Walkabout: The Mystery of Communication Literature Essay

Fuxin Zhao
2/19/2019
Walkabout: The Mystery of Communication
Set in 1971, directed by Nicolas Roeg and starring Jenny Agutter, Luc Roeg and David Gulpili, the Walkabout is an allegory about aristocratic savages as well as the crushed hopes of people living in the city. It all starts in the urban Sidney city where a family that consists of a father, mother and two children live. The father is portrayed as one of the average life who takes his family out for a picnic in the middle of nowhere, the desert. He goes berserk and starts shooting his children who in turn run for their safety. To make matters worse, he burns down the car and the children are left to find their way out of the desert. They come across an aborigine boy who together they survive with in the desert. However, their survival is not easy as the problem of communication between them and their discontent in an unfamiliar environment becomes a stumbling block to effective connection. This research will review significance of communication in our everyday lives and the ability to adapt that Nicolas Roeg tells us can make our lives better and avoid suffering.
The first challenge that emerges between the city children and the aborigine boy is that of communication. They want water but the language barrier between them makes it difficult for the children to ask help from the aborigine. However, unlike the girl, the young boy uses sign language to ask for help from the aborigine. The girl concentrates on using English language and assumes that its understood even by the boy. She does not understand neither is she ready to come to reality that she needs to accustom herself with the existing environment. The young boy is clear picture of purity and innocence portrayed by children (Araya, n.p). He has not been affected by discrimination unlike his elderly sister who sees the color first before seeing the black boy's smile. His attitude towards the boy contributed greatly to making it unease for connection and communication among them. Despite the fact that the two do not understand the aborigine's language, their need for help from the boy forces them to follow him and live together as they wander through the desert.
The problem of culture also emerges among the youngsters. The aborigine's desert environment is a strange life where the young boy lives by hunting wild animals and the two city children find it difficult to hunt animals and eat them without undergoing the normal processes of cooking and washing hands before they eat that they are used to. However, they have to survive and the only way they can do that is by just eating the animals that the boy hunts down. At one point, the two start playing with the aborigine while still dressed in their uniforms on top of a tree. As they play, the young girl is so careful with her body as she insists on pulling her skirt to cover up her nudity. The aborigine is able to see her underpants but he is unmoved by the unfolding events, he assumes it as a usual thing while the teenage girl gets disturbed. Notably, unlike the girl who is held back to her civilized lifestyle, her brother easily adapts to the aborigine's way of life (Ebert, N.p). He starts making connection to the environment and joins the boy in hunting. He starts ...