Canadian Television Identity

Riding a bike, writing poems, or even bouncing a ball, entertainment comes in many forms in every society, television is just one and has been influencing Canadians since it was showcased in 1938 in Toronto, for the Canadian National Exhibition. After first appearing, the progression of television, and the impact it has had over the past seventy-five years has been an interest for many sociologists, educators and researchers because it is constantly changing. Opinions and research of the impacts that television have on society are sometimes viewed as negative, whether it be regarding content, mental stimulation, physical health or many other factors contributing to the development of society. Other opinions and research suggests that television

I have tried. The only local program I could praise is Wildside” ( Cited in the Sydney Morning Herald, David Dale). So whilst there are many Australians concerned over this issue there are so many more that do not see the affect the American TV culture is having on Australian television and its identity, the distinction between what is inside and outside Australian culture is slipping away.

Canada is internationally recognized as a culturally diverse nation that emphasizes the concept of “The Mosaic”. No other country in the world encompasses inhabitants from so many different backgrounds who exhibit strong loyalty towards Canada, while still preserving their cultural heritage. This is contrasted to the American ideal of the "Melting Pot", which attempts to shape all of their citizens into a set mold. Canada’s philosophy is believed to be more effective and respectful than that which is possessed by our American neighbours. The following will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches, and analyze the impact of the structures on each country’s society.

What makes a chef a “celebrity chef”? The author employs a definition to this question so well that made the unfamiliar subject familiar to me. Babilonia’s entire narrative is built on one single example, celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse. The author devotes her essay to define and argue his subject that we, the audience might not have ever thought of. The thesis statement illustrates her main point in defining a new king of chef a celebrity chef “Celebrity chefs have had a great influence on our culture: they have changed our ideas about celebrity and about the social status of the chef; they have redefined the kind of food ordinary people can have, and transformed the way men feel about cooking.” Celebrity chefs are opposite of the regular chef.

Chelsea Vowel's book "The Myth of Progress" (2016), explains that Canada has a long way to go to overcome the harmful and prevalent stereotypes about Indigenous people. The author supports this argument by discussing how the portrayal of Indigenous peoples in Canadian media has hardly changed over the last 200 years. Based on the language and subject matter, it's clear that the intended audience of this piece is Canadians both Indigenous and non-Indigenous.

In Jessica Harris’s “The Culinary Season of my Childhood” she peels away at the layers of how food and a food based atmosphere affected her life in a positive way. Food to her represented an extension of culture along with gatherings of family which built the basis for her cultural identity throughout her life. Harris shares various anecdotes that exemplify how certain memories regarding food as well as the varied characteristics of her cultures’ cuisine left a lasting imprint on how she began to view food and continued to proceeding forward. she stats “My family, like many others long separated from the south, raised me in ways that continued their eating traditions, so now I can head south and sop biscuits in gravy, suck chewy bits of fat from a pigs foot spattered with hot sauce, and yes’m and no’m with the best of ‘em,.” (Pg. 109 Para). Similarly, since I am Jamaican, food remains something that holds high importance in my life due to how my family prepared, flavored, and built a food-based atmosphere. They extended the same traditions from their country of origin within the new society they were thrusted into. The impact of food and how it has factors to comfort, heal, and bring people together holds high relevance in how my self-identity was shaped regarding food.

Canada’s identity comes in many shapes and forms. Multiculturalism has been adopted and is at the forefront of Canadian identity. Following the Second World War, Canada’s multiculturalism policies became more acceptable and even successful in, not only accepting, but inviting multiple ethnic cultures in. In contrast to other countries, multiculturalism adaptation works for the Canadian culture. Canadian policies on multiculturalism have shifted over the past few decades; policies are now implemented for integration, not discrimination.

their culture. Television over the years has molded the minds of its viewers – young and

This research will only concentrate on the extent of Americanisation in Australia through the influence on television and the film industry as the aspect of Americanisation covers a wide range from fashion to language. To fully understand the topic of the hypothesis, proper exploration of the definitions of ‘identity’ and ‘culture’ are of relevance. ‘Identity’ and ‘culture’ play an integral role in what an Australian represents as well as how the world views Australians. The meaning of ‘identity’ can be summarized as; ‘The collective aspect of the set of

The 1920s was an exciting time for broadcasting technology in the west; the possibilities of all that this era had to offer were infinite and with it came much needed regulatory policies. Radio and television broadcasting were at their infancy and no one knew how big this idea of instant, national connection would become. Soon after this, it became apparent that Canadians prominently turned their attention to American broadcasting and, in turn, overlooked their own. This piece of information sparked the birth of regulatory policies and the Canadian Broadcasting Act which would control percentages of original Canadian and foreign content to see to it that Canadians would not lose sight of their culture and that the Canadian broadcasting industries could stay in business. Then again, why should the government have say over what their people are allowed and not allowed to watch, listen to, or enjoy? As it is, times are changing and more and more people are able to download or stream movies to which the government has very little control over. Is the idea that the Canadian Broadcasting Act was originally implemented for, even still necessary? New media has taken over the world, social media is a constant, and even if attempted, people would not be able to get away from the hundreds of advertisements that they see each and every day. The essential control needed to keep Canadian content, culture, and industry thriving is found in the Canadian Broadcasting Act (CBA) to which

If Canada wants to protect their national identity, they must all embrace each other’s cultures, instead of creating multiple broadcasts that preach one view or culture. Without state governed media, the dominance of US products in Canada would diminish its identity as a nation, fail to serve the public interest and create less profits causing more advertising and less content in the media. Government regulated media proves to be more favourable and beneficial than policies based off of self-regulated solutions when addressing Canada’s media industries and cultural

Hockey is part of Canada’s self-image and is deeply rooted in Canadian culture, as it is viewed as the national game. Large brewery companies have helped shape the Canadian identity to place beer and hockey hand-in-hand. Molson Canadian has shown such devotion to Canada that they have made Canadians feel that consuming Molson beer is a “patriotic act”, and that drinking Molson is a way of “drinking in” the Canadian identity (Seiler, 2002). While the company’s pride for Canada is very apparent, their advertisements portray a sense of national superiority. The company represents Canadian patriotism with an anti-American notion, which Canadians most often politely disregard.

What is Canada? What is a Canadian? Canada, to employ Voltaire's analogy, is nothing but “a few acres of snow.”. Of course, the philosopher spoke of New France, when he made that analogy. More recently, a former Prime Minister, Joe Clark, said that the country was nothing but a “community of communities”. Both these images have helped us, in one way or another, try to interpret what could define this country. On the other hand, a Canadian could be a beer, a hockey-playing beaver or even a canoe floating in a summer day's sunset. A Canadian could also be a “sovereigntyphobe”, refusing to see the liquefaction, albeit political, of the second largest country in the world.

Food practices are cultural practices; and represent a perceived relationship between national and cultural belonging (Bonnekessen 2010; Daniel 2006; Kaplan 2006). Due to these influences, it is said that Canadians’ food practices incorporate a better sense of hygiene and nutrition; because of this their food practices were more appropriate and insisted that immigrant groups adopted their practices. Therefore, using these practices to teach women immigrants the concept and understandings of hygiene and nutrition due to the belief that immigrant food practices are suspicious because of what they eat. Differences in food practices come as a shock in many cultures because

Imagine a distant post-apocalyptic future in which a large silver box has just been excavated from the ruins of what was once Los Angeles, a box that contains stack after stack of DVD’s with titles like Survivor, The Bachelor, Biggest Loser, The Swan, Real World, The Apprentice, and Hell’s Kitchen. What might anthropologists conclude about our 21st century society if these shows were their only glimpse into how we lived our lives? Francine Prose ponders this same question in her essay “Voting Democracy off the Island: Reality TV and the Republican Ethos,” in which she asks not only what future anthropologists might deduce, but, “for that matter,” what “contemporary TV-addicted children and adults” might realize if they were to more