Beyond a joke
In History Bites Back, filmmaker Trisha Morton-Thomas takes a swipe at online trolls with historical context around Australia’s past. She tells Danielle McGrane why she decided to do it with humour.
Love it or hate it, social media is a part of life. But Aboriginal filmmaker Trisha Morton-Thomas has developed a unique way of dealing with its downside in the one-hour TV special, History Bites Back.
With a cast including Steven Oliver and Elaine Crombie, Morton-Thomas takes a look at some of the negative comments directed towards Indigenous Australians on social media through sketches, and directs the conversation towards their historical context – looking at topics including social security, citizenship, nuclear bombs and how they’ve affected Indigenous Australians.
“It’s looking at the toxic side of social media but the toxic side of Australia as well,” Morton-Thomas said.
It’s done with humour, there’s a lot of lightness and comedy in the way these online comments and sketches are acted out.
because it’s the only way you can tackle this heavy history – and there’s a lot of trauma in it – to actually laugh and to see the funny side of it, or the ironic side of things,” she said.
“I think it draws people in much easier than just going hard at it.”
These are huge topics and some of the comments are particularly incendiary, but Morton-Thomas doesn’t write off these online platforms completely.
“I think social media can be a very powerful tool either for good or bad depending which way you’re leaning,” she said.
“I love social media because it allows me to keep in contact with family across the country and across the world. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing children grow in my family in Sydney and in Melbourne because of social media.”
But there’s no doubting the downside to social media, particularly when it comes to the racist and prejudiced remarks that are dished out by trolls
History Bites Back. and often directed towards Indigenous Australians.
With History Bites Back, Morton-Thomas and her cast have found one way to try and handle the toxicity, by putting these comments in a historical context.
“I think we’re all looking at some way to deal with it. I just thought I’ve got something to say back to these people,” she said.
“I think it’s a good way to bring people’s attention to things. I think it comes down to what’s happening in the world, how people react to each other and it seems to be a nasty time throughout the world.”
With History Bites Back, Morton-Thomas is hoping to get people thinking differently about Australia’s past.
“I’m hoping that Australians will look at our history and realise that it’s not all sunshine and roses,” she said.
“It is amazing here, but this country has been built by so many different people from so many different backgrounds. The white narrative is the strongest but actually I would love to see in this country more history from the Chinese, more history from the Afghans, more history from the Italians and Greeks, all of these [people] that make up our country today.”
Australia, as MortonThomas sees it, is a melting pot that needs to be represented more realistically on screen. But she says it’s improving.
“Up until five years ago, television was very vanilla but it’s definitely changing. I think in the next five years or so we’ll have a better image on our screens of what Australia is like on the streets,” she said.
There’s still one place where major change needs to happen.
“I think most kids pick up their attitudes from their parents, so I think a lot of changes have to happen in the home,” Morton-Thomas said.
Trisha Morton-Thomas: I always have fun because it’s the only way you can tackle this heavy history… to see the funny side of it.
History Bites Back,