How Redfern Now Encourages Us to Stand Up for Ourselves

Joel Shields is just an ordinary 16 year-old high school student starting his first day at Clifton Grammar after winning an Indigenous scholarship. This school is known to be one of the most elite and popular in the state. In this scene the camera pans as Joel is dancing around his bedroom while getting ready for school. The happy, up beat music playing in the background also sets a cheerful atmosphere and that he feels joyfulness.

What if you were told to stand up and sing an anthem that acknowledged the people who invaded your country? That was one of the main issues Joel had to face. As everyone one is standing up and singing the anthem, Joel looks lost with the words. The camera focuses on Joel as Aaron McGrath has perfectly shown a confused expression with his eyebrows slightly scowled.

In this shot the teacher, Mr. Parish, asked him if he knew what the national anthem is. Joel replied with “Yeah, it's a song sung out for the grand finals in cricket games like when Australia play England and India and that.” He then told Joel that he noticed he wasn’t singing, so Joel admitted that he didn’t know the lyrics. The teacher told him to do some research on Australia and the lyrics to the national anthem.

Joel does his homework and does some research on Australia. You can tell by Joel’s facial expression he is confused by the images that appear on his computer. He had a whole different perspective of Australia. The images that appeared were things to do with ‘white Australia’ including things like a pie, the big banana and people wearing the Australian flag as a t-shirt. The camera closes-up towards Joel’s reaction which is clueless as his eyebrows are creased.

Here, Joel realises that it was time to take the initiative no matter what the consequences. He takes in what his dad told him which was “it’s not our song, it doesn’t belong to us”. The camera slowly pans left, eventually showing Joel sitting down as everyone is standing up singing. This is the perfect scene representing that Joel has finally made his decision to go with what he believes in, and stand for his rights. He looks straight ahead as if he is confident and will stand by his decisions.

In this scene the principal states “All Joel needs to do is stand up and sing the national anthem, after all at the end of the day we’re all Australian’s.” Joel’s facial expression is looking down as if he is sad or confused about what he should do because of the conflict that is going on between his parents and the principal. His dad, Eddie, strongly opposes this statement and continues to express his anger by talking about multiculturalism. The actor has conveyed this message because it expresses how most indigenous people would feel in this situation which is anger, disappointment and unhappiness.

As Joel is walking with his friends, he is called to come into the office. In this shot he is walking back towards the office looking irritated. He is also walking in the opposite direction to everyone else, as if he is alone or different from everybody else, which is how the principal sees him. The camera is focusing on Joel and the background is a little blurry so that all the viewer’s attention is on Joel.

Here, a point of view shot shows what the principal is seeing. She walks around the students as they sing the anthem and sees that some of the students are sitting down in support of Joel and their beliefs. They then show a medium shot of her walking with her eyebrows angrily furrowed indicating that she is furious. After she told them that they would be expelled, Chloe says, “Our parents are right behind us, they’re proud we’re standing up for something and if we get expelled so be it they reckon.”

After thinking about what the students have said the principal decides to allow Joel back to Clifton Grammar. When she turned up at their doorstep to let Joel and his family know that he can come back, Eddie Shields clarifies that he doesn’t have to sing the national anthem, to which she replied with “yes.” This scene shows Joel at his class looking excited with a big smile on his face and his eyes lit up. The colours here are bright and the music is upbeat which help end the show with a happy ending. From this story we have learnt that using your power before considering others perspectives can result in conflict so it is important that we respect and consider the rights of others.