Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows Alvin Purple’s psychiatrist, Liz Sort (Penne Hackforth-Jones) being questioned in court about Alvin’s purported sexual addiction. It then cuts to Alvin (Graeme Blundell) and his girlfriend travelling in a taxi, with a driver who expresses his disgust for Alvin’s lecherous behaviour. They get out of the taxi in protest. Alvin is next seen taking the stand in court and being questioned about his work as a 'sex therapist’, and the courtroom then devolves into a farce as laughter erupts over a series of double entendres.

Educational value points

• Alvin Purple was Australia’s most successful film at the time of its release. Between 1973 and 1977 Alvin Purple took more than $4 million at the box office and, over the next decade, it achieved cult status. The character Alvin, through the film and the ensuing television series, became an Australian cultural icon and the name 'Alvin Purple’ was synonymous with a sexually vigorous male. The television series Alvin Purple (1976) similarly used sex and nudity for comic effect. Other television programs in this immensely popular and sensational genre included No. 96 (1972–77) and The Box (1974–77).

• The sexual language and content of the film is indicative of changes to censorship laws at the time it was made. In 1971 new classifications had been created, including an over-18 category that could contain more explicitly sexual material than ever before.

• The clip demonstrates how the narrative and humour of Alvin Purple depend on stereotypes. Penne Hackforth-Jones’s character, Dr Liz Sort, is depicted as a humourless and vindictive feminist stereotype while the taxi driver is a one-eyed judgemental 'wowser’, all too keen to tell his passengers what he thinks.

• The clip suggests the recurring theme of female sexual predators in the film. This reversal of traditional masculine and feminine roles, with the female as sexual predator and the male as prey, is central to Alvin Purple.

• Feminism was emerging as a key political movement in Australia in the 1970s and supporters of radical feminism, who saw women’s oppression as the cause of many of society’s problems, were becoming more vocal. Role reversal in Alvin Purple provides fanciful wish fulfilment for men, with willing rather than increasingly politically engaged women. The film’s attitude to sexual politics of the 1970s can be seen as both promoting and trivialising the ideas of the women’s rights movement.

• The character of Dr Liz Sort, presented as a confident, manipulative professional, may be seen as a caricature of an Australian feminist of the 1970s. At this time feminists were working towards basic principles such as equal pay for equal work. Ironically, the film may also be seen as liberating for women, in that they are portrayed as free to pursue their sexual desires without censure.

• The work of well-known Australian actors Graeme Blundell and Penne Hackforth-Jones is showcased in the clip. Through his role as Alvin Purple in both the film and subsequent television series, Blundell became one of the most popular actors of the period while Hackforth-Jones has since acted in a wide range of film and television roles.

• Alvin Purple belongs to a particular genre of Australian cinema, the 'ocker’ film. Australian cinema of the last three decades of the 20th century is often defined by a dichotomy between the 'ocker’ film and the 'arthouse’ film. The former relies on contemporary urban stereotypes easily recognised by a local audience. It is crude and lively and offers Australians the chance to laugh at themselves and in particular at representatives of the establishment, such as the court (in the clip, no one takes Alvin’s case seriously). Other more recent films in this genre include The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) and Muriel’s Wedding (1994).