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The Guardian
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The line between entertainment and reality is getting fuzzier. But making the distinction is more important than ever
Gina Chick, David Genat, Guy Sebastian, Poh Ling Yeow, Elon Musk and Donald Trump don't have a lot in common – except that they are the living embodiment of the essential truth of reality television: there can only be one winner. Gina, David, Guy, Poh and countless others have turned their success at surviving, dancing, cooking and singing into brilliant careers probably beyond their wildest dreams. Donald Trump applied the same single-mindedness to become the most powerful man in the world. For more than a decade he was in the living rooms of millions of Americans most weeks, picking winners, barking his judgment. Viewers did not see the squadrons of producers, camera operators, sound people, makeup artists, fixers and fawners. Truthiness trumps honesty as most of us understand the concept of accuracy. As a nearly 80-year-old, DJT has instinctively absorbed the lessons of television all his life. While others struggled to make sense of communications scholar Marshall McLuhan's theory that 'the medium is the message', he lived it. He strove to be an influencer before the term was invented; he was, and continues to be, the ultimate product placement. The sneers of others fed him. For all the talk about the power of social media, Elon Musk, learned at his expense that while his platform is great for proclamations, self-promotion and advertising, its narrative power still does not match the ingrained habits of television storytelling. 'I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far,' he posted, waving a white flag on X. Meanwhile, the rest of us nodded sagely, we knew this would happen, pass the popcorn, enjoy the show. Except this is not a show, even though the logic of television we have all grown up with encourages us to think it is. The man at its centre has the capacity, literally, to destroy the world. This fact that no doubt lingered in the minds of other world leaders as he made a typically attention-winning departure from the G7 Canadian summit last week. He quickly slapped down the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who with typical candour, suggested the president had left to broker peace in the Middle East. Like all stars, DJT also has an enormous capacity to charm. Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of the Atlantic who did enormous (temporary) damage to the new regime when he revealed he had been included in a classified group chat on Signal organised by Mike Waltz, who not long afterwards ceased to be the president's national security adviser. Goldberg describes a subsequent meeting in the gilded Oval Office: 'What I found on this particular meeting was a Trump who was low-key, attentive and eager to convince us that he is good at his job and good for the country. It isn't easy to escape the tractor beam of his charisma, but somehow we managed.' While a young DJT was absorbing the lessons of the age of television in midtown Manhattan, 50 blocks south, Neil Postman, a brilliant scholar at New York University, feared where this new manufactured reality might lead. In his erudite, yet snappily titled treatise, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman described the way the methods of television had transformed, and in his mind debased, the public sphere. Entertainment and emotion prevail; the worst tendencies in human nature pandered to; truthiness is enough. Postman had little objection to television as entertainment, what worried him was when these methods and rituals were also adopted in news and current affairs, in the serious programs that provide the information that inform big decisions. As we would say now, nuance and complexity are lost. He turned time and again to Aldous Huxley to make sense of what he feared was unfolding. 'He was trying to tell us that what afflicted the people in Brave New World was not that they were laughing instead of thinking, but that they did not know what they were laughing about and why they had stopped thinking.' We are the poorer for not knowing what Postman would make of this moment. He died a year before the first season of The Apprentice went to air in 2004, with 'decent ratings and mocking reviews'. DJT took an elevator 21 floors down to the pretend boardroom on the fourth floor of Trump Tower, where contestants who had been set tasks to rescue his failing enterprises awaited his judgment. As Emily Nussbaum documents in Cue the Sun, at that point no one understood how he would use the platform as a stepping stone to his grander ambition. When he did, one of the early apprentices urged voters to look beyond the artifice of television and recognise the risk. Celebrity was transformed into a vocation. The real world a B-roll backdrop. Australian networks were quick to adopt the formats of reality television, in the process creating some of the best in the genre. Our Housewives of … are considered some of the greatest, and Alone has restored a lost sense of authenticity. Despite Pauline Hanson dancing with the stars, there is still a line between public life and entertainment. But it is getting fuzzier as the attention seeking demands of the contemporary online media environment reward froth and emotion more than substance. Preserving this distinction between real and make-believe is more important than ever. Julianne Schultz is the author of The Idea of Australia, the co-editor of First Things First (Griffith Review) and the librettist of the multi-award-winning opera Black River
SBS Australia
03-06-2025
- General
- SBS Australia
'It's irreconcilable': Gina Chick on discovering her ancestors' colonial legacy
Gina Chick discovers her past in 'Who Do You Think You Are?'. Credit: SBS Gina Chick burst onto our screens and minds when she appeared on season one of Alone Australia , barefoot and swathed in a hand-made possum skin cloak that helped her survive the freezing wilderness in Lutriwita and ultimately win the mantle of the last (wo)man standing. Steadfastly chipper and defiantly earnest, Chick won hearts across the nation because of her deep reverence for the natural world. With her toes sinking into dewy grass and muddy soil, her wavy hair snagged with twigs, she chose not to conquer the natural environment but become embedded in it, learning from First Nations practices on how to best nurture and be nurtured by the land around her. It's this lucidness, this ability to place herself in tandem with nature instead of against it, that led to Chick's success on the show – and also what excited her about her appearance on the newest season of SBS's documentary series Who Do You Think You Are?. Chick planned to investigate her love for nature on the show, which traced her family's lineage back several generations. She was delighted to discover that such an essential part of her being runs in her blood – her grandmother, Australian writer Charmian Clift (who now has a reserve named after her) was a free-range Chick like her. Her great-grandfather Sydney Clift, an engineer from England, loved the wild beach and valley that surrounded his NSW home so much that he often walked barefoot, too. But learning about family can be just as confronting as it can be moving. After all, these people – who up until now were abstract beings barely imagined in Chick's psyche – lived a hundred years ago, amidst ongoing clearing of First Nations land and the continued expansion of colonial settlements. A tough pill to swallow for any Australian, but a particularly harrowing concept to Chick, who has dedicated her life to rewilding the bush and treading lightly on Indigenous land. 'That was one of the most devastating moments for me in the whole journey, the moment where I saw the quarry where my great grandfather had been working as an engineer, designing the systems that would take stone away from Wadi Wadi land,' she tells SBS. 'There were people living there, and my great grandfather was directly responsible, along with hundreds of other people, for the removal of that stone. When I got to that quarry, it was like a sledgehammer hit me when I saw and viscerally understood that there were people living here. 'There was an entire land formation that is now gone, and this is the direct result of colonialism, and it's not a theory anymore. This is my ancestry. I was devastated. I was completely and I still am.' There's an impulse to meld the colonial legacy of our forefathers with stories of their laughter, joy, and love for the bush, but Chick errs away from this thinking. Instead, she is careful not to sanitise her family's legacy. 'It's irreconcilable,' Chick says. 'I have to accept that there are stories in me which are about deep, profound and visceral connection to First Nation rights and First Nation sovereignty, and there are deep and profound stories within me about the coloniser who took that away. I don't think that's reconcilable. I think that is part of the tension that I will now carry with me for the rest of my days.' This stopped being a theory and became something that I felt in my bones ... It's only in these contradictions that we can truly reckon with who we are – a mish mash kaleidoscope of people who, as a result of decisions good and bad, have brought us into this world. And it's only through shining a light on this reality that we can even begin to wrestle with it. 'I am so grateful that I went on this journey for Who Do You Think You Are? so that this stopped being a theory and became something that I felt in my bones so that I can now carry that dissonance inside me,' she says. 'It's not about whitewashing it. It's not about bypassing it. It's about carrying that grief and the reality of [that] dissonance inside me that will never be right, but at least now I'm feeling it and I think that is actually part of my responsibility as a descendant of colonisers, it's part of my responsibility to feel that. 'I carry with me a tiny inkling, a tiny fragment, of the sense of the impact that my ancestor has had, and in my way, feel that grief as much as I can so that it isn't lost, so that there is something true. I can then meet my Indigenous friends and say I am sorry that my ancestor did this, and I'm sorry I'm working on stolen land. I don't have an answer, but I do feel it, and that's not enough but it's something.' Who Do You Think You Are ? airs on SBS and SBS On Demand Tuesday nights at 7.30pm. Gina Chick's episode is now available to stream on SBS On Demand, and airs at SBS on Tuesday 3 June at 7.30PM. Who Do You Think You Are? Australia Gina Chick's bestselling memoir We Are The Stars is available from Summit Books/Simon & Schuster. Share this with family and friends SBS's award winning companion podcast. Join host Yumi Stynes for Seen, a new SBS podcast about cultural creatives who have risen to excellence despite a role-model vacuum.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Yahoo
Warning as major camping fee hike will 'price ordinary Aussies out'
Debate is again heating up in New South Wales over a controversial plan to significantly increase campsite fees across the state's public parks and reserves. It's a move the government says is necessary to help cover maintenance costs amid a tourism boom and to tackle the growing issue of ghost camping. Earlier this year, the NSW government announced plans to raise prices at its 895 national parks and reserves, which together make up around 10 per cent of the state's total land mass. It would mark the first major fee update since 2017. Under the proposed overhaul, campsite charges will be linked to the consumer price index, meaning they'll increase annually. Seasonal pricing will also apply, with higher rates during peak periods and cheaper fees in the off-season. But the changes have sparked backlash from campers and nature-lovers, many of whom fear the hikes could price everyday Australians out of a cherished pastime. Author and Alone Australia winner Gina Chick said her immediate concern was that rising fees could "price ordinary Aussies out of being able to take their families camping". "For me, this is one of the most beautiful ways that Australians can go out and meet the environment, and especially young people," she told The Project. "It's really important that there is a fair system, where everyone has access to the wilderness, and where everyone can go camping ... into our national parks. It needs a system that will work for everyone, and I don't think this one does." Under the new pricing structure, campsites will be grouped into six tiers. The most basic — a simple clearing with no facilities — will remain free. Tier two through tier five sites, which make up about 85 per cent of all campsites, will cost between $22 and $65 per night during peak times, depending on the amenities provided. The top-tier campgrounds — with hot showers and BBQ facilities — will rise to $89 per night. The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) said demand has surged, with visitation growing 49 per cent over the past decade. Parks now receive over 50 million visits annually, including 1.8 million overnight stays. A spokesperson told Yahoo the proposed changes aim to "introduce more consistent and simplified state-wide camping fees and bookings for NSW national parks and reserves" and confirmed that all public feedback would be carefully considered. Filmmaker and Alone Australia alumn Mike Atkinson agreed that some updates are needed, particularly when it comes to the current booking system. 👀 Caravan and boat owners targeted by Aussie council in new push for law change 🏝️ Caravan family's 'gap year' trip around Australia exposes booming travel trend 🚐 Temu item caravan family swears by to solve common 'off-grid camping' issue "Before Covid, there wasn't a booking system for most of the campgrounds in NSW national parks, and it was fine then. I think they need to remove the booking system for places that didn't have one before," he told The Project. But Mike warned that high fees risk excluding vulnerable groups. "Poor people, young people — they're not going to be able to camp in NSW national park campgrounds," he said. One of the key motivations behind the changes is to deter "ghost camping" — when individuals reserve campsites well in advance but fail to show up, leaving the site empty while others miss out. The NPWS argued that higher prices are needed to support record investment in campground upgrades, rising park management costs, and shifting community expectations. While the overhaul is likely to go ahead, authorities insist they are still consulting the public, with submissions open for another month. You can have your say here. It's understood that there is currently no confirmed start date for the new pricing to take effect. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
The Guardian
09-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Away with Gina Chick: ‘I like to travel with a parrot. I get to feel like a pirate'
Gina Chick has a wise take on riding the waves of travel. 'Things happen on holiday – your stuff gets stolen, the car breaks down, you miss your flights, there's some giant weather event,' she says. 'But afterwards they're the things that bring you together, that you remember and tell stories about for the rest of your life. And I love the holidays that turn into an adventure. They're my favourite.' And Chick knows a thing or two about adventure. She won the first season of Alone Australia after surviving 67 days – completely solo – in the Tasmanian bush. It was a feat she'd been training for her whole life. Before her star-making turn on reality TV, Chick spent a third of each year abroad teaching dance meditation retreats, a third running wilderness programs in the Australian outback and the remainder of her time living out of a seven-metre Toyota bus, driving wherever she felt like. Despite picking up $250,000 in prize money on Alone, Chick still lives in that bus, preferring the nomadic lifestyle over creature comforts. For the moment, Chick is back in Tasmania, perched on the edge of the ocean and working on her next book (her first, a memoir called We Are the Stars, was published last year). Here, Chick tells us about the most memorable moments of her unconventional life on the road. Who makes an excellent travel companion? Usually, they're not human. If I'm going around Australia, I like to travel with a parrot. I get to feel like a pirate. It's a conversation starter. And it's always happy to see me. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning If I'm going international, I like travelling with a good guitar. I am a totally crap guitarist but if I ever get stuck in an airport and pull out a really good guitar, every guitarist around pricks up their eyes and their ears and comes to find me. The next thing you know, there's 20 people sitting around some amazing musician who's absolutely going off. The hours pass and it's just kumbaya, baby. What's your earliest childhood holiday memory? Camping – all of the family holidays were camping. My parents were teachers, so every school holiday we'd drive off somewhere to sleep in those old canvas, A-frame tents. I remember being in the back of the van with my sister and our dog, who farted the entire way. Then we'd get to the camping area and eat braised steak and onion out of a can for dinner, which for some reason tastes amazing when you're camping and like a dog's arse when you're not. Describe your most memorable travel meal – good, bad or just surprising. I was in France to teach a retreat and was driving through the countryside when I saw a roadkill squirrel. I'd never eaten squirrel and wanted to try it. That night, I made a fire, put the squirrel on a stick and cooked it, feeling like Robin Hood. It tasted a bit like nutty rabbit. What's the most relaxing place you've ever visited? South-western Tasmania for 67 days on Alone Australia. Just kidding! It's the Harbin Hot Springs in California. It was this amazing hot spring that I went to in 2002 on the way to Burning Man, where I spent hours moving from the hottest hot pools to cold pools and back again. I don't think I've ever felt more relaxed in my life. And the most stressful? That would be getting altitude sickness driving from Salt Lake City across the Rockies to Denver, Colorado. I get altitude sickness at anything over 5,000 feet, but I didn't think about that because I was going to visit a lover in Denver for one night. I was like, 'Yeah, I can drive!' Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion I was sick the entire way. It was probably one of the most tormented trips I've ever done. But it was fun with the lover, even though I wasn't really up to scratch. We did our best. What is your holiday ritual? When I'm travelling internationally, I always try to swim in whatever their local water is because that's part of how I get over jet lag. I find that if I can swim in the water, my system calibrates to the time zone. It might be psychosomatic, but I think it works. And if I can, I hire a car and drive rather than fly to places because I want to be able to explore. I will always look for places where I can see a horizon, because I need an infinite edge. I will always try to do something risky, something that's going to push me outside my comfort zone. And eat local. Muddle through on the language. Fall in love. Don't die. What's one item you always put in your suitcase? I always take what looks like a Swiss army knife but it is full of tools for carving wood. And then when I'm travelling, I will find bits of wood and carve spoons out of them, which I bring home as souvenirs. What's your biggest travel regret? The world has changed, which means that for me as a solo female traveller, there are places I just can't go now. My aunt, who is now 89, hitchhiked through the Middle East alone in her 20s, about 65 years ago now. I'm sad that is something I am unlikely to be able to do. Gina Chick appears at All About Women at the Sydney Opera House on 9 March.
