Seeing Green

Dead Calm: Refuge, Threat and Oceanscape

June 22, 2022 Season 2 Episode 2
Seeing Green
Dead Calm: Refuge, Threat and Oceanscape
Show Notes

When Rae and John Ingram set off on their yacht into the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, they’re looking for some solitude in the wake of their son’s tragic death.

In this episode of Seeing Green, we’re diving into Dead Calm, Phillip Noyce’s 1989 psychological thriller starring Sam Neill, Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane. We’ll explore how its particular depiction of ‘seascape’ relates to imaginaries about the ocean as both threat and refuge. We’ll also touch on the connection between weather and mental health, and the role of film in reflecting anxieties of living on an island continent.

In this episode:

Dr Fincina Hopgood, senior lecturer in screen studies at the University of New England.

And Dr Killian Quigley, research fellow at the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences at the Australian Catholic University.