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Clip description
This clip is a segment from an animated cinema advertisement for Super Shell oil. After unsuccessfully using a kangaroo as a mode of transport, King Billy and a koala solve their transportation problems by inventing an animal-made and animal-powered car which uses an unconventional form of fuel. At the end, the animals’ vehicle is replaced by a modern car that pulls into a Shell service station. A male voice-over announces that ‘time marches on, and with it comes Super Shell’.
Curator’s notes
Please note: the crackly soundtrack in this clip is because of the age of the material and the physical condition of the film print held at the National Film and Sound Archive.
Animation offers the flexibility and scope to depict events that are not possible (or acceptable) in a live-action format. Cartoonist Dick Ovenden draws a scenario in which King Billy creates an improvised car using his imagination and the resources at hand. The advertisement’s message is that time has marched on since the early days of motor vehicle manufacture and production, and that Super Shell meets the needs of modern drivers. This advertisement screened to cinema audiences over 60 years ago and, since then, advertising methods and social attitudes have also marched on.
Note from Sophia Sambono, Curator Indigenous Collections, NFSA
The ‘King Billy’ featured in this advertisement is an ape-like depiction of an Aboriginal man. There are many aspects of the animation which contribute to this portrayal: the contrast created by his white gloves, spats, king plate and exaggerated mouth (also a common feature of blackface) against the black skin and hair; the use of a crown; and the title ‘King Billy’.
‘King Billy’ does not indicate one particular person being represented; rather, it was a common and often arbitrary moniker given to many Aboriginal men who were singled out to act as a leader with whom authorities could communicate. This position was marked by a king plate. One such King Billy was Jimmy Clements who was present at the opening of Parliament House in Canberra, as seen in the film The Birth of White Australia (1928).
The depiction serves as a powerful reminder to contemporary viewers, not just of environmental issues but of the inherent racism in society, reflecting the social attitudes of this time. Indeed Indigenous people in Australia were actually classified as flora and fauna right up until 1967.
Such comparisons with animals justified the poor treatment of minority groups across history; ape-like comparisons with black men, like those seen in the Shell ad, were used to justify slavery, violence and murder in America’s south. Unfortunately this ape stereotype is still not fully eradicated.
This attitude towards Aboriginal people can be seen in films such as Jedda (1955), where Jedda’s adoptive mother dismisses Aboriginal people as monkeys (see clip two).
In an advertising sense the use of an ape-like Aboriginal man infers that only primitive peoples use fuel other than Shell, and only primitive peoples would exploit animals this way.
