Damien Cave, our Australia bureau chief, shares insights on Australia, news of the world and reader feedback in this weekly newsletter. Want it by email? Sign up.

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Movies define countries for the world.

Pedro Almodóvar shapes how we think of Spain. England will forever be “Monty Python” and “Lawrence of Arabia” for many of us, while the American extremes — optimism, violence, humor and despair — are all visible via Hollywood.

So what does “Crocodile Dundee” say about Australia?

I watched the movie again last night, for the first time since its release in 1986. I was just a kid then and thought nothing of laughing at Paul Hogan’s knife or his cluelessness about escalators and elevators in New York.

Now, though, it’s all a bit jarring.

Dundee is still the highest-grossing Australian film of all time. He’s the character many Americans most associate with this country, and yet the depiction of Australia (not to mention New York and journalism, given the reporters in limos) needs some serious updating.