SOC 118
'The Last Wave'-Peter Weir dir.(1977)
In the film, The Last Wave, the director is trying to communicate the idea of a
culture within a culture or sub culture. The dominant culture in the film is the white
members of society living in Australia. The subculture in the film is the Aborigines who
were natives to the land before the white people settled in Australia. The natives
sustained their cultural beliefs and ideologies while living in largely populated cities.
The dominant white culture imposes their laws , ideas of societal values and moral
beliefs on the native Aborigines. Forcing them to abide by a different law system and
way of life than what their peoples have practiced for hundreds of years. In the movie
the lawyer, David, represents the dominant culture to the Aborigines because he
represents the law that is controlling their fate in the white culture.
The director is also giving us many symbols or visual communication such as the
consistency of water in the film as well as, the overbearing control of darkness. The film
is shot in shadows and overall is very dark , almost forcing us to look beyond the obvious
plot and storyline and into the meaning or what the film/director is trying to tell us. The
darkness in the film can be seen as unconsciousness. It can also be seen as a prediction
of the darkness that will occur in the world when the last wave comes. The last wave
meaning a giant tidal wave that will cover the earth , killing humanity. This idea is
similar to the Christian belief in the flood that was sent down centuries ago to destroy all
the evil in the world. Also, all the modern aspects of the movie (courtroom,