After the apology: Reframing violence and suffering in First Australians, Australia, and Samson and Delilah

Abstract

This article explores the cinematic reframing of media images that normalize violence and suffering in remote Aboriginal communities. It proposes that, in the light of the 2007 Northern Territory Emergency Response and the 2008 apology to the Stolen Generations, the archival history series First Australians, the postmodern blockbuster Australia, and the arthouse drama Samson and Delilah contribute to an anti-colonial politics by creating cinematic spaces for affective and ethical response to issues of ‘bare life’ that tend to be exhausted, rather than worked through, in media temporality.