The Aussie battler personified: why everyone loves Kenny

Article


Huijser, Hendrik. 2009. "The Aussie battler personified: why everyone loves Kenny." Post Script (Commerce): essays in film and the humanities. 28 (3), pp. 57-66.
Article Title

The Aussie battler personified: why everyone loves Kenny

ERA Journal ID34832
Article CategoryArticle
Authors
AuthorHuijser, Hendrik
Journal TitlePost Script (Commerce): essays in film and the humanities
Journal Citation28 (3), pp. 57-66
Number of Pages10
Year2009
Place of PublicationTexas, United States
ISSN0277-9897
Web Address (URL)http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Aussie+battler+personified%3A+why+everyone+loves+Kenny-a0211362425
Abstract

Kenny was one of the biggest Australian box office successes of 2006, which is unusual for a mockumentary. This essay explores the reasons for the film’s success, and in particular for Kenny’s popularity. Whereas the strength of the mockumentary mode is often argued to be its ability to sharply critique dominant social and cultural values, and it tends to achieve this in an ‘in-your-face’ manner, Kenny is much more subtle in its critique. In many ways, Kenny is the personification of the white Australian working class man, otherwise known as the Aussie battler, but much less flawed than what he would be if he was in a documentary rather than a mockumentary. He appeals directly to the Australian egalitarian myth and ultimately gets his revenge on those who do not respect this myth. Through an in-depth reading of Kenny, this chapter will argue that the mockumentary mode is perfectly suited to advance the Aussie battler myth, as the fundamental class/gender basis of Australian national identity, as it allows for the removal of the ambiguity and volatility of ‘real’ battlers paraded on our reality tv screens on a daily basis. In short, Kenny provides a risk-free opportunity for its audience to wholeheartedly embrace this myth. Thus, while Kenny steers the mockumentary into unusually conservative waters on one level, the ambiguity inherent in the ‘genre’ itself ensures a raft of subversive readings that potentially undercut the myth it apparently celebrates.

Keywordsmock documentaries, national cinema, national identity, reality television
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020470107. Media studies
360505. Screen media
470214. Screen and media culture
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