October 9, 2002.

New disc reviews

A double-header! Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi!  Some of you will recognize these titles right away (and are probably checking out the spelling of the titles), the rest of you are probably scratching your heads as to what I'm talking about.  Whichever the case, you'll find them both on the same page over here.

The EMCC

It's an idea I currently have.  Along with my page concerning the IBM 600 notebook series battery problems, I was thinking of starting a special page dedicated to correcting another injustice, albeit a Canadian one.

I'm talking about the Elimination of Manufactured Canadian Culture.  Catchy title, isn't it?

As I've mentioned in the past, I have this feeling that Canadian Culture doesn't really exist.  Much of what's defined as Canadian Culture currently imposed on most Canadians has been approved by government committees represented by individuals who definitely don't represent the average Canadian citizen.  Our current Canadian culture consists mostly of movies and TV shows which most Canadians aren't really interested in watching even when nothing else is on TV.  These government committees are often so off the mark in their approval of new movies and TV projects that they invariably sabotage any honest attempt by Canadian artists to create true Canadian culture.  The only notable exception is among the French Canadian population where for some unexplained reason, the movies and TV shows developed with the help of these same government agencies are ten times better than their English counterparts, and they attract many more millions of viewers.  What is it about the English language side of the government that they approve so many movies and TV shows that just plain suck?  Are they deliberately sabotaging any attempt by English Canadians to develop their own culture?

This belief of mine was reinforced last week when out of a total lack of logic, CBC executives were ready to forego the services of Hockey Night In Canada host Ron McLean mainly due to a salary dispute.  Of all the Canadian cultural events we have, hockey is still considered among the highest rated events of them all, surpassing just about every other Canadian cultural symbol in existence by a very wide margin.  And Ron McLean is considered a part of of this culture along with his co-host and "technical advisor" Don Cherry.  But because of a disagreement on the conditions of his new contract, the CBC brass were ready to dump him altogether.  It didn't take long before the CBC was flooded with angry phone calls and e-mails.  An online petition was even started and it quickly became one of the hottest petitions during that week.  After some back-pedalling, the CBC changed their minds (if they ever had any), resumed negotiations with McLean and came to an agreement.

So what does this have to do with manufactured Canadian culture?  Simply put, the CBC brass were ready to jeopardize the success of one of their most popular shows just so they can continue pumping out the usual porridge of shows they and the government consider quality Canadian programming -- the kind of programming most English speaking Canadians would rather avoid.  It's already rumoured that CBC executives would like nothing better than to banish all sporting events from the CBC including the Olympic Games, an event that has been so well covered by the CBC that event the Americans wanted to watch our live broadcasts instead of the tape-delayed American broadcasts.

There has to be more to English Canadian culture than a couple of good directors (David Cronenberg, Atom Egoyan) and a handful of good shows (This Hour has 22 Minutes, DaVinci's Inquest, Hockey Night In Canada, the Olympic Games, all on the CBC).  I'm not the type of person who watches a lot of prime-time American shows because I can't really relate to them; these are foreign shows, not Canadian ones.  Aside from the handful of good Canadian shows I just mentioned, the rest of the Canadian movies and TV shows currently on the air seem just as foreign as the current crop of American movies and TV shows.  The only shows I can relate to are the ones available on the American specialty channels or rebroadcast on their equivalent Canadian counterparts.

It's like English Canada doesn't have a true cultural identity.  Our current "culture" is supported only by a few government agencies who are completely out of touch with the Canadian population, yet they're still supported by our tax dollars.  Basically, all these entities keep dictating to English Canadians what they should or shouldn't be watching, always trying to protect us from any excessive exposure to both quality American and Canadian programming.  Unfortunately, this misguided behaviour is actually chasing Canadians away from Canadian television to the point where between a quarter and a third of all satellite installations in Canada are actually pirated American systems!  Despite the fact the reception and decoding of unauthorized satellite signals is illegal in Canada, around half a million Canadians homes would rather deal with the legal hassles of owning an American pirated system than allow a Canadian broadcast, cable or satellite signal to enter their homes.

The only real way to resolve these issues is to write to the Canadian agencies responsible for this mess and tell them the current situation is unacceptable.  That's why I'm thinking of setting up a Web page targeted at finding various ways to banish poorly manufactured Canadian culture from the airwaves and bring us the kind of shows we want to watch without them seeming like copycat American shows.  I truly want to embrace Canadian culture if I can find it.  But if this current trend keeps up, I might simply give up on Canadian television and lock my satellite receiver to the American specialty networks.