I’ve heard a range of critiques from both amateur and professionals complaining about the television show Bay of Fires. Many people claim that it portrays Tasmanians as redneck idiots. They are correct that it’s unflattering towards the natives. But whether you think the people down south are actually idiots or not; I don’t think that’s a reason to hate the show.
This critique of Bay of Fires and the portrayal of Tasmanians ignore major parts of the show. I feel like the Tasmanian audience is so hyper focused that they are unable to analyse any other aspect. The shows protagonist is a businesswoman from mainland Melbourne, who is completely incapable of doing anything physical or related to the bush. In fact, every character from the city is presented as an incompetent buffoon. The entire show is based on the divide between city slickers and country bumpkin: which although shown excessively, is accurate to modern Australia.
The show successfully incorporates the style of Tassie noir, which has become popular over the past decade. There is a certain grey gloom that exists in Tasmania due to overcast skies and overgrown wilderness. Drive 15 minutes from the capital city and you can easily find yourself lost in the shrubs. Even comedies such as Rosehaven are set in suburbia, but feature the backdrop of large bush areas. This works perfectly for horrors, mysteries and even science fiction – but really any film or show becomes unique due to this environment. I know I’m stroking the ego of my home state, but the themes and story of Bay of Fires captures this aesthetic almost perfectly.
The story had many unexpected surprises that kept me intrigued throughout. The surprises also weren’t pointless, but rather explained previous actions in the story. Each character was relatively unique and even minor characters had their entire back stories explained. I was more than impressed by this plot and think it’s one of the better shows made in Tasmania.
The final reason I like this show is that in theory it should scare away the mainland invaders. Tasmanians don’t like you. The only ones that do like you work in the tourism industry and are selling you cheap crap at an excessive cost. It brings me fond memories of Wolf Creek in the hay day and how the entire world realized we were a bunch of tourist murdering drunkards. It also created many fun local traditions, check the missing person’s reports if you don’t believe me.
In conclusion, any critiques I’ve heard of this show seem to be due to offense taken on a personal level. This show does have some minor flaws and is essentially a rip off of the American show Ozark, but this can be easily forgiven just to see the manic face of the protagonist.
