3.1 Cerebral Text
With Kim Ho
This week Bronte Charlotte chats with award winning playwright Kim Ho, the Asian-Australian creative who wrote the viral short film Language of Love. We chat about the internal battle of feeling like not having anything important to say, moving from writing with your brain to finding the heart and emotion of the story, and how creativity manifests differently for everyone during an experience like an extended lockdown. Kim talks about writing The Great Australian Play, his interest in Australian mythology and its inherent colonial heritage, how the conversation around representation in the arts covers up the deeper issues that racism presents, and the interconnectedness of individual struggles.
During this episode we discuss:
[02:22] Finding time to be in nature, the creative orbits that we float in, the benefits of meeting new people and broadening your circles
[07:12] The Language of Love, Kim Ho’s viral short film he wrote in his final years of highschool with ATYP, working with Tommy Murphy, and being unexpectedly successful at a young age
[09:45] Finding the emotional crux of your story, being an incredibly cerebral writer wanting to learn to write a more focused play, playing with form and finding your voice through training and study
[15:05] Writing The Great Australian Play, and the foolhardy mission of searching for important and useful things to say about Australian mythology as a non-indigenous Australian
[18:21] The pressure of writing under the name of Patrick White after receiving an award named for him, and the pressures we place on ourselves as writers to write ’important’ content
[25:30] Writing a “G’day fantasia on national themes” delving into sovereignty, colonial Australian mythology and the way we valorise deceitful men
[29:25] Holding a mirror up to our own ugliness, taking responsibility, removing our self-importance from our work, and the backbone of Australian literature being built off violence, myth and colonialism
[33:17] Allowing yourself to have no creative impulses during periods of trauma, Kim’s experience transitioning from playwriting to screenwriting, and having a second adolescence playing video games.
[46:00] How the industry and gate-keepers of the industry exclude Asian-Australian creatives and all non-anglo creatives, and the changes that companies and professionals are slowly making to celebrate diversity and cut down structural racism within the industry
[48:33] How the discussion around representation in the arts has almost become a conversation that hides the deeper issues that racism presents
[57:34] The joy of collaboration, creation and shared experiences
RESOURCES
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Follow our host Bronte Charlotte on Instagram @bronteandsunshine
Follow this week's guest Kim Ho on Instagram @maybekimho
