ABSTRACT
In this article I want to consider the procedure whereby a film or television series is constructed as socially ‘good’, thus becoming something ‘worthy’, and how worthiness in turn leads to something ‘bad’ for spectators and viewers, in the sense that these films become something we feel we should see rather than something we want to see. I am interested in exploring how this procedure has shaped recent popular reception of Indigenous film and television in Australia. I also want to consider in what ways this ‘should’ factor contributes to non-Indigenous student pre-conceptions of Indigenous film. Following on from Belinda Smaill’s article (in this issue), I want to reflect on the problem of why many students in my courses think of Indigenous film as a ‘bad learning experience’: a boring and uninteresting topic.
