2011) About Spick and Specks.

http://youtu.be/8lgf5Z_p8iY

  Episode of Spicks and Specks , music show comedy special steven K Amos, Doc Brown and David O'Doherty as special guests.

The last television show is called The Project it’s the news led by comic co-hosts Dave Hughes, Charlie Pickering and Carrie Bickmore. The Project is the simplest idea in television for a long time.  Each weekday at 6:00pm, the trio dissects, digest and reconstitute each day’s news. Not afraid to be serious, but not a satirical newscast, it's an earthy, real and fun approach to discussing the news of the day. The Project is a place where people who are genuinely interested in the world around them come together to talk, offering genuine conversation in a space previously crowded by scandal and spin. Ten The Project (2011) About The Project.

http://youtu.be/jQ_5puTDOYI

An Episode of The Project 

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival- In 1987 In Melbourne there was a launch to start a Melbourne International Comedy Festival, with 56 events. The festival’s patron was Barry Humphries as the cultural attaché and the guest of- honour was British comic legend Peter Cook. The Melbourne International comedy Festival today hosts over 120 events each year. Visitors to the festival, which total around 350,000 people annually. International guests such as Steven K Amos and many more. Australian Government your connection with the government (2007) Australian comedy. 

http://youtu.be/OMshvUReunc

 A clip from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Axis of Awesome 4 chords live in Melbourne 2009

profiles of Australian comedians

Definition of Stand Up Comedy- Stand-up comedy is a style of comedy where a comedian performs in front of a live audience, usually speaking directly to them.

Will Anderson- is an Australian Comedian & Broadcaster
Host and presenter of the ABC’s advertising show The Gruen Transfer, Will Anderson’s comedic skills he  exhibits his talents in radio, stand-up comedy and television hosting, in addition to a published book and theatre appearances. Nothing is sacred in a Will Anderson routine; the speed and imagination of his delivery sweeps audiences into fits of laughter. Successfulspeakers Will Anderson (dosent have a year)

http://youtu.be/I9aYT-GrG0s

 - Up above is a part of a clip from the Grunen Transfer (Grunen Nation). is an Australian television program that  focuses on advertsing,  The program is hosted by Will Anderson with a panel of advertising industry experts (Wil Anderson is joined weekly by panellists Russel Howcroft and Leo Burnett. Thre Gruenen Transfer has a panel of a people from the advertising industry. The Grunen Transfer will mock advertisements adds, there are also strong debates about political issues, social issues and modern everday to day issues the adiversements come up with a sense of humour and its a way of different thinking how to advertise and sell adds to the industry and the publich as well. There is a section in the show where two advertisement companies go up against each other and pitch an idea on advertisements. (then the panel discusses their point of views). in front of a live audience.

Anh Do- is An Australian Comedian and TV persoanlity (Stand up comedy). A vietnames refugee as a two year old, from langague difficulities to divorcing parents, from being broke to being bullied, to becoming a comedian. Anh's influences for hsi stand up comedy shows are his life experiences through his family and history to lift an audience. Successful speakers Anh Do (dosen't have a date)

in the photograph (Australian Cancer Foundation, The happiest Refugee, 2010)

Adam Hills- In Australia, Adam is also known as the host of the successful misc qiiz show 'Spicks and Specks' on ABC, TV alognside team cpatians Alan Brough and Myf Warhurst. With what used to get a viewing figures of over 1.2 million people a week.  has achieved international acclaim as one of the world’s best stand up comics.  Through his combination of positive uplifting comedy and spontaneity"Hills delivers stand up so effortlessly brilliant you wonder why some comedians even get out of bed" The Guardian, London. Hills is the only Australian comedian to have performed at the US comedy Arts Festival in Aspen.  Adam Hills (2008) Comedian, writer, braodcaster, presenter

in the photograph (Adam Hills, 2008)

 

DAVE HUGHES- Stand up Comedian/ Broadcaster. Huges is one of the most significant  comedians from Australia in the comedy scene. Huges has a natural and an unmistakably Australian comic sense of laconic style. Huges has a fast comic mind. Honest and imperfect is how Australians like comedy and Hughes delivers exactly that in spades to make audiences laugh. Hughesy can be heard on Melbourne's Nova 100 breakfast radio show. Entertainoz (no date) the premium Australian entertainment directory

Chris Lilly- Is an Australian comedian, television producer, actor and writer. He is best known for his creations and portrayal of several characters in the mockumentary television series We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year, Summer Heights High, and Angry Boys.He is known for playing a variety of different characters in each of his shows.
Lilley has been acknowledged for "[his] awareness and expression of controversial issues and not exploiting them for laughs." (photo)

International comedy success -

Barry Humphries as Dame Edna Everage-  The international success for Australian comedians has been based on export of the cultural cliche as well as thrung the cliches uspide down. Barr Humphries does this with his portral of his charac of Dame Edgna Everage which represents a frustrated housewife in the 1950s livng in Melbourne suburban. Humphries first portrayed Edna Everage to a audience in London in 1969, and then went onto win a speicla Tony Award for a live Theatrical event. Australian Governement your connection with the governement (2007) Australian Comedy.

In this photopgrah (thehiberniatimes, 2011) Australian comedian Barry Humphries is to retire his character Dame Edna Everage

http://youtu.be/YV6Q4Q9u1pU

Up above is a video of the one and only Dame Edna performing at the Just for Laughs International Comedy Festival in 2005. This woman is royalty, and she knows it most of all.