Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

Hey Sista! (2001)

play May contain names, images or voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
clip ’You could even pass for a blackfella’

This clip chosen to be PG

Clip description

After bonding over afros and basketball Lisa (Phaedra Nicolaidis) and Marlene (Maria Tusa) devise a plan for Lisa to play on the All Blacks basketball team. The girls win the game and Lisa is in high spirits but still can’t let go of the lure of a ‘normal’ friendship with Roberta (Natalie Blair).

Curator’s notes

Marlene’s comment in this clip that Lisa ’could even pass for a blackfella’ leads to their plan for Lisa to play with the All Blacks. It also draws attention to the fact there are many faces of Aboriginal Australia and that Aboriginal identity is not necessarily tied to the colour of your skin.

This clip also highlights the inherent racism of 1970s Australia, specifically where Marlene declares she would ’rather be a frog than a wog any day’ and Lisa says she is only half a wog, the other half being 'Skippy cornflake’. Such all-too-common, derogatory terms like ‘wog’ are now considered unacceptable racist slurs.