ABSTRACT
J.Fiske, B.Hodge and G.Turner, Myths of Oz: Reading Australian Popular Culture (Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1987), 191 pp.
This is an interesting and accessible book. Through a semiotic analysis which views all cultural forms and practices as texts, the authors examine pubs and drinking, suburban homes and gardens, beaches, unemployment, shopping, tourism, public monuments, and the famous Australian accent. As a migrant Australian I found many new insights into aspects of Australian life. Citing Barthes for their conception of myth the authors signal certain themes that can be used to make sense of Australian myths, for example the oppositions between culture/nature and public/private, even if the specific forms have parallels in other western countries. The selection covers ‘high’ cultural forms as well as ‘popular’ culture.
