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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/18/rebel-wilson-australia-tall-poppy-syndrome-media
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| Rebel Wilson has landed a blow on the relentlessly aggressive media | Rebel Wilson has landed a blow on the relentlessly aggressive media |
| (4 months later) | |
| Rebel Wilson walked out of a courthouse in Melbourne last week, raising her fist in the air. The actor-comedian had just won a defamation case against the German media group Bauer – in Australia, which is extraordinary. Wilson had gone to court against the multinational over its claims, published in the Australian magazine Woman’s Day, that Wilson was a “serial liar”. Over three weeks of hearings and six appearances at the supreme court of Victoria, Wilson testified that Bauer’s anonymously sourced accusations that she had fabricated her age, name and life story had cost her a part in no lesser work of cinematic art than Kung Fu Panda Part 3. | Rebel Wilson walked out of a courthouse in Melbourne last week, raising her fist in the air. The actor-comedian had just won a defamation case against the German media group Bauer – in Australia, which is extraordinary. Wilson had gone to court against the multinational over its claims, published in the Australian magazine Woman’s Day, that Wilson was a “serial liar”. Over three weeks of hearings and six appearances at the supreme court of Victoria, Wilson testified that Bauer’s anonymously sourced accusations that she had fabricated her age, name and life story had cost her a part in no lesser work of cinematic art than Kung Fu Panda Part 3. |
| Just why Hollywood demands scrupulous personal authenticity from actors playing the parts of talking mammals in an animated martial arts franchise was, alas, unaddressed in the proceedings. But that this is the reality Hollywood inhabits is now a matter of legal record. The six-person, all-female Australian jury found completely in Wilson’s favour. | Just why Hollywood demands scrupulous personal authenticity from actors playing the parts of talking mammals in an animated martial arts franchise was, alas, unaddressed in the proceedings. But that this is the reality Hollywood inhabits is now a matter of legal record. The six-person, all-female Australian jury found completely in Wilson’s favour. |
| Rebel Wilson wins defamation trial against Bauer Media | |
| Wilson, who made her name in Hollywood with a role in the comedy Bridesmaids, is hardly the first celebrity to be the subject of spurious nonsense in a mass-market magazine, nor the first woman to be subjected an act of public vengeance by – as it seems from the testimony regarding Bauer’s anonymous source – a jealous rival. But this is Australia, where the culture demands that the country’s celebrities suck up, with humility, whatever guff is thrown towards them. | Wilson, who made her name in Hollywood with a role in the comedy Bridesmaids, is hardly the first celebrity to be the subject of spurious nonsense in a mass-market magazine, nor the first woman to be subjected an act of public vengeance by – as it seems from the testimony regarding Bauer’s anonymous source – a jealous rival. But this is Australia, where the culture demands that the country’s celebrities suck up, with humility, whatever guff is thrown towards them. |
| Wilson’s case, the publicity around it and its determination by court victory rather than a settlement superficially indicate a transformational moment in Australian celebrity culture. Not merely has Wilson refused to suck up the smears, she’s spat back out to an uncommon amount of applause. | Wilson’s case, the publicity around it and its determination by court victory rather than a settlement superficially indicate a transformational moment in Australian celebrity culture. Not merely has Wilson refused to suck up the smears, she’s spat back out to an uncommon amount of applause. |
| We Australians are not a people who attach much reverence – let alone protection – to those that fame or achievement raise to a platform of influence over the ordinary. This goes as much for stars of the performing arts as it does sporting champions, intellectuals or even our political leadership. | We Australians are not a people who attach much reverence – let alone protection – to those that fame or achievement raise to a platform of influence over the ordinary. This goes as much for stars of the performing arts as it does sporting champions, intellectuals or even our political leadership. |
| Witness prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s infamous standup act ostensibly mocking Donald Trump this week. The real subject was his own rotten poll numbers, and a sad self-awareness that now he’s won the top job the cost is the very popularity that put him there. | Witness prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s infamous standup act ostensibly mocking Donald Trump this week. The real subject was his own rotten poll numbers, and a sad self-awareness that now he’s won the top job the cost is the very popularity that put him there. |
| Retributive mockery towards any performance of superiority is swift, brutal and a national sport. Mass derision was meted out to actor Melissa George when she pooh-poohed Home and Away, the soap that made her famous. Ruby Rose self-consciously affects humility for the folks back home now she’s a star on American TV. Guffaws greet anything at all now done or said by self-important former cricket great Shane Warne. | Retributive mockery towards any performance of superiority is swift, brutal and a national sport. Mass derision was meted out to actor Melissa George when she pooh-poohed Home and Away, the soap that made her famous. Ruby Rose self-consciously affects humility for the folks back home now she’s a star on American TV. Guffaws greet anything at all now done or said by self-important former cricket great Shane Warne. |
| Liberated from the inherited hierarchies of our many mother countries, a relentless egalitarianism defines the Australian character – so much so that both our major parties promise it as part of their platforms. One New South Wales premier, Jack Lang, pledged himself to “cutting the heads off tall poppies” as far back as 1931. Shamed Australian celebrities have bemoaned their punishment by “tall poppy syndrome” ever since. | Liberated from the inherited hierarchies of our many mother countries, a relentless egalitarianism defines the Australian character – so much so that both our major parties promise it as part of their platforms. One New South Wales premier, Jack Lang, pledged himself to “cutting the heads off tall poppies” as far back as 1931. Shamed Australian celebrities have bemoaned their punishment by “tall poppy syndrome” ever since. |
| Rebel Wilson: the tall poppy with a blade of her own | |
| These specific words have appeared in some of the commentary around Wilson’s court victory, with reports insisting the win has been against this “syndrome” in itself. If the phrase was supplied by Wilson, I’d politely suggest she pause to consider its context. | These specific words have appeared in some of the commentary around Wilson’s court victory, with reports insisting the win has been against this “syndrome” in itself. If the phrase was supplied by Wilson, I’d politely suggest she pause to consider its context. |
| The habit of recent Australian media has been the relentless lopping of far shorter flowers than she. Bauer may not be responsible for media campaigns demanding the heads of blameless public servants or Muslim television presenters, or from the group that bullies welfare recipients into psychiatric counselling should they dare to question those above their station. But Bauer’s attack on Wilson represents a recent pattern within our media culture that readily destroys individuals with smears, lies and victimisation even while insisting on its superior moral authority to judge and wreck each one. | The habit of recent Australian media has been the relentless lopping of far shorter flowers than she. Bauer may not be responsible for media campaigns demanding the heads of blameless public servants or Muslim television presenters, or from the group that bullies welfare recipients into psychiatric counselling should they dare to question those above their station. But Bauer’s attack on Wilson represents a recent pattern within our media culture that readily destroys individuals with smears, lies and victimisation even while insisting on its superior moral authority to judge and wreck each one. |
| The transformation here is not that a celebrity has been spared humiliation. It’s that in the shadows of the media culture towering over us, a resentful population will make a champion of someone – anyone – who finds the strength to fight back with their own scythe. | The transformation here is not that a celebrity has been spared humiliation. It’s that in the shadows of the media culture towering over us, a resentful population will make a champion of someone – anyone – who finds the strength to fight back with their own scythe. |
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