Pacific Studies Journal
Abstract
Nice Coloured Girls is Tracey Moffatt’s first film. Produced in 1987, this seventeen-minute film describes a tradition that has been passed down from her grandmother’s and great-grandmother’s generation—that of “picking up Captain.” Moffatt explains “since colonisation ‘picking up Captain’ has been a way for Aboriginal women to survive off white men.” Rather than creating new and empowered Aboriginal heroines for the 1990s, Moffatt chooses to site her characters within a colonial continuum. Her tradition begins with postcolonial contact and it is clearly formed by cross-cultural experiences. This essay focuses on the narrative structure of Nice Coloured Girls and discusses the ways in which Moffatt problematizes the notions of victim/colonized and exploiter/colonizer.
Recommended Citation
Vercoe, Caroline
(1997)
"NOT SO NICE COLORED GIRLS: A VIEW OF TRACEY MOFFATT’S NICE COLOURED GIRLS,"
Pacific Studies Journal: Vol. 20:
No.
4, Article 11.
Available at:
https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/pacific-studies-journal/vol20/iss4/11
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