Australia's lost children at play: the films of Baz Luhrmann

Abstract

This article examines the body of locally and internationally produced cinema by Australian director Baz Luhrmann. A filmmaker who in the past has struggled to achieve critical credibility in the mainstream press, Luhrmann is consistently supported by multinationals like 20th Century Fox for his mass domestic and global appeal. Of interest in this analysis is the way in which each film plays with the dominant Australian cultural complex of the ‘lost child’. Rather than repeating the themes of helplessness and abandonment central to much Australian storytelling, Luhrmann invites us to play with the concept of being ‘lost’ – exploring it with childlike wonder and awe. His work has the promise of opening up a (Winnicottian) potential space of exploration, where we are invited to embrace being lost as way of entering into self and cultural discovery. It is likely that this return to play and creativity, in the extreme style that has become synonymous with Luhrmann, is the source of his audience loyalty.