Rabbit-Proof Fence is a movie about the escape of three Australian Aborigine girls from the Australian government. This relates to concepts discussed in the Folk and Popular Culture chapter. Folk culture is traditionally practiced by small, homogeneous groups living in isolated rural areas. Folk culture is so diverse and unique because centuries of isolation allows for folk customs to develop. A custom is a repetitive act of a group, performed to the extent that it becomes a characteristic of the group. For example, in the Aborigine culture, boys take part in Bora which This can cause variations in folk culture at different points in time. The Aborigine people of Australia fit this category perfectly. They live in isolated regions of the land, and have practices and rituals that are unique to their people. Popular culture, is found in large, heterogeneous societies that share certain habits despite differences in other personal characteristics. This is represented by Australian government. The Australian government forcibly captured Aborigines from their homes and forced them to be trained as domestic servants. The idea of resistance of popular culture is also evident in the film. Many fear the loss of folk culture, so therefore they do everything they can to stay isolated. Many folk cultures fear the loss of traditional values which makes some pop culture very controversial to the folk cultures. In the movie, the three girls escape from the Australian government because they did not want to conform to norm that was being forced on them by the government. Foreign influence from countries that promote popular culture also cause folk cultures to fear the change in traditional roles of women. When popular culture is diffused to folk cultures, often times women are empowered by the gender equality that is expressed in pop culture, even though it goes against their traditional folk values. This is another reason why folk cultures try to resist the influence of popular culture. The government was forcing the Aborigines to learn to be domestic servants, even though that was against some Aborigine values.
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