The great Oscar Wilde once said that, “life imitates art far more than art imitates life”. This quote certainly rings true in the television program Summer Heights High. In the television show, Chris Lilley plays the lead three roles of which none are remotely similar to the others. Liley’s roles include Ja’mie, a snobby 16 year old private‐school girl, Jonah – a troubled 13 year old Tongan, as well as Mr. G, the school’s wildly self-absorbed drama teacher. Although all three characters, though incredibly diverse, benefit from an audience that is familiar with stereotypes of similar characters, Lilley’s characters comes across as authentic. In this case, Oscar Wilde was right: in a case of life imitating art, elements of dialogue from the show entered into Aussie school-yard lingo (Mattesi, pg 1).
The show is brilliantly done, as it balances the three oft-kilter characters beautifully, rarely if ever having them interact. Ja’mie is the prototypical obnoxious private school girl, who upon entering the school on exchange begins judging the school and its inhabitants immediately. “Those bins are so random… Public schools are so random”, Ja’mie says within minutes of being delivered upon the premises of Summer Heights High. These quotes, amongst many others from each of the characters I have heard echoed both on campus at UNSW, as well as amongst my friends at home in the United States. The effects of this show and its excellent portrayal of a secondary school in Australia are deep and far-reaching.
Mr. G’s inappropriateness and inability to censor himself leads to uproarious laughs from the audience. He is a drama teacher that is a complete control freak and embodies all that is negative of a teacher. His insensitivity to situations is blatantly obvious from his first scene, which he talks about his most recent play put on by the school. Tsunamara is the story of the devastating tsunami that hit Indonesia and Thailand, which is set to the music of the pop group Bananarama. He repeatedly tries to “keep the students on their toes” by popping into classrooms and telling them that “there’s a pedophile in the school…” or by creating a play about a student who has died and turning it into a mockery.
The third character is arguably the most influential and indicative of Australian character in the show, Jonah. Jonah is of Tongan descent and is a destructive, yet troubled year 8 student. Physically superior to his peers, he struggles to stay out of trouble, constantly bullying other students, eventually being expelled from his third school in under two years. His character is the most fully-rounded character, because as the season progresses we see him change from an immature student who is incessantly bullying students and acting out in class, to a more mature student who apologizes for his behaviors and even prevents his friends from bullying his “rival” in the final episode. He clearly begins maturing throughout the season, unfortunately he is expelled before he has a chance to turn the year around for himself.
Though I have never been to Australian secondary school, based off of this show I feel as if I would have a relatively good idea of what to expect. The show portrays issues in the school with social cliques, bullying, teenage slang, stereotyping, profanity, racism, and homophobia by showcasing the characters through completely different lights. This program did an excellent job in satirically depicting everyday life for a public school student in Australia, and is highly recommended from myself to others.
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