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Netflix has launched Australia from the back of the pack. Soon we'll edge ahead Netflix has launched Australia from the back of the pack. Soon we'll edge ahead
(about 5 hours later)
Merry Netflix Christmas, Australia – it’s the day you bound out of bed, fling open the curtains and sing to the heavens: Netflix is here! Or stay under the covers, curtains firmly drawn, and start binging on Sherlock. Merry Netflix Christmas, Australia – it’s the day you bound out of bed, fling open the curtains and sing to the heavens: Netflix is here! Or stay under the covers, curtains firmly drawn, and start bingeing on Sherlock.
With the service’s long-awaited arrival in the region, the streaming face-off between Stan and Presto not only becomes a triangle, but the nation as a whole reaches a milestone. Australia, culturally speaking, has finally caught up.With the service’s long-awaited arrival in the region, the streaming face-off between Stan and Presto not only becomes a triangle, but the nation as a whole reaches a milestone. Australia, culturally speaking, has finally caught up.
Before now Netflix was that mythical fountain of procrastination that all Americans seemed to love and loathe in equal measure. It was ruining their lives and they were delighted, while Australians could only peer on enviously, wondering how frequently one channel could air repeats of The Block. Now we’ve reached a tipping point in the precarious House of Cards that is our cultural capital. Claiming Australia as the arts underdog — always the bridesmaid, never the bride — simply doesn’t wash any more. The US may have wooed us with The Wire and groundbreaking hip-hop and the mere concept of a cronut, grooming us to believe our geographical location down south bore some relation to our distance from The Bottom. But the jig is up. “I guess you’ve played knifey-spoony before,” a tough bloke says in the pub during The Simpsons’ infamous sojourn Down Under, an episode that allowed Americans to think Australians were inbred rednecks sizzling in the heat of an upside-down world. That episode, Bart vs Australia, aired in the US in 1995. Two decades later, do you think Matt Groening would even dare? Australia, the laughing stock of America’s first family? Tell ’em they’re dreaming.Before now Netflix was that mythical fountain of procrastination that all Americans seemed to love and loathe in equal measure. It was ruining their lives and they were delighted, while Australians could only peer on enviously, wondering how frequently one channel could air repeats of The Block. Now we’ve reached a tipping point in the precarious House of Cards that is our cultural capital. Claiming Australia as the arts underdog — always the bridesmaid, never the bride — simply doesn’t wash any more. The US may have wooed us with The Wire and groundbreaking hip-hop and the mere concept of a cronut, grooming us to believe our geographical location down south bore some relation to our distance from The Bottom. But the jig is up. “I guess you’ve played knifey-spoony before,” a tough bloke says in the pub during The Simpsons’ infamous sojourn Down Under, an episode that allowed Americans to think Australians were inbred rednecks sizzling in the heat of an upside-down world. That episode, Bart vs Australia, aired in the US in 1995. Two decades later, do you think Matt Groening would even dare? Australia, the laughing stock of America’s first family? Tell ’em they’re dreaming.
All too recently, Australia was so painfully behind northern hemisphere culture, you had to presume films and TV series were being hand-delivered by a messenger walking across continents and swimming the oceans – that’s how long after everyone else we were treated to anything worth watching. A collective and sharp intake of breath was audible across the US as viewers found out who killed Laura Palmer on Twin Peaks; meanwhile in Australia, we had no idea who she was. The Olsen twins were teenagers before we saw them in Full House. Saying “No soup for you!” was already passé in the States before it caught on here, and Rachel had well and truly gotten off that plane before we knew Ross had even tripped them into “being on a break”. Major bands rarely ventured past the equator on their supposed “world tours”, chic and affordable clothing brands such as Zara, Gap, H&M and Topshop were an exotic mythology, and having an Australian even attend an awards ceremony such as the Oscars was worthy of a public holiday. Never mind that the world was round; Australia was square. But the tables are turning: films from across the pond are arriving within reasonable delay at cinemas and shows such as Game of Thrones are broadcast virtually simultaneously – both to curb pirates and to ease the pain of premature spoilers online. What does the US still have that Australia doesn’t? Saturday Night Live, perhaps? Broadway? J-Law? $13tn in public debt? Sure. But maybe the right question is: what does Australia have that the US lusts after?All too recently, Australia was so painfully behind northern hemisphere culture, you had to presume films and TV series were being hand-delivered by a messenger walking across continents and swimming the oceans – that’s how long after everyone else we were treated to anything worth watching. A collective and sharp intake of breath was audible across the US as viewers found out who killed Laura Palmer on Twin Peaks; meanwhile in Australia, we had no idea who she was. The Olsen twins were teenagers before we saw them in Full House. Saying “No soup for you!” was already passé in the States before it caught on here, and Rachel had well and truly gotten off that plane before we knew Ross had even tripped them into “being on a break”. Major bands rarely ventured past the equator on their supposed “world tours”, chic and affordable clothing brands such as Zara, Gap, H&M and Topshop were an exotic mythology, and having an Australian even attend an awards ceremony such as the Oscars was worthy of a public holiday. Never mind that the world was round; Australia was square. But the tables are turning: films from across the pond are arriving within reasonable delay at cinemas and shows such as Game of Thrones are broadcast virtually simultaneously – both to curb pirates and to ease the pain of premature spoilers online. What does the US still have that Australia doesn’t? Saturday Night Live, perhaps? Broadway? J-Law? $13tn in public debt? Sure. But maybe the right question is: what does Australia have that the US lusts after?
They might try to pry the likes of Cate Blanchett, Baz Luhrmann, Sia, Iggy Azalea, Tame Impala, Gotye, the Hemsworths, Chris Lilley or Courtney Barnett from our clenched fists — but they’re ours. It’s only a matter of time before we start claiming Kiwi darling Lorde as one of our own too, and have the US believe it. It worked with Russell Crowe. And did I our mention 40,000 years of Indigenous culture? Who’s the young nation now, eh?They might try to pry the likes of Cate Blanchett, Baz Luhrmann, Sia, Iggy Azalea, Tame Impala, Gotye, the Hemsworths, Chris Lilley or Courtney Barnett from our clenched fists — but they’re ours. It’s only a matter of time before we start claiming Kiwi darling Lorde as one of our own too, and have the US believe it. It worked with Russell Crowe. And did I our mention 40,000 years of Indigenous culture? Who’s the young nation now, eh?
The icing on the cake – or the perfectly poured fern in the foam – is America’s recent adoption of the flat white. Australia is the only country where Starbucks has failed to make a monopoly and a fool of the local cafe scene, and now here they are, poised to take on our caffeinated beverage of choice. Isn’t that cute?The icing on the cake – or the perfectly poured fern in the foam – is America’s recent adoption of the flat white. Australia is the only country where Starbucks has failed to make a monopoly and a fool of the local cafe scene, and now here they are, poised to take on our caffeinated beverage of choice. Isn’t that cute?
So that distant pop you’re hearing is the burst of America’s stronghold of a cultural bubble. Not only do we no longer lag behind our US friends – and Friends – we’re creeping ahead. It’s only a matter of time before a columnist ponders enviously: “But when will the US ever be able to Make It In Australia?”So that distant pop you’re hearing is the burst of America’s stronghold of a cultural bubble. Not only do we no longer lag behind our US friends – and Friends – we’re creeping ahead. It’s only a matter of time before a columnist ponders enviously: “But when will the US ever be able to Make It In Australia?”