Where is my great Australian Western Hero? Paul Hogan? Mad Max? Wolverine?

Sorry i wrote an essay in response to lots on related net battles online - was gonna come out somewhere sometime i will post somewhere else. I don't necessarily agree with this any more.

Where is my great Australian Western Hero?
Paul Hogan? Mad Max? Wolverine?

My mum wanted to be an Indian and always rooted for them and liked Mary Marvel and Sheena comix.

I saw in Russia in 80s a western with big hats huge star and they bowed very politely to each other in saloon before shooting vodka

Westerns are one of great genres which world enjoyed
America is a wonderland of strange foodstuffs and action drama has fed our imaginations.

But westerns one fine genre we enjoy. You’d think Australians being kinda rough and colonial and stuff would be a good source for historical action drama. There was a pulp scene between wars and some local comics but UK and USA stuff. We watched western stuff from USA, UK, Italy. Mad max is kinda our closest call too the spirit of a western but we have made lots of not very good historic Drama (some for christian cable made to convey fuzzy retro values of frontier life for white folk families).

America gave us The Fonzie, ALF and so many wonderful characters you getting Paul Hogan seems only fair. He was a classic Aussie Larrikin.

“Larrikin is an Australian English term which, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, meant "a lout, a hoodlum”[1] or “a young urban rough, a hooligan”,[2] meanings which were obsolescent[1] in the later 20th century, when connotations were mostly of “a mischievous young person, an uncultivated, rowdy but good hearted person”, or “a person who acts with apparent disregard for social or political conventions”.[2]“

Thats kinda a flattering characterture of what I like about Australia of old that Hogues embodied. Some of that is censored and changes into the 80s changing comic taste on some issues. Less people thinking hitting a Paki or stalking the lovely delvine delany or police arresting and hitting homosexuals is funny now as the 70s (well some 70s comedy cringing record of times). But in the 80s we beat racism forever in TV comedy.

Ozzy history lots more boring or sad and invasion never called that or a war till recently. I do find most pop references to aboriginals really offensive - they are very private people regarding their religion so appropriating from their art to me means are robbing them.and you are going to get sickness

http://www.abc.net.au/indigenous/map/images/indigi_map.png
Australian linguistic map
http://www.sbs.com.au/firstaustralians/
(plz wait for few 30s ads as the public multicultural channel)

This is pretty amazing and denied or unknown by most Australians
not a very romantic history pretty sad really

South Australia story of egalitarian colonization with religious freedom with a bias to equal age and wealth couples - settled by a corporation. Started by letter writing campaign by a child kidnapper and bad teacher from prison who wrote letters to papers saying how great Australia was and how we should all get there now. With no convicts allowed and whole city planned before building. Not a great drama story it seems as apparently "natives all just died of plague” and disappeared (?). Are most urban people in world with lots of wasteland by European standards where few go unless miners or farmers or loggers or tourists or military exercises. My state had ten or so atom bombs dropped on it.

Hogan was a Icon of the 70s and 80s Australia. last gasp of working Larrikin. Now we are uber coffee snob foodies increasingly swinging to right and destroying arts, education, welfare, health care. Same time committed to buying 2.5 billion (lots for us) of new jet fighters. We have not actually been able to operate a campaign worthy squadron in at least 20 years just as we have no troops abroad finally and trying to cover up our off shore immigration camps, helping big tobacco and some local despot mates.

We are growing apart from neighbors New Zealand and increasingly disadvantage them more than they do to us. NZ a utopian colony of Sydney where locals fought back and won. That would make a great movie - remember all storm troopers are NZ-ers. We are like old war mates and have distanced a bit as one has become a bit of a dickhead. Recently was a campaign to make NZ flag less Australian over embarrassment.

But Aussies everywhere nowadays. Who’s post Hogues cinematic cliche dream is still becoming true?

Mad Max Mel Gibson and Hugh Wolverine Jackman are rough edged cyberpunk era western heroes. And obviously are Japanese ronin as well. Many films and kids films have Australian mercenaries who I believe from watching children’s films roam the world and just blend into suburbia when at home in Oz. A alternative to evil south African mercenary in any script with no changes needed.

I hear more and more Australians are hiding it from last 18 years xenophobic foreign policy, people pretend to be Canadian or NZ. Lots of best people leave. My Niece Left over trying to bring her top bloke Swedish Nurse hubbie over difficulty. Several friends paid $50 000 in painful fees and form filling fun time for 4 years to keep partners here. My NZ buddies dont get dole but do pay tax and have lived here for decades. We treat em same even though we signed a treaty they stick to.

I still think by so many measures we are still one of best places in the world to live and I dont think leaving it would help anything and I still love it. Must go make unwanted propaganda again.

Ex-pat Mr Hogan got detained by our Tax dept over error which took them to court over. He made free ads that made Australia a world tourism hotspot that built a billion dollar industry. He was a media genius. Shame bonnie King Hogan can’t come across the waves and chase mr Abott our PM way. For despite the comedy flaws of 70s comedey in a time B&W minsteral restaurants were in every city in Australian Hogan represented the trouble making fair go spirit that made Australia a workers paradise with some of strongest unions ever. Party system now consists of two big parties uniting against human rights violations ans independants with unions every day practice for a hundred years being made illegal step by step.

Review: The Night Land

The Night Land
by William Hope Hodgson

This influentual classic was written in 1911. The writer was a strong influence on HP lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos. It has a knightly romance style like the fantasy of before tolkiens generation - comparable to the fantasy writings of william morris (a big influence on cs lewis). Norman Spinrad’s Iron dream owes something to it. Most editions are covered in reviews by clark ashton smith, lovecraft and robert e howard (auther of conan). I guess my image of the writer is as a world weary seafarer who managed to write his meloncholic and disturbing fantasies into several major works in the genre before dying in ww1. You could call him the father of cosmic horror (whatever that is? horror for aetheists?).

The Night Land is the world so far in the future the sun has been snuffed out - the world is scarred blasted and deformed. the wilds are crawling with mutants and monsters. even the landscape is alive with volcanoes and gigantic living mountains with gibbering faces muttering silently to who knows what. As to how the world came to be, well that was so long ago. The last “humans” live inside a giant silver pyramid whose systems are grinding down over thousands of years and whose dwellers have regressed to a medieval like-culture. The protagonist is on a quest for his beloved who he believes dwells in a smaller hithero unknown pyramid on the verge of ruin. The narrative deals with this fear filled journey across the nightland.

One of the most bleakest vissions of the future and interesting books i have ever read. The House on the Borderland is another work by the author worth reading also. Many fantasy worlds in fiction are dreamscapes loaded with psychological symbolism. the night land is one of discomfort, fear of contamination, decay and devolution. More than a few post victorian horror writers let their xenophobia and fear of deformity run wild, which is why im guessing Norman Spinrad used ideas in his book the Iron Dream - a Faux SF novel by Adolf Hitler from a world where he imigrated to america and joined the SF writers fraternity (which ill review some other time). Like reading too much Brian lumley stories of corpse devouring worms i was left feeling genuinley discomforted.

There are txt file versions online, fan websites, maps and art out there and copies of the book feature some amazing artwork. Many of the artworks feature blackend flaming horisons like Brugel surrealist paintings. Very appropriate. A film of this could be awesome but id be scared they would put keaunu in it. Copyright has expired on it too if your enclined to be inspired by it.