The Guardian reviews Family Rules
Family Rules: Indigenous family of 10 strong women star in refreshing new reality series
A woman marries the love of her life, has nine daughters with him, then finds herself widowed. More than a decade later, this family of 10 women let a camera crew into their lives.
On the face of it, Family Rules seems like yet another reality TV show with a twist – in this case, that it focuses on an Aboriginal family, who have been labelled “the Aussie Kardashians”.
But in NITV’s new six-part account of a very modern Indigenous family, still waters run deep.
When it comes to Indigenous families in Australia, negative stereotypes abound: parents being indifferent to their children; chronic welfare dependency. But in Family Rules they’re blown aside to make room for something more positive and refreshing: an exploration of what life is really like for a large section of the Aboriginal community that, through hard work and a focus on education, is moving into a middle-class life.
As intellectual debate continues about what it means to be Aboriginal in contemporary Australia, here is a television program that shows it, simply and honestly.