John Marsden And Shaun Tan's The Rabbits

Since the European settlement of Australia, the Indigenous people have been represented in a myriad of ways. The Rabbits (1998), an allegorical picture book by John Marsden (writer) and Shaun Tan (illustrator) and Rabbit Proof Fence (2002), a film directed by Phillip Noyce, are just two examples of this. Techniques such as music, changing camera angles and symbolism are utilised in Rabbit Proof Fence to represent the Aboriginal people as strong-willed and spiritual and in The Rabbits, exaggeration, different colour themes and perspective are used to portray the Aborigines as technologically inferior and overwhelmed against the Europeans. In both texts, the Indigenous people are represented as

During the Frontier period, Indigenous peoples resisted the non-Indigenous settlement of Australia, throughout 1770-1890. During approximately throughout the 1890’s to 1970’s, the non-Indigenous retaliations occurred, resulting in protection, segregation and the stolen generations. Which initiated an ongoing impact on Indigenous communities.

The language is quite simple, which represents the uncomplicated way Aboriginals lived their lives – by their own ways and tradition. Their tradition is evident through phrases such as “many grandparents ago,” and “old people warned us.” This shows cultural difference and respect for generational knowledge. By using words like “brought” and “new”, it’s obvious that the things the rabbits imported were causing damage, such as the pollution and illness. On the last page of the book, a rhetorical question, “Who will save us from the rabbits?” shows how overpowered and helpless the numbats

The rabbits, an illustrative book by John Marsden and Shaun Tan, is a visually intriguing piece that evokes empathy toward the Indigenous Australians; using a wide variety of visual literary techniques to create a captivating, historical story. The story follows a historical look at the European colonisation of Australia and it’s devastating aftermath on the indigenous people and the land itself. Shaun Tan has really brought the book to life with his use of visually interesting aspects such as anthropomorphic characters, brilliant use of colour and the overall layout of the images. An excellent example of the visual literary techniques in this book would be the “They came by boat,” page, which is also featured as the front cover of the book.

The aboriginal tribes didn’t have that. On the other hand both groups had the advantage of knowledge on their side. After the invasions there were wars that caused so many to die but the actual war on Pandora took much less time than fights between the Aboriginals and Europeans. In addition the Europeans took the aboriginal children away from their families while the “sky people” tried to blend in with the Na’vi. Parker Selfridge stated in Avatar, “Look. You 're supposed to be winning the hearts and minds of the natives. Isn 't that the whole point of your little puppet show? If you walk like them, you talk like them, they 'll trust you. We build them a school, teach them English. But after - how many years - the relations with the indigenous are only getting worse.” This sentence is about the Westerners reaction to the invasion. It is about how the Westerners are trying to blend in. what they want most is the Unobtanium and are prepared to do anything to get it as Selfridge says in this statement : “Killing the indigenous looks bad, but there’s one thing shareholders hate more than bad press -- and that’s a bad quarterly statement.” They are more worried about money rather than the lives of others.

-White settlement affected the Indigenous people in a number of ways”{They} made them (the Aboriginals) outcasts on their own land*” by calling it terra nullius under the English Law, despite knowing the existence of the Aboriginals. Terra nullius is a latin term that means “land that belongs to no one.”They believed it belonged to no one because the Aboriginals didn’t use the land in the same way as the British. The Aboriginals believed that Mother Nature would provide them with what they needed, so they didn’t need to hunt and mark the land. The British completely ignored the deep spiritual connections the Aboriginals had with the land. They cut down trees, put up fences and built towns. They believed they had to own the land. But the Aboriginals were outraged when saw the settlers building farms where they had originally been hunting and gathering at, this was because there wasn’t enough food for them. They killed many white settlers in revenge and a clash of cultures began. Pemulwuy was an Aboriginal warrior that lead raids against the British. He also speared John McIntyre, Governor Phillip's gamekeeper, in December 1790. When the Indigenous people resisted the British, it lead to many conflicts which eventually left a irreversible damage to the lives of Indigenous people.

John Marsden’s and Shaun Tan’s epic picture book, “The Rabbits”, is an allegorical fable about colonisation, told from the perspective of the natives. An unseen narrator describes the coming of ‘rabbits’ in the most minimal detail, an encounter that is at first friendly and curious, but later darkens as it becomes apparent that the visitors are actually invaders. My chosen image (above), embodies the overall style of the book which is deliberately sparse and strange. Both text and image conveys an overall sense of bewilderment and anxiety as native numbat-like creatures witness the environmental devastation under the wheels of a strange new culture, represented by the rabbits.

In the texts Redfern Now and The Rabbits, similar ideas about cultural relationships and power positions are conveyed through many different textual contexts and conventions. Whilst some of the ideas explored in these texts are comparable, many contrast the different ways that euro centricity and “white” dominance function within societies, especially with regard to Indigenous Australians. Through the clever use of camera angles and symbols in Redfern Now, and symbolism and written text codes within The Rabbits, the ideas of disempowerment and power relationships between Indigenous Australians and European settlers is examined. In the television drama Redfern Now, the creators explore the undermining racism within modern-day society. The values

The location of the Sandleford Warren is a grass field in England. The current location of of warren is on top of a location that a housing development. The type of government in the Sandleford Warren is a plutocracy. A plutocracy is a government run by the wealthy, which makes those individuals powerful. “Cowslips are for Owsla*-don’t you know that?” p.5 The Sandleford Warren is ran by the powerful and the poor members of society aren’t treated as well. The general moral of the rabbits is that they are all satisfied with the living conditions except for Fiver. All the rabbits rarely see harm or danger, except once Fiver believes evil is coming, and we see a sign for the housing development. There was a caste system in place in the warren. The Outskirtz were the lowest in the society, also known as the normal average rabbits. The Owsla were second in authority and power and they were big strong rabbits. They protected the leaders and most powerful

The aborigines in the rabbit proof fence, and the natives in the power of one are treated like animals, sometimes worse. Those in government often abuse their power and often have ignorant views of the aboriginals of the land. They mistreat them and treat them as though they are not equal. They

In our daily basis we are bombarded with millions of images, but we rarely stop to think about what those images mean and what they are persuading us to do. Images can be found in many forms, newspapers, magazines, internet, radio, television, smart phones, social media and billboards, amongst other forms. Images have power, which is why individuals need to understand the messages being sent to them.

‘Rabbit Proof Fence’ was the story of a 3 young Aboriginal girls who were taken from their homes because they were ‘half castes’ and then their long walk home following the rabbit proof fence. The idea of the government taking children from their homes and placing them into the care of white people in the hope of them losing their cultural beliefs was stronger. This idea of them being changed was evident with quotes such as “This is your new home. We don't use that jabber here. You speak English” providing the idea of whites being dominant through their values.

The recent Australian film, Rabbit Proof Fence, similarly condemns the social, political and cultural mores of colonial and post-colonial Australia in relation to its past treatment of indigenous Australians. Like To Kill a Mockingbird, it too, is set in the 1930’s and reflects similar attitudes and values whites have to black people. The film is a true story based on the book by Doris Pilkington Garimara, the daughter of one of the half-caste children in the film who, together with two other Aboriginal girls, was forcibly removed from her family in Jigalong, Western Australia. These children form part of what is now known as the “Stolen Generation”. They, like many others who lived in the first part of the 20th century, were the victims of the official government assimilationist policy which decreed that half-caste children should be taken from their families and their land in order to be made “white”. The policy was definitely aimed at “breeding out” Aboriginality, because only half and quarter caste children were taken.

John Steinbeck’s 1949 novella entitled Of Mice and Men uses many significant symbols to convey meanings about the human condition. Such symbols include hands to represent labour, cards to signify chance and taking a risk, and finally, rabbits to suggest ideas about achieving one’s hopes and dreams. Symbols are a key central device in delivering meaning, as they consistently repeated throughout the narrative and are typically associated with the novella’s many characters.

For over 200 years Aborigines have endured a long history of suffering due to the unpropitious effects of internationalism and western colonization; in Europeans attempt for cultural assimilation and taking their land to which has caused catastrophic consequences within individuals and the community as a whole by