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I finally got to watch the Oscars coverage last night. It was totally surreal to see all these people get up to make acceptance speeches, and to hear good ol' Kiwi accents coming out of their mouths.
I had a damn good laugh when Billy Crystal said there was nobody left in NZ to thank, and that people were moving here to get thanked! In a way, he's right. In a country as small as ours, when something like this happens, you're either involved in it, or know someone who was. I know Craig Parker, who played Haldir in the first two movies, for example (he kissed my neck in the drama room at school!). So when success like this happens, everyone feels like it's a national achievement. We barely have 4 million people, in a country big enough to fit England, Wales, and half of Ireland. So it's a sparse population - only Auckland has more than a million people.
For a long time, New Zealand was isolated from the rest of the world. When my parents immigrated in the early 70's, they were horrified to discover there was no colour TV! Or any such thing as fabric softener. Until air travel improved, we were 10-20 years behind Europe and America. Because it took so long to get anything new from overseas, this created what's called "Kiwi Ingenuity", which is basically the belief that there's nothing that can't be fixed with some elbow grease and a roll of #8 fencing wire. It's that kind of attitude that now sees some of our companies leading the way in visusal effects, medical research, advertising, etc. We were one of the first countries in the world to get EFTPOS (point-of-sale) technology. We were the first to get Pepsi Max. Because of our size, we make a good test market. And it's not too expensive for companies to bring in new initiatives that may be difficult and expensive in larger populations. So it's an enormously proud day to see companies like Weta getting awards for technology developed and used here. No longer are we the little back-water place with the outdated cars and clothes.
By nature, Kiwis don't like to bang their own drum. This sort of success is normally met by an embarrassed smile, a shrug, and a punch on the arm, and everyone gets back to business. But for once, I feel we should all say, 'yeah, we rock, actually' and take a moment to feel really, really good about this, Whale Rider, The Piano, Once Were Warriors, The Last Samurai... and look out soon for The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe.
You will now be returned to your normal programme...
I had a damn good laugh when Billy Crystal said there was nobody left in NZ to thank, and that people were moving here to get thanked! In a way, he's right. In a country as small as ours, when something like this happens, you're either involved in it, or know someone who was. I know Craig Parker, who played Haldir in the first two movies, for example (he kissed my neck in the drama room at school!). So when success like this happens, everyone feels like it's a national achievement. We barely have 4 million people, in a country big enough to fit England, Wales, and half of Ireland. So it's a sparse population - only Auckland has more than a million people.
For a long time, New Zealand was isolated from the rest of the world. When my parents immigrated in the early 70's, they were horrified to discover there was no colour TV! Or any such thing as fabric softener. Until air travel improved, we were 10-20 years behind Europe and America. Because it took so long to get anything new from overseas, this created what's called "Kiwi Ingenuity", which is basically the belief that there's nothing that can't be fixed with some elbow grease and a roll of #8 fencing wire. It's that kind of attitude that now sees some of our companies leading the way in visusal effects, medical research, advertising, etc. We were one of the first countries in the world to get EFTPOS (point-of-sale) technology. We were the first to get Pepsi Max. Because of our size, we make a good test market. And it's not too expensive for companies to bring in new initiatives that may be difficult and expensive in larger populations. So it's an enormously proud day to see companies like Weta getting awards for technology developed and used here. No longer are we the little back-water place with the outdated cars and clothes.
By nature, Kiwis don't like to bang their own drum. This sort of success is normally met by an embarrassed smile, a shrug, and a punch on the arm, and everyone gets back to business. But for once, I feel we should all say, 'yeah, we rock, actually' and take a moment to feel really, really good about this, Whale Rider, The Piano, Once Were Warriors, The Last Samurai... and look out soon for The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe.
You will now be returned to your normal programme...
