Television Created The Bogan

Australian television has been extraordinarily important in turning the bogan from a social insult into a cultural character.

Some important examples include:

The Comedy Company

The character Kylie Mole helped popularise a particular version of the word in the late 1980s.

Kath & Kim

Probably one of Australia’s greatest cultural studies of suburban aspiration. Kath and Kim are interesting because they aren’t simply “poor.” They are obsessed with appearance, consumption, status, fashion, celebrity and lifestyle. In other words, they demonstrate bogan aspiration.

Bogan Pride

Rebel Wilson‘s 2008 SBS series explicitly turned bogan identity into comedy and helped push the idea of bogan pride into mainstream culture.

Upper Middle Bogan

This may be the most intellectually interesting of all.

The premise essentially asks:

What happens when an apparently respectable middle-class family discovers that their biological family is bogan?

The joke becomes a study of class, taste, money, education and identity.

Cop A Gander At These Rippers Too...

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    Is Niseko Still Australia’s Ski Town?

    ニセコは今も「オーストラリア人のスキーの町」なのか? Walk through Niseko today and you’ll hear conversations in Japanese, English, Mandarin, Korean and many other languages. The resort that Australians helped introduce to the world has become one of Asia’s most international winter destinations. Visitors now arrive from across the globe, while investment comes from many countries. So, after more than three decades, is Niseko still Australia’s ski town? 現在のニセコを歩くと、日本語だけでなく英語、中国語、韓国語など、さまざまな言語が聞こえてきます。 かつてオーストラリア人が世界に紹介したスキーリゾートは、今ではアジアを代表する国際的なウィンターリゾートへと成長しました。 では、30年以上が経った今でも、ニセコは「オーストラリア人のスキーの町」と言えるのでしょうか。 The Pioneer Years There was a time when Australians dominated Niseko’s international tourism scene. From the mid-1990s through the early 2000s, Australian visitors arrived in growing numbers, opening cafés, ski schools, accommodation businesses and tour companies. Their enthusiasm encouraged more travellers to discover Hokkaido’s famous powder…

  • Cars: Probably The Greatest Bogan Art Form

    If you wanted to identify one area in which bogan culture becomes genuinely subcultural, I’d choose cars. Particularly: Australia developed a particularly distinctive form of working-class car culture around the Holden–Ford rivalry. The ute is especially significant. It is simultaneously: work vehicle + family vehicle + status symbol + masculine identity + recreational toy. And then there is the Australian phenomenon of the hoon. The hoon and the bogan aren’t identical, but they overlap heavily.

  • The Bogan Before The Bogan

    The phenomenon didn’t appear from nowhere. Australia already had a long tradition of the larrikin, the ocker and various regional versions of the uncouth Australian male. Before “bogan” became dominant, different parts of Australia had their own labels: Region Earlier stereotype Sydneyシドニー Westie Queenslandクイーンズランド Bevan Canberraキャンベラ Booner Hobartホバート Chigga Melbourneメルボルン Bogan “Bogan” eventually swallowed many of these regional identities and became national. This is important because bogan isn’t simply a class label. It became a way of talking about a particular form of Australian taste.

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    豪キャブラリー: Snow Bogan

    Snow boganはboganの一種であり、スキーやスノーボードなどウィンタースポーツが大好きで、主に割と甘やかされている裕福である、品位が欠けているうるさくて暴れん坊飲んべオーストラリア人のことです。北海道のニセコや長野県の白馬などでよく見かけます。無知で無駄遣いが激しい人が多いです。派手、眩しい服装で一目で分からなければ振る舞いが身勝手、迷惑行為であるため要注意人物が多い。Snogan(snowのboganとも言う。)日本語に説明すれば、「雪ヤンキー」が良い表現ではないか。 豪 英・米語 日本語 Snow boganSnogan Ski resort chavSnowfield redneck 無知で無駄遣いが激しい人を指す言葉です「雪ヤンキー」と言えば分かりやすいかもしれません

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    Why Did Aussies Fall in Love with Japan’s Akiya?

    なぜオージーは日本の空き家に魅了されたのか? Lots of Aussies first discovered Japan through “Japow!,” its powdered snow. Now, many are discovering something even more unexpected—its empty country homes. From Niseko to Hakuba and beyond, Aussies are helping breathe new life into communities facing population decline. 多くなオージーが最初に夢中になったのは日本の雪でした。しかし今、彼らを引きつけているのは、地方に残る空き家です。ニセコや白馬をはじめ、日本各地でオーストラリア人が地域に新しい息吹をもたらしています。 Real Estate Romance Started with the Snow すべては雪から始まった The real estate romance relationship began in the 1990s when Aussie skiers discovered the deep powder snow of Hokkaido. Niseko soon became Australia’s favourite overseas ski destination. Many visitors returned year after year, eventually deciding to invest, settle or establish businesses in the region. すべては雪から始まった 1990年代、オーストラリア人スキーヤーが北海道の極上のパウダースノーを発見したことが始まりでした。 ニセコは瞬く間に人気のスキーリゾートとなり、何度も訪れるうちに、移住や投資、事業を始める人が現れました。 From Niseko to Hakuba ニセコから白馬へ After helping transform Niseko into an international resort, Australian…

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    Gangnam Bogan Style! K-Pop大ヒットの豪ダサイ風パロディ版が注目を浴びている

    今、韓国K-PopアーティストPSYの「江南スタイル」が世界中に大ヒットが、数多くのパロディ版も発表され、その中オージーのダサイ文化を称える「ボーガン」風のMelbourne Styleが注目を浴びている。 K-Pop artist PSY may have scored a massive global hit with his catchy Gangnam Style, but he’s also inspired plenty of parodies, including Gangnam – Melbourne Style!, a version that celebrates Australia’s bogan culture of the unfashionable. ちなみに、元の「江南スタイル」がこうだ。 Incidentally, the original Gangnam Style is here.  ビデオの独特なダンスがヒットの原因一つとしているが、日本のネット社会では日本のカー用品販売「イエローハットCMのパックリだ」という声も上がっている。そのビデオがここにある。どう思う? The dance mimicking a lasso-wielding horse-rider in Gangnam Style is often cited as a source of the hit’s success, but some among Japan’s Net community say PSY has ripped off moves from an ad produced here years ago by Yellow Cab, a car accessories seller. That video is here. What do you reckon?