I rarely put any true personal content on here…and…something so “off topic” but this blew me away, discovering this. I’ve only just started watching it…but it is the ACTUAL Peter Weir. THE actual Peter Weir…making a satire and documentary about the place I grew up in! Like…WOW!
And, yes…that stigma was VERY real! And to a degree the “oppression” was self-perpetuating. You felt as if you didn’t deserve to try and improve yourself. That you had to put up with your lot. That you lived in a disadvantaged area, so therefore…
Aspirations are not for you.
And, to this day, the stigma still continues. In recent years I have still had it targeted at me. A few Simple Minds fans I have had passing dealings with…Australians…who know the history and reputation of where I am from…passing judgement.
I always saw that as quite a strange twist of irony that a fellow SM fan would be so judgemental of someone coming from a background they perceived to be more disadvantaged than theirs…taking on some air of superiority. When, in fact, a background like mine is not too dissimilar to that of Jim or Charlie’s. The irony of these peoples’ sanctimonious and judgemental attitude never lost on me.
But one I equally tried hard to never let unnerve me for too long. I will not let the area in which I was raised wholly define me. It is a part of me, yes. And I am proud of where I came from. In many ways I had a wonderful childhood…and I doubt I would feel any better about it had I had the “fortune” of bearing to have grown up around the inner suburbs of Sydney, or along the northern or southern shores of the city.
Anyway…here is the film on YouTube. An interesting part of my personal history for anyone remotely interested in it. I am off to finish watching it. I am only several minutes in and finding it fascinating.