'In Australia, we have a limited set of character types to talk through our collective visions of suburbia. Kath & Kim and Upper Middle Bogan deliver parodies of the nouveau riche philistine, while Chris Lilley dons brownface to draw laughs from a stereotype of Polynesian identity. Over on commercial and cable, reality television shows such as the Real Housewives construct characters out of participants’ lives, fortifying a sense of ‘realism’ across our screen fictions.' (Introduction)

'In 2004, I found out that I have a half-sister I’d never met. I was fourteen and I remember it as a vague shock, pressed in neatly between discovering rock music and that time my mum accidentally burnt off my fringe with bleach. I remember the receiving of this strangely tumultuous piece of news as something that I was able to quickly and quietly fold away.' (Introduction)