A Neoliberal Spin MANAGEMENT AND MASCULINITY IN STEPHEN MCCALLUM’S 1%
‘You look good – way bigger,’ Hayley (Simone Kessell) reassures her husband, Knuck (Matt Nable), shortly before he’s released from prison. Knuck, the violent leader of elite bikie gang The Copperheads Motorcycle Club, does indeed look big. Presumably, in jail, he’s been working out. He’s also been raping other inmates. The drift away from Hayley that follows suggests that incarceration has had a major sexual impact: no longer interested in his wife, Knuck begins ‘grooming’ a young male recruit. He’s also set to resume his place as head of the Copperheads, temporarily under the leadership of club vice-president Paddo (Ryan Corr); unsurprisingly, Paddo isn’t so sure that handing things back to Knuck is a great idea.
Analysis shouldn’t approach a text by focusing on what it’s not. But the title of 1% (Stephen McCallum, 2017), whether intentionally or not, is politically charged – and, as such, feels somewhat like an unfulfilled promise, both in relation to the current political environment and in terms of the crime genre. The Occupy movement’s ‘We are the 99%’ slogan has been a potent tool for drawing public attention to wealth disparities throughout society, targeting the ‘1%’ whose resources and power far outstrip the bulk of
