Lore of Love, The (ATOM Study Guide)

The Lore of Love is a documentary film suitable for secondary students that tells about a journey taken by Jessie Bartlett, a shy eighteen-year-old living an urban lifestyle. Jessie travels to the homeland of her three Pintupi grandmothers where she is taught about love the traditional way. Her three grandmothers lived a traditional Pintupi lifestyle up until the 1960s when they first made contact with white civilisation. Anthropologist Donald Thompson came out to Lake Mackay and met up with the women. He took photographs of them, some of which are included in the film. Despite Jessie's significant contact with her Aboriginal culture throughout her life, this trip is unique because it is a 'coming of age' journey – a time for Jessie to learn about the responsibilities of love and relationships. There is a great deal of humour in the film as it explores the intense emotion of jealousy: Mijili and Nancy live as co-wives to Jessie's grandfather.

The film has been translated and subtitled from the Pintupi and Warlpiri languages into English.

Curriculum Links:
The Lore of Love is a resource that can be used to explore and illuminate issues of tradition and modernity in culture and identity in:

• English
• SOSE / HSIE
• Media Studies