Canadian culture

[lukeiamyourdad]

This has been a topic that had been in my mind for quite a while and I decided to post it now, for no other reason then the hole in my schedule allows me too Yeah, the end of a university semester is hell. And I'm not even smiling when I say that...

 

Anyway, it was actually an interview in La Presse that sparked a thought in my head. Marc Cassivi was interviewing Colm Feore about the state of cinema and TV in Anglo-Canada and Feore was somewhat saddened by the fact that it was practically non-existent and that American shows and movies were dominating everywhere. He said that Québec had such a great chance that it managed to develop and keep its own star system and the people support their cultural icons. Language barrier perhaps, but it might be too simple to put everything in that basket. Why? Québec had a period where American shows also dominated TV and it brought itself out of it. Québécois cinema is also doing great and the only cinematic industry making any semblance of a profit in Canada, even with a relatively small market and facing the enormous American competition.

 

So I started wondering why that was the case. Afterall, it wasn't the lack of talent of Canadian artists. There's a lot of them, from Lorne Michaels to Mike Myers, who have had a lot of success in the United States. Now, why can't they have success here, in Canada? Colm Feore blames it on the defeatist attitude. He says that it would seem a lot of Canadians (the majority?) have already lost their faith about that. They wait for the breakthrough success that never comes and never will come without their support.

 

When you look at Canadian TV channels, you'd notice that primetime is dominated by American shows. Global, CTV, etc. It would seem that only the CBC still has Canadian shows but the ratings are quite low. I'm a bit unfair, CTV and Global do have Canadian shows, they just don't have any primetime spots and most are frankly near-carbon copies of American shows, with very little being Canada-specific except that the story takes place in Vancouver or something.

 

There's a few exceptions to the rule though. Hockey Night in Canada is as popular as ever (heh, put the word "hockey" in anything and Canadians will flock to it ). Canadian Idol also gets good ratings (although it's debatable since it isn't a Canadian concept). The one that I want to point out is Corner Gas. The show has a good primetime spot, nice ratings and is a product of Canada. To me this shows that there indeed is a demand for Canadian shows, good ones at least. Now people simply need to make it clear that there is potential for success for Canadian shows and movies.

 

It's not like Canada can't make good TV (I love you Rick Mercer!) or good movies. In fact, one of my favorite movies is Exotica by Atom Egoyan starring Canadians Bruce Greenwood and Mia Kirshner. It's so sad that Anglo-Canada can't produce more great shows and movies because of the lack of funds and the lack of willpower.

 

Let's be clear on one thing: American shows are great. This in no way constitutes a jab at the United States. America makes awesome shows that I watch very often. That doesn't mean I don't watch local shows either and that finding balance between both is impossible.

 

Finally, I was wondering what Canadians thought of the state of their TV and movie industries. Is there a future for more shows "made in Canada"? Are you willing to watch them?

[Prime]

The way I see it, Canada just does not have the market size to entice big time talents to remain here. They can make way more and get much more exposure and have access to better projects ("better" meaning bigger budgets). French stars don't really have that option. Luckily for them, the French population supports those stars.

 

In general, people go where the money is.

[lukeiamyourdad]

The way I see it, Canada just does not have the market size to entice big time talents to remain here. They can make way more and get much more exposure and have access to better projects ("better" meaning bigger budgets). French stars don't really have that option. Luckily for them, the French population supports those stars.

 

In general, people go where the money is.

 

 

The French stars actually do have a chance of crossing the Atlantic and moving to the much bigger market in France and Europe. This does not stop many, if not most, to start having success here in Québec first, which rarely is the case for the rest of Canada. So I'm not sure if Canada is unable to keep its stars because of the smaller market.

[Point Man]

I have never been to Canada, but I do get together with some Canadian friends every once in a while. From my observations, the US and Canada pretty much share an entertainment industry that is based mostly out of LA, Nashville, and New York. The reason (as Prime pointed out) is that the money is there. But Canadian (for that matter, any) culture is so much more than TV and movies and music. Canadian culture is generally more outdoors-oriented than in the US. I know a lot of people who travel to Canada for their canoeing, hunting, fishing, and skiing. I think Canadians should be glad the crap on the airwaves and in the theatres is not produced in their country.

[Prime]

The French stars actually do have a chance of crossing the Atlantic and moving to the much bigger market in France and Europe.

Not sure how much bigger that market is in comparison to Québec's, so can't say. And my impression is that France views Québecers somewhat harshly, so perhaps there isn't the same sort of huge discrepency in opportunity that there is between Canada and Hollywood. Don't know, just speculating.

 

This does not stop many, if not most, to start having success here in Québec first, which rarely is the case for the rest of Canada.

But "a lot" of Canadian stars had some success before going south. A lot of Second City alumni, for example. But yes, most on the English side head directly to LA because that is where the best opportunities are.

 

So I'm not sure if Canada is unable to keep its stars because of the smaller market.

Is Jim Carey or Mike Myers going to make 20+ million a picture working soley in Canada? How many $50-100 million dollar films could be developed in Canada at one time? Looking at (rather old) data, the entire industry budget was under $200 million.

[Darth333]

As mentioned by LIYAD, I imagine that the situation is different in Quebec due to the language barrier. Luckily in Quebec, the entertainment industry is still pretty much alive and there are about 60-70 films produced each year. For a population of 7M it isn't bad at all (of course, all of those films are made with a budget equivalent to a small fraction of the budget of an american blockbuster). We also have our own TV series and stars. Francophone films make around 20 % of Quebec’s box-office returns while in English Canada, "homemade" films make only around 1% of the box office.

 

As for me, I mainly watch Francophone tv (from Quebec and Europe)

[Commander Obi-Wan]

Ah, yes. Canadian shows, that are "pure" Canadian are few. Though, I watch sports quite frequently (for the station TSN, RSN, The Score, and CBC), though they show a lot of the American teams, since that's where most teams are.

 

There are only a few shows that enjoy watching that are generally all-Canadian. Such as Corner Gas, which is a great show, but I haven't been able to watch that much since I work when it is on. There is also the Red Green Show, which is a classic, great show. And I rarely watch much either. Since all I really watch is Sports.

 

And about the movies stars, it's really all about the money for them, unforunately, and that's just the way it is.

[Mace MacLeod]

Was away for a few days, or I would have been opinionated about this sooner.

I think that there's also the fact that there's a vastly larger monyemaker just down south plays a huge factor in the Canadian media. Compare the CFL to the NFL (GO LIONS!). For all these years, the perception has been that to "make it" means making it big in Hollywood, not Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver. You've got this huge industry in the states sucking up exponentially more money than in Canada, so naturally the progression has followed that marketable talent goes south, sad as that may be. But then, that's why the 33% CanCon rule still applies. That being said, you Americans can keep Tom Green. Just don't ever send him back.

 

Did I say GO LIONS?

[Totenkopf]

^^^Oh, no, now don't be an indian giver.

[Pho3nix]

I have a question for you Canadians, do you consider yourselves French or Canadian? And do some Canadians have some form of an identity crisis?

 

For me, as a Finnish person Canada is really the same thing as the U.S.A and we don't really see the difference.

[coupes.]

Not sure how much bigger that market is in comparison to Québec's, so can't say. And my impression is that France views Québecers somewhat harshly, so perhaps there isn't the same sort of huge discrepency in opportunity that there is between Canada and Hollywood. Don't know, just speculating.

Well Frace has a population of about 65 million people so it is a much bigger market than Québec. And the French and Québécois generally get along very nicely. I don't know where you heared this from, but the French don't view Québécois anymore harshly than Americans view Canadians IMO.

[Darth333]

Well Frace has a population of about 65 million people so it is a much bigger market than Québec. And the French and Québécois generally get along very nicely. I don't know where you heared this from, but the French don't view Québécois anymore harshly than Americans view Canadians IMO.

Indeed. In fact there are quite a few films and TV series that are made in collaboration with France.

[Prime]

Well Frace has a population of about 65 million people so it is a much bigger market than Québec.

I was thinking more in dollars that potential viewers.

 

And the French and Québécois generally get along very nicely. I don't know where you heared this from, but the French don't view Québécois anymore harshly than Americans view Canadians IMO.

Fair enough. Not sure where I heard that originally. That was just my impression. I stand corrected.

[Mace MacLeod]

I have a question for you Canadians, do you consider yourselves French or Canadian? And do some Canadians have some form of an identity crisis?

 

For me, as a Finnish person Canada is really the same thing as the U.S.A and we don't really see the difference.

I wouldn't speak for the Quebecois, but yes, Canada does have routine identity crises. Every few years, there's a big soul-searching exercise in the media about what it means to be Canadian. In a lot of ways, the country really doesn't know what it wants to be. When Canada was colonized and formed, it followed a different model than the US did; the US became the "melting pot" where all cultures were merged and subsumed into this great, huge cauldron of bits and pieces all mushed together, but Canada assumed the "patchwork quilt" model. This is where the different ethnic groups were kept together in various places; an example is the block settlements of the prarie provinces. The stereotype of the day (1800's, early 1900's) was that eastern Europeans like Germans or Ukrainians were good farmers, so these populations were sent in large numbers to open up the praries for farming and in doing so were permitted to create communities which replicated their native cultures. Now, whether or not Canada's policy of multiculturalism has worked any better than the US is still the subject of a ferocious debate that has no easy answers.

 

There is the tendency in Canada to identify more strongly with your ethnic origin than your identity as being Canadian--until you travel abroad. I know I did until the first time I went overseas. Canadian culture is very hard to define until you see it from the outside...and even then describing it accurately still stumps our finest political minds. Still, there's always Corner Gas and the Tragically Hip. Anyone who doesn't know these two references, run a Google search and forever enrich your lives with something distinctly Canadian.

 

Oh, and Totenkopf? I said keep Tom Green. Anyone who wants him back should be deported to Burbank.

[Commander Obi-Wan]

I have a question for you Canadians, do you consider yourselves French or Canadian? And do some Canadians have some form of an identity crisis?

 

I consider myself Canadian, since I am not French and I do not speak the language.

 

And we do happen to be quite similar to those in the United States, though there still are many differences too. Some think we tend to be more polite, and we are very fond of the world's greatest sport

 

 

hockey

 

 

But, it's all really based on opinion of others and how we act towards other countries.

[Hallucination]

I have a question for you Canadians, do you consider yourselves French or Canadian? And do some Canadians have some form of an identity crisis?

I consider myself Canadian, but I live in British Columbia and have no French ancestry, so I don't really count for that question.

For me, as a Finnish person Canada is really the same thing as the U.S.A and we don't really see the difference.

We're like the U.S. only with a lower population, more area, gay marriage, socialised health-care, and more than enough stereotypes to have fun, and, more importantly, a Prime Minister who is hated by more than half the country.

[Totenkopf]

Oh.....I didn't know George Bush also moonlighted as the Canadian PM

[HerbieZ]

Well the good news is that france has just launched it's own version of CNN. Which is a good outlet to express opinions on the Iraq war with, because french opinions have always been masked by a European face and all the other countries in the EU.

[Darth InSidious]

a Prime Minister who is hated by more than half the country.

It's a must have for all big players nowadays

[Commander Obi-Wan]

a Prime Minister who is hated by more than half the country.

 

I never got that picture. He beats Paul Martin and Jean Chretien. I like this one. But, that's just my opinion.

[Totenkopf]

I wouldn't speak for the Quebecois, but yes, Canada does have routine identity crises. Every few years, there's a big soul-searching exercise in the media about what it means to be Canadian. In a lot of ways, the country really doesn't know what it wants to be. When Canada was colonized and formed, it followed a different model than the US did; the US became the "melting pot" where all cultures were merged and subsumed into this great, huge cauldron of bits and pieces all mushed together, but Canada assumed the "patchwork quilt" model. This is where the different ethnic groups were kept together in various places; an example is the block settlements of the prarie provinces. The stereotype of the day (1800's, early 1900's) was that eastern Europeans like Germans or Ukrainians were good farmers, so these populations were sent in large numbers to open up the praries for farming and in doing so were permitted to create communities which replicated their native cultures. Now, whether or not Canada's policy of multiculturalism has worked any better than the US is still the subject of a ferocious debate that has no easy answers.

 

There is the tendency in Canada to identify more strongly with your ethnic origin than your identity as being Canadian--until you travel abroad. I know I did until the first time I went overseas. Canadian culture is very hard to define until you see it from the outside...and even then describing it accurately still stumps our finest political minds. Still, there's always Corner Gas and the Tragically Hip. Anyone who doesn't know these two references, run a Google search and forever enrich your lives with something distinctly Canadian.

 

Oh, and Totenkopf? I said keep Tom Green. Anyone who wants him back should be deported to Burbank.

 

Yeah, Sorry, I had that one in reverse. Actually, I should have said we have a no refund/return policy when it comes to people like Tom Green. But, Burbank? That might be a little too light a punishment.