The Australian

Convicts, Cowboys and Crikey Mate: What does it mean to be Australian?

When you think of the typical Australian, What is it you see? Do you envision a beer-bellied cork hat wearing male with a glass of beer in hand? The sun, the beach and the generic “beach babes”? Depicted in Nick Enright’s play “A Property of The Clan”, the emerging stereotypical Australian is conspicuously portrayed in his character of Ricko as a protest male against the hegemonic male. The play exemplifies the evolving and fluid multiplicity of representations of the Australian which underpins the Australian culture. The ideologies represented in the play promote protest masculinity which is more prominent in males in today’s society and is evidently encouraged by young males for the attainment of power as opposed to the traditional hegemonic category of men. It is clear that as time has progressed, the way of living has changed for men internationally as the increase of men strive for masculinity to overpower subordinate females and other males in order to gain power thus, today’s typical Australian has resorted to protest masculinity. In present time, the typical Australian male is composed of the protest masculinity characteristics such as partying, crime, lacking in the cognitive skills from right and wrong, being destructive whilst fully opposing the traditional hegemonic male. Nick Enright, in his play, challenges society’s hegemonic male by composing most of his male characters as protest masculinity males.

What compromises a “Typical Australian” is the ideal hegebeommonic male stereotype. It’s all about the ANZAC spirit, mateship and the hardworking and laidback men. Even in the media, the typical Australian are portrayed to overseas communities as a bunch of larrikins, fun-loving community who are down for having a laugh and living the life. This image is purported to be reality though texts such as the TV series, “Keeping up with the Joneses” which follows the life of a...