Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows Alan (Adam Garnett) and his father (Tony Barry) discussing the tactics Alan could use to fight school bully Steven Macintyre (Darren McDonald). In the next scene Alan, who wears a leg brace and uses crutches, challenges Macintyre to a stick fight and Macintyre agrees to a contest after school the following day. Alan’s friends assure him they will support him, while Maggie (Sally Anne Bourne) threatens to deal with anyone who reports the boys for fighting. The clip concludes with a scene showing Alan’s father telling Alan’s mother (Julie Hamilton), who appears to be against the fight, that they should not stop Alan from fighting and that rather than protecting him should encourage him to lead a 'normal’ life.

Educational value points

• Alan’s father associates standing up to the school bully with manliness when he tells his wife, who is distressed at the thought of Alan fighting, that they should ‘cut out workin’ for the kid and start workin’ for the man in him’. In the early 20th century physical courage, including fighting, was seen as a sign of masculinity and it was believed that boys should be ‘toughened up’ in order to cope with any hard knocks they might encounter in adulthood. At the same time in the clip, the relationship between father and son is characterised by tenderness, and the father’s support of Alan in his conflict with Macintyre is an expression of love and compassion.

• The clip is an excerpt from the television miniseries I Can Jump Puddles, based on the autobiographical novel of the same name written by Alan Marshall (1902–84). At the age of 6 Marshall contracted poliomyelitis, which left him with a curvature of the spine and a withered right leg, and meant he had to wear a caliper (leg brace) and use crutches. Alan Marshall called himself Alan Towens in the novel and changed the names of friends and locations. The novel records Marshall’s experience of growing up in rural Victoria in the early 20th century and his determination to lead an active life despite his disability.

• In the 1900s, children who had suffered from polio were sometimes ostracised because of fears that they were still contagious as well as the stigma associated with disability, and that isolation was compounded if their disabilities prevented them from fully participating in community life. While people with disabilities tended to be marginalised at the time rather than integrated into the community, Marshall found that after he was crippled by polio the community at Noorat accepted him as just another battler like themselves and consequently did not treat him any differently.

• After recovering from polio, Marshall remained mobile by using a homemade pram-wheelchair and crutches, and learned how to swim and ride a horse. In the clip, Alan is resolved to remain active, a trait that helps to explain how and why Marshall became a passionate advocate for the disabled. His resolve not to let his disability hamper him was influenced by his father’s determination that he lead as ‘normal’ a life as possible, a desire Alan’s father expresses in the clip when he tells his wife that they should not protect Alan, insisting that ‘I want him to try the lot, no matter what the risk’.

• A recurrent theme in Marshall’s novels and short stories is the strong sense of community and solidarity among groups of people who are usually ‘battlers’. In the clip, Alan’s friends demonstrate their fierce loyalty to Alan when they actively support him against Macintyre, despite the bully’s apparent physical advantage.

In the 20th century children who had suffered from polio were sometimes ostracised because of fears that they were still contagious as well as the stigma associated with disability. That isolation was compounded if their disabilities prevented them from fully participating in community life. While people with disabilities tended to be marginalised at the time, Marshall found that after he was crippled by polio the community at Noorat accepted him as just another battler like themselves and consequently did not treat him any differently.

• Alan Marshall was born in Noorat in the Western District of Victoria, the setting for the fictitious town of Turalla in I Can Jump Puddles. The author of 15 books, many of which depict the lives of ordinary people in rural communities, Marshall began contributing to newspapers and magazines and writing short stories in the 1930s. In 1954 a Commonwealth Literary Fund grant enabled him to write I Can Jump Puddles (1955), the first in his autobiographical trilogy, which included This Is the Grass (1962) and In Mine Own Heart (1963).

• I Can Jump Puddles was a nine-part miniseries made for television in 1981. The miniseries format was popular in the 1980s. Many well-known stories by Australian authors were turned into screenplays for television and many of Australia’s well-known actors began their careers in miniseries. The performances of the child actors in I Can Jump Puddles are noteworthy for their excellence. Adam Garnett is particularly convincing and sensitive in his portrayal of Alan.

Alan and his father are outside, discussing tactics to fight the school bully.
Father What happens when he hits you? You might get one good chop at him, one good hit under the chin, then he’s going to flatten you like a tack.
Alan Yeah, but once I’m down, I’m set. I’ll pull him down on top of me. Then he’ll never get away.
Father How’s your back?
Alan Oh, it doesn’t hurt much. If he kicked me on it, it’d hurt. But I’ll lie on it.
Father It’s a pity there’s not some other way you could fight him. What’s he like with a Shanghai?
Alan Oh, he’s too good with a Shanghai. Once I saw him kill a (inaudible) clean across the road.
Father How about sticks?

A group of kids are standing outside the school as Alan confronts Steven.
Steven Macintyre Sticks? What do you mean, sticks? What’s the matter with fists? Scared I’ll flatten your nose in, are you?
Boy 1 What’s wrong with sticks, then?
Maggie Scared he’ll knock your bloody block off, are ya?
Boy 2 Yella, are ya?
Alan One, two, three, you can’t fight me.
Steven Macintyre Alright, then. Tomorrow night in Jackson’s paddock, after school.
Boy 2 Come on, Alan.
Maggie Right. And if a single one of youse buggers tells, I’ll knock youse bloody blocks off.
Friend of Alan We’ll back you up, Allan, don’t you worry. If he beats you, we’ll beat him up.
Friend of Alan He’s yella.
Friend of Alan You’ve got more people on your side than he’s got on his.

Alan’s father is taking to his wife while she sets the table.
Father We’ve just got to toughen the boy up. If we save him from this now, he’s going to get it in the neck later on. God, woman, we’ve got to cut out working for the kid and start working for the man in him. I want him to try the lot, no matter what the risk.