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Stork

Name: Stork
Director: Tim Burstall
Released: 1971
Duration: 85 min

Representation Score

4.0/10

Fair

1971

Director

Tim Burstall

Runtime

85 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Stork serves as a transitional film that challenges mid-century social stability. It earns credit for dismantling the sanctity of the nuclear family and rejecting rigid capitalist employment structures through its bohemian setting. However, the film remains constrained by its era. It lacks significant racial or LGBTQ+ diversity, adhering to the demographic norms of 1971 Australia. The film's strength lies in its moral relativism, using a chaotic social framework to disrupt traditional societal expectations.

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Category Breakdown

Does Stork have LGBTQ+ representation?

Limited

The film centers on traditional heterosexual relationships and reproductive issues. It explores unconventional 'free love' dynamics among roommates but does not feature explicit LGBTQ+ identities or queer romantic storylines.

How does Stork portray gender?

Fair

Anna plays a pivotal role through her reproductive choices and relationship decisions. However, female characters are primarily defined by their relationships to the male ensemble.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Stork?

Limited

The cast is predominantly Anglo-Saxon, reflecting the demographics typical of 1971 Australian cinema. There are no non-white characters in roles of significance.

How does Stork represent religion and culture?

Good

The narrative questions traditional Western institutions by promoting bohemian, communal living over corporate capitalism. It replaces moral certainty with a chaotic social structure centered around the nuclear family.

Does Stork include disability representation?

Minimal

The film does not focus on physical or neurodivergent disabilities. There are no characters identified as having visible or invisible disabilities.

Present on Screen

Challenges the nuclear family model through its depiction of communal living.
Critiques corporate capitalism via the protagonist's rejection of stable employment.
Features a female lead whose reproductive choices drive the central plot conflict.

Limited or Absent

Lacks explicit LGBTQ+ representation or queer romantic storylines.
Displays a homogeneous Anglo-Saxon demographic with little racial diversity.
Female characters are frequently defined by their connections to the male cast.

Official Synopsis

Stork is a gangly young man, a virgin with an overactive imagination who thinks he’s a revolutionary. Bored with a design job at General Motors Holden in Melbourne, he drops out and moves into a share house with his mate Westy. He daydreams his way through life, bungling job interviews, upsetting ‘respectable’ people, and getting drunk. The only girl in the house, Anna resists Stork’s advances, because she’s already involved with the other two resident males, Tony and Clyde. But when she becomes pregnant and Clyde and Anna decide to marry, Stork, Tony, Clyde and Westy are shocked when they realize that either one of the foursome could be the father. Then the fun begins....

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