Dance of death

Australia, 1983

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A young girl, Sally Roberts, transfixed by the violence portrayed on TV enthusiastically tunes into the ‘Dance of Death’, a TV game show. The ‘Dance of Death’ hosted by ‘The Smiling Scull’ is a show where the willing contestants compete to kill themselves in the most imaginative way possible. Turning back on TV for it’s content the animation uses TV in this black comedy to critique the role of TV and effect it has on shaping our culture - with a focus on how too much violence desensitises it’s audience allowing the audience to consent to their own victimisation. (Award: Best non-feature animation 1983 AFI Awards)

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

producer/director

Dennis Tupicoff

Duration

00:09:00:00

Production places

Australia

Production dates

1983

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

315230

Language

English

Audience classification

Subject categories

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Motion pictures - Awards

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Television

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Television - Psychological aspects

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Television viewers

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Violence in mass media

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Violence in motion pictures

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Violence in television

Animation

Animation → Animated films - Australia

Comedy

Comedy → Black comedy

Comedy → Satire

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Violence

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Violence in motion pictures

Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Violence

Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Violence

Short films

Short films → Short films - Australia

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/92038--dance-of-death/ |title=Dance of death |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=12 September 2024 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}