There is nothing more lazy and pointless and intellectually bankrupt than making sweeping generalisations about an entire country – but America is too stupid to understand this rule, as we all know, therefore we have Netflix’s The Residence on our screens.
Shondaland’s miniseries is a fun murder-mystery whodunnit set in the White House, where the crime in question takes place during a state dinner. Starring Uzo Aduba as the delightfully whimsical detective Cordelia Cupp, the show deliberately follows in the steps of the popular Knives Out series, with direct references to those films and even an episode titled Knives Out.
Uzo Aduba (centre) as Cordelia Cupp in The Residence. Photograph: Erin Simkin/Netflix
Leaning wholeheartedly into the farcical Cluedo-style humour of the genre, The Residence’s first and major comedic swing is having the state dinner in honour of a fictional Australian prime minister (played by Julian McMahon) named Stephen Roos. Because we have a lot of kangaroos, right? We also have a statistically high amount of deaths from heart disease, but I guess that’s less pithy. Much of the plot revolves around keeping “the Aussies” happy while the murder is being solved, including Kylie Minogue (playing herself) being forced to perform for several hours while clues are gathered.
Along with Prime Minister Roos and Kylie, we have a running gag of Hugh Jackman somewhere off-screen constantly tap dancing (they clearly couldn’t afford the real deal), a diplomatic incident involving an Uluru-shaped dessert, and dialogue in which “bloody” and “mate” are used liberally as punchlines (“Instead of a Wagyu Volcano, I get a bloody murder!”). Australians in The Residence are depicted mostly as a bit clueless and horny – which, in the show’s defence, could just be a comment on our politicians.
Julian MacMahon as Australian prime minister Stephen Roos in The Residence. Photograph: Jessica Brooks/Netflix
The Residence is just another example of a weird obsession that American culture-makers have with Australia, which has stretched all the way back to the 80s with the baffling success of the Crocodile Dundee movies in the US. (There are, of course, multiple Crocodile Dundee references in The Residence.) From “shrimp on the barbie” to Steve Irwin, there is an overwhelming attitude that our cultural exports are cute. This manifests with an almost nationwide glee at our accent – as seen in the social media obsession with saying “no” as “naur”. Equally inexplicable: the popular “Australian-themed” US restaurant chain Outback Steakhouse serves food such as the “bloomin‘ onion”, which doesn’t and has never existed in Australia.
For people in Australia, this attitude is best represented by Foster’s beer: ostensibly an Australian icon in the UK and US, it’s virtually MIA in its home country. Likewise, all Australia’s best-known cultural exports (Crocodile Dundee, various Hemsworths, “koala bears” etc) have almost no cultural relevance to how Australians live their lives.
(L-R) Paul Fitzgerald as President Perry Morgan, Barrett Foa as Elliot Morgan, Kylie Minogue as herself, Ken Marino as Harry Hollinger and Dan Perrault as Colin Trask in The Residence. Photograph: Erin Simkin/Netflix
As mortifying as it is to have a mirror held up to us, only the most precious of Australia’s residents would be offended by The Residence’s comedically reductive depiction of Australian culture; it’s not so much a mirror as a child’s drawing of their family – a bunch of squiggles and accidentally phallic shapes that you’re informed makes sense.
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In fact the most mortifying realisation is not how offensive or generalised The Residence’s depiction of Australian culture is, but that in painting it with such broad and comedic strokes, they mostly … got it right? As a gay Australian, being stuck in a room with Kylie Minogue’s Spinning Around on repeat while crimes are occurring around you is absolutely a common experience for me. While I was scoffing at how basic their interpretation of our culture was, I also depressingly realised there wasn’t a lot more to add. Could they maybe reference democracy sausage? The fact we invented wifi? Our patchy human rights record?
Watching The Residence, I thought of the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony, one of the biggest showcases of our culture on the international stage – and pretty much the only difference between it and this show is that none of the suspects are giant dancing Hills Hoists. Maybe Shondaland can do some research next time, and have Cordelia Cupp find Harold Holt – something Aussies actually care about.
- The Residence is screening on Netflix
