Australian Genre Film interrogates key genres at the core of Australia's so-called new golden age of genre cinema, establishing the foundation on which more sustained research on film genre in Australian cinema can develop.
The book examines what characterises Australian cinema and its output in this new golden age, as contributors ask to what extent Australian genre film draws on widely understood (and largely Hollywood-based) conventions, as compared to culturally specific conventions of genre storytelling. As such, this book offers a comprehensive and up-to-date survey of Australian genre film, undertaken through original analyses of 13 significant Australian genres: action, biopics, comedy, crime, horror, musical, road movie, romance, science fiction, teen, thriller, war, and the Western.
This book will be a cornerstone work for the burgeoning field of Australian film genre studies and a must-read for academics; researchers; undergraduate students; postgraduate students; and general readers interested in film studies, media studies, cultural studies, Australian studies, and sociology.
About the Author: Kelly McWilliam is an Associate Professor in Communication and Media Studies at the University of Southern Queensland and the Immediate Past President of the Cultural Studies Association of Australasia (CSAA).
Mark David Ryan is an Associate Professor in Screen and Media Studies and a Chief Investigator for the Digital Media Research Centre (DMRC), Queensland University of Technology. He was the President of the Screen Studies Association of Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand (SSAAANZ) between 2015 and 2018.