Get On Your Soapbox #18

I studied acting as my minor in my undergraduate degree at uni.  This increased my passion for something I already felt strongly about.

SUPPORT AUSSIE TV AND FILMS!

Apparently the unemployment rate for actors in Australia is 98%.  I don't know if that statistic is accurate, but I believe it.  Most actors have a 'day job' to support themselves.  Maybe since I studied acting I could be counted in the 98%?  I would love to pursue it as a career, but there are various reasons why I haven't which I won't go into now.

We Australians are confronted with American culture every day through our TV and cinema screens.  We learn their lingo, but we neglect our own culture.  Some people I've talked to won't give Aussie shows a chance because they reckon they're 'budget crap', yet they're willing to try any new American show on the box.

What we have going for us as Australians is that we are great storytellers.  In our short history we have so many stories yet to be told although some have already made it to the screen.  Who needs big budgets and lots of special effects to tell a good story?  Hollywood just regurgitates the same predictable plots over and over.

Maybe our shows won't have international appeal, but who cares?  Our humour is unique.  Americans don't get it, and I quite frankly don't find their sitcoms, which often drip with sarcasm, funny anyway.  Remember the awful US version of Kath and Kim?

I don't like every Aussie show (Neighbours is terrible), but you don't know until you give it a go.  Support Aussie actors or else one day we might not have an industry at all.