English Canadian And French Canadian Cinema Analysis

The Scottish and International Film Industry's Contribution to the Development of Scottish Identity in the Last Part of the Twentieth Century

“Strange Brew” was a full-length movie released in 1983 that depicts how Canadian Identity was viewed at the time and to Canadians, it was a blatant representation of national identity through cultural commentary. The idea was put forth after a sketch with a similar plot line aired and was very successful in Canada and the United States, thus leading to the creation of the film. When compared to modern national identity it emphasizes the change globalization has facilitated. The national identity of past Canadians is vastly different from what is considered national identity of the modern population. Some aspects of identity affected are; the cultural ethnicity of Canadians, the fashion worn and the technology used.

Canada’s own identity starts with our remarkable sense of culture and customs. For the native peoples, the Canadian identity stretches thousands of years into the search of struggles to retain elements of their ancient

This paper was prepared for Introduction to Film History, Module 1 Homework Assignment, taught by Professor Stephanie Sandifer.

Art’s and Culture has and will continue to make a significant impact on Canadian identity. Media, Radio,Television,Film,Song,Book and Magazine industries have all helped to shape our society by using These industries show us who we really are as true canadians. (See For Yourself)(Blattberg)

Currently in Canada there are no government regulations placed upon video and film making. The certification of Canadian films and videos is passed off to the Canadian National Film Board, which has been “charged with the duty of certifying on behalf of Her Majesty moving picture films, separate sound film track, filmstrips and slides, videotape and sound recordings — produced in Canada or produced abroad by persons normally resident in Canada as being of an international educational, scientific or cultural character”(Canadian Film Certification Regulations). Therefore, the only job of the Canadian National Film Board is to certify it a film classifies as Canadian, yet does not regulate its content or distribution. This follows the same pattern as many countries such as the United States, and the United Kingdom. If Canadian film and video was regulated by the government, certainly some regulations may affect its growth compared to other countries without regulations. While others would help guide the industry towards a new path of growth and success. Canadian films and videos have, historically, had a difficult time breaking into the industry. With our close neighbour the United States over taking all of the spotlight with their major motion pictures. “Given the longstanding difficulty Canadian-made feature films have had in penetrating Canadian movie theatres, television has been their most reliable means of distribution”(Gasher, Skinner, Lorimer, 2012,229). Certain Canadian government regulations on film and video could help change this unbalanced representation of film and video in Canada. Government regulations placed upon guaranteeing a certain amount of Canadian feature films playing in cinemas would greatly benefit our film and video industry. Currently “Hollywood is the dominant player in the

Often children, because they integrate into a more popular language. They do this for an economic advantage.

American Experience, a PBS program that shares stories with us from our history, displays the very events and tools that shaped our nation. Their film: Scottsboro Trials, was a moving and informative movie about racism in America and the impact it has left on us. To this day, this movie still has an important message to teach and show. Racism is still a problem and more than likely always will be, this is a sad part of life that we must do our best to deal with. American Experience puts racism up in our faces and reminds us of what we have done. This film opens up our eyes to our past and in doing so, makes us better people.

Film History: An Introduction. Third ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2009.

The board had about 90% of English speaking workers and only had a small amount of French workers who converted the films into French for the francophone. Back then, French films were known as foreign films due to production being mostly English. Many French filmmakers were hired to increase the number of French films and have a French production branch. Around the 1940’s and 1950’s, filmmakers toured the country giving the chance to other communities who did not have access to films, be able to view them. The filmmakers had a specific name for their team called “travelling projectionists”. In 1967, the Canadian film development corporation signed an agreement to promote the development of the film industry. The company began making educational films in 1960, for the change in society and for schools to show the students different views from around the world. During the late 1960’s, First Nations people were given access to NFB equipment to start producing their own films. Women made great contributions during the war years in the film industry but after that, they weren’t used for much until early 1970’s. Due to the company being well invested and wonderful productions for the country, in 1970, film productions started expanding across Canada after the postwar decade.

Finally, as the film begins to reach its ends, one may watch as the the trio begins to bond and become more understanding of one another. The last significant part of the movie occurs when Nick and the children finally reach Vancouver so that they can all meet up with Suzanne again. Earlier in the movie, when Lindsey and Kevin truly disliked Nick, they told some truck drivers that they were kidnapped. This caused major damage upon Nick SUV as he tried to escape the destruction inflicted by the driver. But later in the movie, the truck drivers come to find Nick and the children while in Vancouver and they begin to confront Nick, thinking that he is still attempting to kidnap Kevin and Lindsey. While Nick, Lindsey, and Kevin are awaiting Suzanne’s

Films in Quebec, like in many other international markets, were produced in response to a need for films that reflected the feelings, atmosphere, and identity of the French-Canadian people; plainly, they are films that mirror the people of Quebec: “A desire to see the nation in cinema, to see cinema as a national object at a critical juncture in Quebec’ struggle towards political independence [is present],” (Gittings 121). Bill Marshall also explains that a national cinema comes about due to the relationship between a “nation” and “identity” – Quebec has developed an increasingly strong identity in opposition to that of the Anglo-Canadians, and therefore an increased sense of “nation” has come along with it (2). When these elements come together, the resulting films produced incorporate specific traits to make them categorically of that nation. Just as one can say there are specific traits for Canadian films that make them uniquely Canadian, many scholars, like Marshall, agree that there are traits that make Quebec films uniquely

Internationally, nationalities garner much of their life-force from sources outside of the original country. There is no Cinco de Mayo in Mexico and the largest St. Patrick’s Parade by far is in New York! For Canada, it seemed to be its relationship with the world. From this, the transition turned into identity as I realized that Canadians each have their own conflicting self-judgement of how they feel as a potential Canadian. Specifically, because of my experience I felt that the Canadian identity was like glass; invisible. Canadians are often extremely accepting but are invisible to the open world. We have no distinctive traits or form in a way that someone else could plainly recognize one. Hence, Clive James explains perfectly not only of my personal experience with Canada but possibly for many others – “I came, I saw, I copied.” Now, with Canada and its open-arms for new ethnicities and vast multiculturalism to the extent that it’s grown, Canadians would become increasingly difficult to notice. Consequently, in a bizarre and pitiful situation, the Canadian identity becomes muddled because of having no distinctive traits or form and increasing population. Canadians as a result, both new and old become at the mercy of the stereotypes that develop, as the opinion of the world establishes the nationality of a

Abstract: In 1967, Canada celebrated her centennial as a country unified outwardly, but inwardly divided. Within Canadian letters both French and English-Canadian literary historians had spent a hundred years unsuccessfully attempting to create a unified narrative to explain the shared story of their origins. This paper will focus primarily on English-Canadian literary histories, and the part they played in resolving the “problem” of creating the nation of Canada. I will argue that it took a full century to “solve” the “problem”, and was achieved by Northrup Frye’s when he moving English-Canadian literature outside the realm of socio-politics and entirely into the mythopoeic sphere. However, this “conclusion”, relied on a modernist understanding of the role of meta-narratives in the shared story of nationhood, without which assumption, such a conclusion risks becoming little more than a rhetorical contortion. I will conclude by suggesting that it was only when Canadian letters moved beyond centralized meta-narratives, and started to embrace (in Robert Kroetsch’s words) “Disunity in Unity” that a true “Canadian” literature and a more balanced literary history could begin emerge.

According to Carlos Diegues, a leader of Brazil’s revolutionary Cinema Novo movement, “Every country has two national cinemas: its own, and Hollywood (Sterritt, David).” The American Film Industry is the oldest in the world and its styles and methods have exerted a powerful influence on filmmakers and audiences worldwide since the early twentieth century. Foreign film industries don’t necessarily actively seek to adopt the practices and styles of American film; rather, international countries have been flooded with the big-budget spectacles that intrigue and engage the audience through their grand style of narrative storytelling, which inevitably impacts the way foreign filmmakers produce their films. Audiences worldwide have been conditioned