When puberty blues came out in 1979, australia was a country inbetween. The introduction of the internet, mobile phones and social networking, in my eyes, has changed everything. The sequence analysed above is key to the film puberty blues as it shows debbie and sues defiance of and independence from the maledominated youth counterculture of surfing. After a violent death in the family, a teenage girl struggles to reconnect with her increasingly distant mother before she loses her too. I wasnt able to find much on actual facts and figures of the production of puberty blues and the budget allowed. The lives of family and friends who go through a variety of ups and downs. Puberty blues is a 1979 novel by gabrielle carey and kathy lette. Based on the bestselling book by kathy lette and gabrielle carey, the film version was released in december 1981. Curators notes puberty blues 1981 on aso australias.
Gabrielle carey is often unfairly referred to as the other writer of puberty blues first published in 1979, overshadowed by the effusive kathy lette, who has written a series of laughoutloud best sellers. It was adapted into film in 1981 by bruce beresford and was made into a tv series in 2012 the novel and film focus on the two main characters, teenagers debbie vickers and sue knight, as they try and get in with the cool crowd, the green hills gang. The penultimate scene in puberty blues is for most viewers including this writer, the defining moment in the film. Debbie nell schofield and sue jad capelja are bored with their suburban lifestyle.
The homeliness and candor of the moment prove to be the best qualities of a comingofage film that also has its familiar and even foolish sides. Puberty blues is a story about a nation growing up. Mar 19, 2014 puberty blues is an australian book, film and tv show set in the 70s. Puberty blues was a blast of fresh, if impolite, air when it came out in 1981. The film thus purports to present a studentcentred analysis of australian schooling at a particular moment and through a particular subcultural frame. When examining the 1980s film puberty blues, using techniques of content analysis and personal reflection, i have observed certain differences and similarities between the culture depicted in.
Curators notes puberty blues 1981 on aso australias audio and. On the one hand it was modern and part of the wider world. According to the australian film commission, the film is number forty four of the top australian films at the australian box office from 1966 to 2005 having earned over three million dollars. Puberty blues the tv show i have chosen to talk to you about today is puberty blues. Jan 30, 20 puberty blues is incredibly widely read and known, with most australians being familiar with either the film, the book or both. Puberty blues is incredibly widely read and known, with most australians being familiar with either the film, the book or both. The recent puberty blues 2012 tv series reminds nfsa television curator frances baldwin of watching the 1981 film version and receiving material from the film as an archivist in 1986. Memorable quotes and exchanges from movies, tv series and more.
Although the issues faced by the characters in the film are similar to those faced by todays youth, they are not portrayed in a way the film makes. In this article i examine one film, puberty blues, directed by bruce beresford in. The story of puberty blues is the adoption of an image in order to be accepted. Episodes of season 2 are shot in and around cronulla, south of sydney. Puberty blues is a 1981 australian comingofage film directed by bruce beresford. The view put here is that this film throws light on the history of the comprehensive coeducational high school at a. Puberty blues is an excellent film for youth that honestly and sensitively deals with some of the central trials and temptations of growing up. Puberty blues and the representation of an australian.
Aug 16, 2012 melbourne academic lauren rosewarne sees the television adaptation of puberty blues as a timely reminder that female sexuality existed before lascivious retailers. Puberty blues, which opens today at the cinema studio, is based on a novel of the same name by kathy lette and gabrielle carey, which purported to tell all about the mores of surfer teenagers in the sydney vicinity. Dec, 2016 released in 1981, bruce beresfords iconic australian film remains an unsentimental summer treat, a girlpowered trip to the beach without rosecoloured sunglasses. Puberty blues doesnt work in plot twists but offers a suprising reality. Puberty blues 1979 is a novel by the australian writers gabrielle carey and kathy lette. I asked director bruce beresford why he originally took on the project to adapt this edgy book to a film. In this article i examine one film, puberty blues, directed by bruce beresford in 1981.
I asked director bruce beresford why he originally. Puberty blues was adapted from the novel of the same name by kathy lette and gabrielle carey. It is based on the 1979 book by kathy lette and gabrielle carey, which was also the inspiration for the 1981 film puberty blues. Puberty blues 1981 was based on the book of the same name by kathy lette and gabrielle carey, a pair of reallife sydney teens who wrote newspaper articles under the pseudonym the salami. My copy is a 2002 reprint from england with new forewards by two of the few australian lady celebs, kylie minogue and germaine greer. Puberty blues was aimed at white suburban australian teenagers upon release it hit cinemas in the summer holidays of 198182.
The school, students and teachers in puberty blues the action in puberty blues turns to the school immediately following the short three minute setup. Set during the late 1970s, the series revolves around the family and friends of debbie and sue, two inseparable teenage friends who are progressing through the coming. Based on the iconic novel puberty blues by kathy lette and gabrielle carey, the series will move beyond the original pages and explore the mis adventures of these young girls, their families and. I remember reading the book in high school when it was a compulsory part of the literature curriculum and in time its become an important protofeminist work. It also importantly shows a shift in the members of the greenhills surfie gangs attitudes to female. Puberty blues is pure fantasy and twenty years on is even more irrelevant than ever.
They long to be surfie chicks in the greenhills, the schools popular crowd. Claudia karvan, susie porter, jeremy lindsay taylor, ashleigh cummings, ed oxenbould, dan wyllie, brenna harding, rodger corser, susan prior, sean keenan, emma freeman, glendyn ivin, puberty blues 2disc set, puberty blues 2disc set, emma freeman, claudia karvan, susie porter, jeremy lindsay taylor, ashleigh cummings, puberty blues 2disc set. Thanks mainly to the consummate storytelling skills of bruce beresford, debbie and sues experiences convey a universal message. Reflections on puberty blues nfsa national film and sound. Puberty blues is the biography which launched kathy lettes writing career and made her famous. Released in 1981, bruce beresfords iconic australian film remains an unsentimental summer treat, a girlpowered trip to the beach without rosecoloured sunglasses. As narrated by debbie nell schofield, it tells of two schoolgirl pariahs and their attempts to ingratiate.
Puberty blues follows the lives of two sunburnt 16 yearold best friends, raised in the beach city of cronulla in the sutherland shire of south sydney. This paper attempts a diffractive analysis that reads bruce beresfords australian populist film puberty blues 1981 through the more recent 2012 channel 10 eightpart series television of the same title. Puberty blues 1981 bruce beresford and nell schofield in puberty blues 1981. In the late 1970s, debbie and sue are inseparable teenage girls. Gabrielle carey and kathy lette had based the book on their own recent experiences growing up on the beach near cronulla, and young audiences could recognise a lot of their own experiences in the story of debbie and sue. The way families communicate is one of the major differences i have noticed after watching puberty blues, a television series set in the 1970s, about a series of families and teenagers making their way through life, puberty and problems they might encounter on a daily basis. The subject of the film is the journey that two young people go on. Truth masquerades as fiction as kathy lette and gabrielle carey portray themselves, at thirteen years of age, as deb and sue in a tell all account of being a teenager in. Australian tv comes of age puberty blues johnbrawley. Puberty blues, which is set in contemporary australia, chronicles this quest through the adventures of two teenagers. Unfortunately, i couldnt find any budget figures relating to the production costs of puberty blues. The purpose of this experimental analysis is to notice ways both of these filmic artefacts reenact gendered semblances performatively, cocreating binary gender relations through. Examines the quest of popularity by teenagers as proof of selfworth.
Released in 1981, bruce beresfords iconic australian film remains an unsentimental summer treat, a girlpowered trip to the beach without. This movie is a biopic of alma mahler, the wife of composer gustav mahler as well as walter gropius and franz werfel, and the mistress of oskar kokoschka. Puberty blues, by film and my own society and culture bartleby. Truth masquerades as fiction as kathy lette and gabrielle carey portray themselves, at thirteen years of age, as deb and sue in a tell all account of being a teenager in sydneys beachside suburbs during the 1970s. Aug 20, 2012 watching puberty blues with your kids. Oct 14, 2016 puberty blues was adapted from the novel of the same name by kathy lette and gabrielle carey. Written twenty years ago, puberty blues is the bestselling account of growing up in the 1970s that took australia by storm and spawned an eponymous cult movie. There will be language and sexual content reflective of teenagers growing up. Puberty blues, which opens today at the cinema studio, is based on a novel of the same name by kathy lette and gabrielle carey, which purported to tell. Aug 30, 2012 puberty blues is a story about a nation growing up. With brenna harding, ashleigh cummings, sean keenan, charlotte best. Puberty blues is an australian book, film and tv show set in the 70s. Puberty blues is an australian comingofage comedydrama television series broadcast on network ten.
This movie is about two teenage girls coming of age and growing up on the surfing beaches just outside sydney. It has long been controversial with adults but much sought out by teenagers for its depictions of adolescent sex. Following the crew of the patrol boat hmas hammersley, as they patrol the northern sea border of australia. Puberty blues is one of those television series that looks set to be a rewarding drama full of life lessons, but should still be watched cautiously. Puberty blues, by film and my own society and culture. The film adds a comedy beach brawl between the surfers and the lifeguards not present in the novel. Puberty blues nude scenes 6 images and 5 videos including appearances from charlotte best susie porter. Aug, 2016 though beresfords daughter was not keen to wade into the occasionally treacherous waters of puberty blues, the movie was reengineered for a new generation with the masterful tv series, puberty blues, which ran on channel 10 for two seasons from 2010, and expanded the narrative of the film outward, to deal more heavily with the larger world. Puberty blues by kathy lette and gabrielle carey gabrielle carey is often unfairly referred to as the other writer of puberty blues first published in 1979, overshadowed by the effusive kathy lette, who has written a series of laughoutloud best sellers.
It doesnt have a specific genre, but more like a mixture. Personal and social identitymedia analysis with reference to the film puberty blues, a recent film of your own choice concerning adolescent themes and your micro world experiences, explain continuities and changes in the adolescent experience through time. Puberty blues, by film and my own society and culture 1485 words 6 pages. Totes amaze teen tv shows full episodes 129,557 views. When examining the 1980s film puberty blues, using techniques of content analysis and personal reflection, i have observed certain differences and similarities between the culture depicted in the film and my own society and culture. First published in 1979 in australia by two 18yearolds, it was a scandal, since it was about sex and drugs and if you count pat boone rock n roll. It also marked the starting point of kathy lettes writing career, which sees her now as an author at the forefront of her. Watch puberty blues online vimeo on demand on vimeo.
Prior to puberty blues, bruce beresford was better known for his ocker barry mckenzie films and david williamson adaptations. The recent puberty blues 2012 tv series reminds nfsa television curator frances baldwin of watching the 1981 film version and receiving material from the. Puberty blues follows the lives of two sunburnt 16 yearold best friends, raised in. It had lived through the whitlam dismissal, the vietnam war had ended and multiculturalism was now not just an idea, but a practical reality. Though beresfords daughter was not keen to wade into the occasionally treacherous waters of puberty blues, the movie was reengineered for a new generation with the masterful tv series, puberty blues, which ran on channel 10 for two seasons from 2010, and expanded the narrative of the film outward, to deal more heavily with the larger world. While gabrielle might prefer a life with less publicity, she is no lesser a writer.
So based on this fact and the box office figures presented in the beginning, puberty blues did well. Puberty blues is surely one those early 80s films with its own theme song that makes you just want to throw things at the tv screen, cringing at almost everything the film portrays. Over the course of the narrative, schoolgirls sue knight jad capelja and debbie vickers nell schofield have progressively ingratiated themselves into the cool cronulla beach surfie set. A slow, boring, semidocumentary of teenagers in australia. Jun 29, 20 puberty blues the tv show i have chosen to talk to you about today is puberty blues. Those very teenagers have grownup and now commonly look on the film with affection because of the way it never patronised its subjects.
A slow, boring, semi documentary of teenagers in australia. The notion of setting of a movie is a complex one, but it has been central to the art and artistry of the cinema. Melbourne academic lauren rosewarne sees the television adaptation of puberty blues as a timely reminder that female sexuality existed before lascivious retailers. The film is based on the 1979 novel puberty blues, by gabrielle carey and kathy lette, which is a protofeminist teen novel about two yearold girls from the lower middle class sutherland shire in sydney. Though it has been stated that puberty blues is a very lowbudget australian film. Lette complained that the film sanitised the plot by omitting central references to miscarriage and abortion.
Most importantly, the film didnt try to smooth off the rough edges, or lecture its. There will be language and sexual content reflective of teenagers growing up in an age just as promiscuous as our own. Analyses of filmic representations then should amplify and, perhaps modify. From the hilarious, slangpacked dialogue and rich, honest characterization, through to its obvious savagery and uncompromising take on the darker phases of teenage life, puberty blues is a straight up aussie classic film. Bestselling author kathy lettes debut novel is available in britain for the first time. Jul 15, 1983 puberty blues, which opens today at the cinema studio, is based on a novel of the same name by kathy lette and gabrielle carey, which purported to tell all about the mores of surfer teenagers.
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