“We’re lost, aren’t we?” (Roeg) is a sentiment that
resonated with me, a pre-medical student interested by PTSD and trauma, in
director Nicholas Roeg’s multifaceted, intricate film. Walkabout is a wonderful piece of cinematography that follows the
journey of two unnamed children who are forced to adapt to the enigmatic
lifestyle of the Australian Outback in order to return to their previous
mundane lifestyles. Roeg explores a clear juxtaposition that demonstrates a
distinct divide between civilization and uncivilized life. While humans of civilization
are portrayed as structured, monotonous, and unfulfilling, humans living in nature are depicted as adventurous,
uncertain, and grateful for the resources supplied. However, when
the children and some other civilized people are there, without even realizing
it, they take uncivilized life for granted, exploit its assets, and use it
as if it were disposable. The contrast between the disparate worlds in Walkabout is explored through the theme of civilization being the enemy to nature, the
characters disrupting the balance of nature, the rich use of symbolism, and the biochemistry of trauma.
Walkabout
suggests that civilized humanity will always destroy nature. The young siblings
are left in the desert by their suicided father and only learn to adapt when
they encounter an Aboriginal boy who is on his own “walkabout.” The Aboriginal
is a symbol of life in nature, as he had never been exposed to technology,
white culture, or the English language. On the other hand, the two children are
symbols for civilization, as they grew up in a world where they
learned proper etiquette, were taught to get educated to ensure future
employment, and were given food instead of having to hunt for it. In this film,
it is evident that the Aboriginal boy became aware of the differences and lack
of culture in civilized life. When he met the children, he saw the difference
in their clothing and behaviors. The children wear matching, lifeless,
dismal school uniforms while the Aboriginals wear little to no clothing. As
Norman Holland says, “Clothing is a barrier, but culture is what makes clothing
a barrier” (par. 12). The dreary colors of these uniforms are in direct
contrast to the bright paint and the lively red colors of the rocks in the
Aboriginal society, so it is evident that the children brought lifelessness
into a beautiful place that reigns with brilliant colors.
In addition, technology is brought into the Outback
that disrupts the quiet balance and harmony of Aboriginal life. First, the
children flaunt their use of the radio to the Aboriginal boy. The fact that the
radio is a piece of technology never viewed by the Aboriginal and that it is in
a different language makes this object foreign and confusing to him. This
technology does not belong in nature, and neither do the children. Moreover,
the meteorologists with their weather balloons brought technology into an
environment that solely relies on the resources provided by the plants and
animals. They seem to be playing with these balloons, like children, which
demonstrates that these civilized men believe they need material objects to
secure their future in the Outback. They are unable and unwilling to assimilate
to the culture of the uncivilized territory, and this further exposes the
fraudulence of civilization. Roeg adds both the radio and the men playing with
the weather balloons to show how unnecessary technology is to Aboriginal
culture. The radio seems to always be sprouting unintelligible, inconsequential
news, such as the argument that children should learn to, “tell a fish knife
from a meat knife” (Roeg). These mind-numbing statements are reiterated
throughout the film. The children cling onto the radio because it is their only
tie to civilized life, but in the end, the girl must consider if she is better off
living a free life in the Outback than a confined life in civilization. It is
apparent that the children and the meteorologists have transported trivial news
and material objects into Aboriginal society, a place that has a rich and
interesting culture that does not pay attention to such insignificant ideas.
There is a direct contrast between the disparate worlds and it
emphasizes how unnecessary civilized society is in indigenous life, and how
civilization ruins what it cannot appreciate.
Conjointly, some secondary characters play a role in
disrupting the homeostasis of Aboriginal culture and expose them to civilized
life. As the three children are on their journey back to civilization, the
audience views a white man exploiting the Aboriginals by forcing them to
construct plaster figurines of themselves for his own money-making pursuit. He mistreats “his
slaves” by saying, “Move on. Go on. Quicker. Move it” (Roeg). This demonstrates
how indifferent the civilized culture is to "savage" life. All civilization cares
about is its lucrative immediate profit, while the Aboriginals care about culture and
long term survival. It serves as a direct contrast between civilization and spiritual
life and how the civilized life disturbs the balance of Aboriginal society.
The hunters also disrupt Aboriginal life. Towards the
end of the movie, the Aboriginal boy is hunting a cow with a spear, but two
hunters interrupt him by driving in quickly with a car and shooting many cattle
with a rifle. Cars and guns are two pieces of technology that are foreign to
Aboriginal culture. The Aboriginal boy stood there speechless and lugubrious
when he saw the animals being treated as objects and profitable entities. The
hunters also disrupted his practice of using every part of the animal for food
and warmth. After nearly running the young Aboriginal over with their car and
killing his food supply, the hunters took away the young Aboriginal’s will to
live. He realized that no matter what, the corruptions of civilization will always
win over alleged savage life. The Aboriginals are just slaves and resources to
them. This, along with the girl’s rejection at the end, led to his subsequent
suicide.
Throughout the movie, the three children acted as a
family unit and truly learned what it was like to “live the savage life.” They
loved each other and the white children were eternally grateful that the
Aboriginal boy was guiding them back to civilization. In biblical terms, he was
“their Jesus who redeemed them and showed them the way” (Gordon). However, when
civilized life was only a day away, the girl completely rejected the Aboriginal
boy. Instead of being the girl who was attracted to him and appreciative of all
he did for them, she demonstrated that she never lost her conventional behavior
and was the typical white, civilized girl who looked at Aboriginals as slaves or animals.
She demanded, “Water. Water” (Roeg), just like he was her slave who was only
there to serve her needs. She remembered all her civilized behaviors and the
prejudice that exists behind the cultures. In addition, she sees that the boy
is sitting on the floor seemingly very upset, but she walks past him
disinterested. This total rejection leads to the suicide of the Aboriginal
because he realized that “he failed the walkabout, he is not a man, and must
die” (Holland, par. 24). However, the young girl is still indifferent as to the
effect she had on the Aboriginal; she decides to continue on to find
civilization with her brother without showing any emotion towards the boy who saved
her and her brother’s life. This girl, along with the hunters, indirectly
killed the Aboriginal, so it is definitely evident that civilized life has
disrupted indigenous culture in an unforgettable, irreversible way.
Civilization trying to mold to the conditions of nature backfired and led to
the destruction of the Aboriginal boy.
There are many examples of symbolism that relates to
the theme of civilization vs. life in nature. The first is
the cracked rock vs. the brick wall. The
cracked rock represents life in the Outback and is the first image seen by the
audience in the movie. In this first scene, viewers can hear the radio, but it
is quite distant and full of static. This symbolizes how distant and foreign
the voices of civilization are in the Outback and how, throughout the movie,
they will try to infiltrate the uncivilized world. In contrast, the brick wall
marks a “chasm between the urban and the Outback” (Holland). It represents
civilized society and is accompanied by images of crowds of business people,
office buildings, technology, and soldiers. In fact, the crowds of business people
directly contrasts with the Aboriginal boy being alone on top of a mountain
towards the end of the movie. There are so many civilized people, but there is
only one Aboriginal standing alone who cannot seem to overcome their presence
in his life. Another symbol that supports the theme of civilization vs. life in
nature is the picnic blanket that the girl places on the Outback’s dirty ground
before sitting to eat with her brother. This is her attempt to “tame the
unspoiled Earth” (Holland). She was so civilized and programmed to express
proper etiquette at all times that she felt obliged to impose order to a place
that is full of disorder, adventure, and no rules. Roeg even zooms in on
different lizards and small animals that are clearly oblivious to her attempt
to tame the desert and enforce her civilized behavior on it (Holland). This is
Roeg’s way of showing the audience that civilization will always try to impose
its control on nature, but nature will try like hell to avoid the control. There
is a direct contrast between the two incongruent worlds.
Furthermore, additional
examples of symbolism include the abandoned mining town and the irritated man
that “welcomed” the children back to civilization. The mining town is in the
middle of the Outback is a symbol for how civilized people have no regard for
nature. It is apparent that man left behind scrap metal, old trucks, and
garbage all jumbled together in nature. This technology is out of place and because
man left it there, it illustrates that civilization destroyed yet another
piece of nature. Roeg, by allowing the children to play on the machines, showed
that they really do not have any aversion to this happening. In addition, the
radio seemed to be the girl’s security blanked throughout the film, but the
boy’s security blanket was his toys. When the wheel on the toy car came off at
the beginning of the movie, he complained to his apathetic father. This
directly paralleled the wheels coming off of the car in the mining town at the
end of the film. This was Roeg’s way of mocking the civilized world. He
exemplified that in order to feel comfortable in the naturalized world, the
children needed to be playing with their toys to still feel connected to their
previous world. He made this clear by allowing the young boy to play in the
mining town.
In addition, the
irritated man at the end of the film is a symbol of civilization as well. He is
the first person that the children encounter as they journey back to
civilization. This man is obviously very annoyed that the children ruined the
quiet homeostatic balance of his day and he becomes irate when he notices that
the little boy is touching his property. This demonstrates that civilization is
preoccupied with such inconsequential things and they are only concerned about
their own problems. It contrasts indigenous life because the Aboriginals have a
rich culture and care about their ancestors, and the animals and resources
provided to them. Inconsequential things are irrelevant to the Aboriginals.
Civilized people are trained to not pay attention to other people’s problem as
they require a balance in their own lives. He was not even phased when he heard
that two young children were lost and were in desperate need of guidance. It is
disgraceful that he was so indifferent to their issue, when they all three of
them are civilized, white, and seemingly no prejudice exists between them.
Here, Roeg challenges the audience with the question of who is the devil and
who is Jesus in the film. The civilized, aggravated man (civilized life) is the
devil and the Aboriginal boy (indigenous life) is Jesus.
Lastly, the
man being undaunted after hearing about the children’s traumatic experience
leads to an explanation of the biochemistry of trauma that illustrates how the
young girl learns that life in the Outback is better than living a tedious,
monotonous life in the civilized world. In the beginning, the girl truly
despised of the Outback because she had to endure dehydration (which led to
hallucination and depravity) and overexposure to heat. She did not know how she would make it out of this
very unfortunate situation, and this trauma affected her biochemistry as she
suffered high cortisol levels, hypervigilance, and psychological impediments.
The sister desperately tried to hold onto the last vestiges of her previous
life by clutching the radio and maintaining her position in the conventional
stage of moral development (McLeod). She wanted to maintain homeostasis both
physically and mentally, but it was difficult to challenge her innate desire to
enjoy indigenous life. She began to appreciate what nature had offer and enjoyed the
pure beauty of nature. She was lost
physically, but mentally and emotionally, she found her inner nirvana in an
uncivilized, acquiescent paradise. This is exemplified through the
scene where she was swimming through the pond, just taking in the magnificence
of her surroundings. However, at the end,
it is evident that she contemplates living in the Outback, a place of
uncertainty and adventure. Her civilized life is monotonous, dreary, and
predictable—the same life that her mother and father lived in the
beginning of the movie. The now older
and wiser girl seems depressed and disconnected from the life that she tried to
get back to before, and she is burdened by her precious memories. There is a
scientific reason as to why she is depressed and detached from her new life.
Trauma survivors experience swings in their biochemistry that bring upon intrusive
memories. In fact, “Should these symptoms become chronic over several years,
the survivor runs the paradoxical risk of then chronically under producing
Cortisol…Suppressed Cortisol is usually associated with depression, numbness, joylessness,
emotional flatness…and disconnection” (Naparstek, par. 11). It is apparent that
she does not produce enough Cortisol. That leads to depression, and if she
continues having these flashbacks, she will become unable to steer her
biochemistry back into homeostasis. These memories will always be with her, and
it is evident that civilization needs nature more than nature needs
civilization.
In conclusion, when the young boy said, “We’re lost,
aren’t we?” (Roeg), he was correct that they were lost physically, but they
were never lost emotionally. Both children learned that life in the Outback is
preferable over civilized life because they will never be able to experience
that adventure and excitement again. The end of the movie was very depressing
and tragic. The girl is hopeless and defeated, which symbolizes a loss of
innocence. The theme of civilization vs. indigenous life is evident throughout
the movie and Roeg uses examples of symbolism to drive home his point that
civilization is an enemy to nature, but in the battle between the two
incongruent worlds, civilization always wins. By the end, a character analysis
of the young girl and her disturbed biochemistry allows the audience to
understand her hopelessness and death of innocence that makes her yearn for
civilized life.
Works Cited
Gordon, Paul Kirpal. 24 Feb. 2016. Lecture.
Holland,
Norman. "Nicolas Roeg, Walkabout, 1971." A Sharper Focus. Web. 27
Feb. 2016.
McLeod,
Saul. "Kohlberg - Moral Development." Simply Psychology, 2011. Web.
07 Mar.
2016.
Naparstek, Belleruth. "Trauma: The Right-Brain
Connection." Trauma: The Right-Brain
Connection. NotAlone, 2012. Web. 27
Feb. 2016.
Sendak, Maurice, and Maurice Sendak. Where the
Wild Things Are. New York: Harper & Row,
1963. Print.
Walkabout. Dir. Nicholas Roeg. Perf. Jenny Agutter, Jean-Luc
Roeg, and David Gumpilil. 1971.
DVD.
