SPOILER WARNING: If you haven’t seen the 2013 Tropfest shorts, particularly winning film Bamboozled, this piece of writing may reveal certain facts that will spoil the impact of first viewing. Please take that into account before reading.
Is it possible to make a good film without offending anybody?
Yes, I think so.
Is it possible to tell jokes that don’t offend?
Certainly.
Is it possible to make a comedic film that is inoffensive?
It’s absolutely been done before.
Can you do it in under 7 minutes?
That’s more difficult, but still possible.
So the big question is this – why does the world’s largest short film festival congratulate and reward a film that appears homophobic, that verges on transphobia, and that ridicules sexual difference?
It wouldn’t be Tropfest without an argument.
Every year (and twice in 2013, lucky us) twitter trends the #Tropfest tag as 16 (supposedly) unique stories are told by 16 (occasionally) unknown directors competing for their big break in the Australian film industry. Or perhaps a car. The festival offers huge national and international exposure, broadcast this year on SBS2 and watchable in perpetuity on the Tropfest YouTube channel.
Tropfest calls itself the “winner’s ticket to a successful career in film or television”, and vocally claims responsibility for international Aussie success stories like Sam Worthington, Robert Luketic, Nash Edgerton, Adam Zwar and Rebel Wilson among others. While the exposure and springboard potential of the festival may have helped, these stars first had to create something outstanding before the festival recognised them, and perhaps we can assert that the modicum of talent and hard work they all put in would’ve garnered them success in their own right anyway.*
The criticisms levelled at the festival in recent years range from tacitly permitting plagiarism to supporting racism/sexism/gender-based phobias/oppression; from reinforcing unequal gender/race/identity representations in the Australian film industry to the judges clearly making the wrong decision on the night couldn’t they see that the nice little film about the child with a lollipop was clearly superior??
I don’t envy the judges their job. They have as long as everybody else to decide which of 16 (usually) exceptional pieces is better than the rest, and they know their judgement will be questioned and dissected in the days and weeks afterwards with no thought of the immediacy and vast range of their choice. How do they judge an animation compared to a documentary? Do they generally prefer comedy or drama? Is production value more important than dialogue or story in their minds?
As with all art, the shorts presented in the Tropfest top 16 are open to subjective interpretation – we all view them through our own lens of perception and our enjoyment of them is informed by our own unique experiences. The family of a soldier may have been particularly affected by the quiet narrative in Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense, while die-hard romantics would’ve enjoyed the richly textured absurdist Makeover. It seems twitter was particularly fond of someone called Wolfman removing his shirt in Darkness Comes.
And many people found particular offense in the December 2013 winning film Bamboozled.
On the one hand, it uses transgender identity as a function of an elaborate punchline, and implies great shame in two men being caught sleeping together. On the other, it extrapolates the uncomfortable and exploitative lengths that television goes to in providing entertainment, satirising the media and reality television.
One’s perspective will depend entirely on one’s personal experiences.
I will admit to laughing at the setup – much of this is because of my friendship and experience with an actor in the piece, and I enjoyed seeing him clown around on national television – and at the first twist/reveal. I will also admit to feeling uncomfortable at the conclusion – the “we fooled you into sleeping with a man” grated on me more than “we fooled you into sleeping with someone you didn’t want to” or “we deceived you for the purposes of entertainment”.
I also felt that the transgender identity was more a functionary of the setup rather than the butt of the joke, but that is not my experience. I can see the potential for someone to take offence, and I wouldn’t try to dispute the assertion that the film is offensive to some.
I also wouldn’t claim that the winning film shows that the filmmakers involved or Tropfest in general are homophobic, transphobic, intentionally offensive, dismissive of minority groups, a waste of time or money, a bad film festival or a good film festival. It’s what the judges chose on the night, we don’t have to agree with it.
I would, however, question the collected perspectives and strategies used in selecting films for the top 16, when two of the films used the shame apparently caused by sleeping with a man as thematic points. I would question the fact that only two of the 16 directors were women.** I would certainly question the response that if the audience thought the winning film was Trans-/Homo-phobic then they are “completely missing the point”, because I believe if you want to make art you have to accept that it’s subjective and that you will invite responses from all perspectives.
You don’t have to let dissent tarnish the glow of your win, but you can maybe listen to the feedback and think about it from the point of view of someone who may not be a straight middle class white guy – honestly, the world supports our stereotype much more than we’re entitled to. We can afford to broaden our gaze and our mindset.
And I would hope that the official Tropfest response is something more than their past efforts of official obfuscation and shirking of responsibility. This may be an opportunity to focus on what Tropfest offers to the Australian film community, how they shape our cultural perception of marginalised groups, and how they can positively affect our national discourse surrounding persecution, judgement and diversity.
Ultimately, the standard you walk past is the standard you accept. I wonder what standard of film is acceptable for Tropfest?
*In fact, for someone who wins Tropfest that would be success in their own right, not the OzFilmGods descending to lift them to a higher plane of...whatever. I digress.
**And the assertion of Yumi Stynes that if women feel they are underrepresented in the Australian film industry, they should “stop complaining and go out and make a film, ladies”, because a 17 year old ex-neighbours actress could do it; but that’s more to do with SBS than Tropfest, and an unfortunately phrased comment in the heat of a live broadcast can probably be forgiven if we allow ourselves to think she likely didn’t mean it the way we all heard it.