Selected Publications

Jane Mills (2012) Jedda, Currency Press & National Film & Sound Archive

Filmed in 1955 Jedda was the first Australian feature film to use Aboriginal actors in lead roles, the first to be filmed in colour and the first to be shown at the Cannes film festival. It tells the tragic story of a young Aboriginal girl of the Arunte tribe, adopted by a white woman as a surrogate for her own baby who has died. She raises her as a white child, isolating her from Aboriginal contact. But when Marbuck, an Aboriginal man seeking work arrives on the station, Jedda is fascinated by him. Jedda was one of several popular melodramas of the post-World War II era that dealt with miscegenation. Jane Mills explores these themes and the representation of the Australian Aborigine in the context of place, space, landscape and location.

David McKnight (2012) Rupert Murdoch: An Investigation of Political Power

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is one of the most powerful media organizations in the world. Murdoch's commercial success is obvious, but less well understood is his successful pursuit of political goals.

This book tracks Murdoch's influence, from his support for Reagan and Thatcher, his deal with Tony Blair to his attacks on Barack Obama. The book examines the corporate culture of News Corporation: its private political seminars for editors, its sponsorship of think tanks and its recurring editorial campaigns around the world on issues such as climate change and the invasion of Iraq.

The book argues for a fresh approach in understanding Murdoch. He is not merely a businessman whose political views are subordinated to making money. Rather, he has a political vision, drawn from his Australian roots, in which he sees himself as a rebel and an enemy of elites and establishments. As part of his libertarian vision, Murdoch has contempt for rules and for governments. The book argues that one consequence of this has been the corporate culture which created the hacking scandal in Britain

Clifton Evers (2010), Notes For A Young Surfer, Melbourne University Press

• The beach has long been a privileged site in Australian culture, and surfers have become its icons. For many surfers, young and old, surfing isn’t simply a hobby or a sport but a treasured way of life.

• Notes for a Young Surfer taps into the beauty of surfing and also tells the truth about the dark side of surf culture where young men come into contact with violence, misogyny, sex, racism, turf wars and homophobia. This book reveals the unwritten codes and rituals that impact on a young man’s life in the surf culture, from body image and notions of national identity, to politics and mateship.

• Notes for a Young Surfer uses real stories from the surfing world. It provides surfing tips and is also full of funny, reassuring and practical advice about how to handle the challenges and decisions that young men face.

David McKnight, Robert Manne (2010), Goodbye to All That?
On the Failure of Neo-liberalism and the Urgency of Change, Black Inc. Publishing, Melbourne

• This is the first substantial book to explore what the global financial crisis means for Australia.
• It looks past “neoliberalism” and “economic rationalism” and asks what kind of social democracy we might hope for in the future. Are the heady days of deregulation and privatisation over? If so, where to from here?
• With a contribution from the prime minister, as well as leading writers in the field, this book is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the financial crisis, its socila implications and potential outcomes for Australia
• Contributors: Kevin Rudd, Robert Manne, Jean Curthoys, John Quiggin, Michael Pusey, Anne Manne, David McKnight, Ian Lowe, Guy Pearse

Jane Mills. (2009) Loving and Hating Hollywood: Reframing Global and Local Cinemas. Allen & Unwin

Jane Mills challenges the widespread notion of a Hollywood bounded and fixed at the centre of a stable cultural landscape, to propose a new way of understanding inter-cinematic relationships. Placing her close readings of films within the framework of globalising processes she shows the cultural flows between cinemas are more fluid and their borders are more porous than commonly assumed.

 'A fiercely argued and provocative contribution to debates about the role and status of Hollywood in world cinema. Jane Mills seeks to unravel the complex and multi-lateral process whereby meanings are made, fused and transferred in the new transnational language of cinema.' - Professor Sylvia Harvey, University of Lincoln

 'Blending a cinephile's close attention to cannily chosen films with her international experience in film culture and a restless, cosmopolitan intellect, Jane Mills tells an imaginative story about the fluidity of 'Hollywood' and its constant reinvention through a process of negotiation with its protean others.' - Professor James Donald, University of New South Wales

Jane Mills (2009) The Money Shot: Cinema, Sin & Censorship. Pluto Press.

An inconoclastic exploration of cinema that asks why Australian audiences don’t flock to see Australian movies, why so many Australian filmmakers ignore their audiences, and whether there is enough sex and violence on our screens.

“This is an exhilarating read by a film academic who refuse to incarcerate herself on the high art of her specialty.” Margaret Pomeranz.

“Jane is my favourite know-it-all. Whether throwing herself on the political barricades or chiding her allies and enemies alike, she offers a witty reminder that film is grander and more important than just a packaged product delivered to the marketplace.” B. Ruby Rich

Alan McKee, Kath Albury and Catharine Lumby (2008), The Porn Report, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.

• A cultural history of Australian debates about pornography
• The results of the largest study into who makes and consumes pornography in Australia
• An analysis of feminist debates about pornography
• An analysis of how child pornography is made and distributed and what the evidence tells us about preventing its production
• A critical inquiry into whether porn can be made and consumed in an ethical manner

Kate Crawford (2006) Adult Themes: Rewriting the Rules of Adulthood, Macmillan, Sydney.

• The first study of contemporary adulthood in Australia
• Critiques media narratives around Generation X, Y and Baby Boomers in the search for the shared experiences of adulthood in the 21^st century 
• Analyses changing patterns of behaviour around work, property ownership, family, marriage, culture and politics
• Offers new ways forward in developing an ethics of adulthood
• Argues that rather than ‘never growing up’ or becoming kidults’, young adults are effectively negotiating new economic and social terrain
• Observes the ways in which the core experiences or ‘markers’ of adulthood have pluralised
• Draws on cultural studies, sociology, history and philosophy to develop a deeper understanding of the way adulthood has changed over the centuries
• Winner of the individual category of the Manning Clark National Cultural Award.

Catharine Lumby and Duncan Fine (2006), Why TV Is Good For Kids: Raising 21st Century Children, Pan Macmillan, Sydney.

• A cultural history of public debates about children’s media consumption
• A critique of the influence media effects research has had on the wider community’s understanding of children’s media consumption
• A look at what the research tells us about the positive effects of media on children’s literacy, creativity, and knowledge of the world.
• A fresh look at debates about the impact of sexual references and violence in media aimed at young people and the relative merits of the roles censorship and education play in supporting them to live in a mediated world.

David MckNight (2005) Beyond Right and Left: New Politics and the Culture War, Allen and Unwin, Sydney.

• looks at collapse of the old certainties of Right and Left
• explains the powerful ideas behind the rise of the New Right which it argues is now a radical, not conservative force
• It looks at the crisis of belief on the Left and the debate in progressive, green and labour parties worldwide
• It argues that today politics is fought out as a culture war, centred on values and morality. It investigates how this new dynamic plays out on issues such as the family; the environment; cultural diversity and indigenous politics
• It argues for a new synthesis of progressive politics based on values and ethics: a new humanism to meet the challenges of the 21st century

Catharine Lumby and Elspeth Probyn (eds.), (2003), Remote Control: New Media, New Ethics, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press

• An examination of how new media genres and platforms are raising new ethical questions about media production and consumption
• A detailed examination of contemporary media genres, their audiences and producers, including: reality television, food media, web journalism, culture jamming, talkback radio and pornography.
• Interviews with prominent Australian media practitioners including Maxine McKew and Mike Carlton.

Kath Albury (2002) Yes Means Yes: Getting Explicit About Heterosex, Allen and Unwin. Sydney.

• explores female sexuality from a cultural studies perspective
• argues that the so-called mass media are streets ahead of theory in terms of recognition of women's diverse desires and pleasures
• E-book edition

Catharine Lumby (1999), Gotcha: Life In A Tabloid World, Allen and Unwin, Sydney.

• A history of tabloid media since the late 19^th century.
• An examination of the rise of tabloid influences in print and television media in the 1990s. 
• An exploration of the rise of celebrity-focused media, reality tv, talkshows and confessional media
• A critical analysis of the ethical and political challenges posed by the new media landscape

Catharine Lumby (1997), Bad Girls: The Media, Sex and Feminism, Allen and Unwin. Sydney.

• A cultural history of Australian censorship debates
• An analysis of the diversity of feminist positions on sexually suggestive and explicit material in pornography and popular culture
• An analysis of how the popular media has acted to further, rather than thwart, the feminist agenda.

Associate Professor Jane Mills edits: Australian Screen Classics

Associate Professor Jane Mills is the Series Editor of the Australian Screen Classics co-published by Currency Press and the National Film & Sound Archive. The series aims to contribute to Australian screen culture by inviting some of Australia’s most distinguished writers and thinkers to select and write a monograph on the Australian film they feel most passionate about. Authors include: Larissa Behrendt, Henry Reynolds, Catharine Lumby, Gail Jones, Christios Tsiolkas, Adrian Martin. Louis Nowra, Sonya Hartnett,. For more details, see: Australian Screen Classics