It’s interesting how often I’ve encountered, or even myself uttered the phrase – “that’s sooo Canadian”, not only in reference to Canadian cinema, but in reference to so many ‘things’ that can be considered to be just “sooo Canadian”. In actuality I’ve had a relationship with this nation of ‘in-betweens’ for a long time even before I arrived in Canada nearly 23 years ago. I grew up watching Canadian TV shows like The Littlest Hobo; Beachcombers and The Raccoons; wow I’m really dating myself. And long before I entered into film studies at Carleton University, I’d already developed a preconceived notion about Canada and its ever ambiguous landscape and culture(s) etceteras. My perception of this land was that it was extremely isolated, naked of any real dynamism; trapped in between some sort of makeshift identity, that had some whisperings of both USA and UK cultural markers. I mean; the language, music, culture and geography is somewhat similar, yet greatly dissimilar all at once to the latter nations’.
I began to ultimately grasp some understanding of what is meant by “sooo Canadian”, especially during my stint at Carleton. I began to identify with the angst of displaced characters , like Peter and Joey in Donald Shebib’s iconic film - Goin' Down the Road. Wasn’t my family and I, and sooo many Canadians, just like these characters in one main way? I mean, I’m not a young white male from Nova Scotia, travelling to the big urban centre (Toronto) in search of a better life; but I was a young immigrant who travelled half way across the world, from a little West Indian island, with my family in search of a better life and new beginning in Canada.
I think so much of being Canadian is wrapped up in this constant search for something more! Something more beyond the class we’re born into; beyond our gender limitations; beyond other imagined, or real social constraints. As well, like Peter and Joey, a lot of people will never be able to escape certain prescribed stations in life, no matter how hard they try; they’ll remain perpetual underdogs, and though this may seem extremely fatalistic; I’m often fascinated by just how many other Canadian films I’ve enjoyed over the years, which situate their protagonists in environments or situations, which somehow often ends up displacing them; ‘born losers’ so to speak.
Another common notion that comes to mind as soon as I conjecture about what is meant by “sooo Canadian”, is a perception of a Canadian obsession with duality; cultural duality, linguistic duality, geographic duality. Sooo many Canadians want to be from ‘somewhere else’, and for those of us who immigrated here, we’re either constantly trying to assimilate, or desperately trying to hold on to our original culture(s). Canadian cinema has been instrumental in its attempts to explore, delineate and explain this constant Canadian dichotomy of dualities.
Films for instance like Deepa Mehta’s Heaven on Earth speak directly to both our need as Canadians born or naturalized, to be constantly in search of something more, something better; along with certain of our struggles around cultural duality. In Heaven and Earth, the film’s leading female protagonist (Chand), leaves her homeland of India to relocate to Ontario, Canada. She has left all that is familiar to her behind, to embark on a promising new life, as a happy new bride. Surely one’s perception is that she will enjoy a much higher quality of life in ANYWHERE Ontario, Canada, when compared to what her quality of life in India might have been. As the film unravels though; we see that this new bride, although in a new and more modernized land, becomes trapped in a cycle of violence which is deeply mired in her traditional Indian culture. She has one foot in the new world, and the other foot in the old world, and when both worlds collide, her only escape is through her OWN imagination.
So when I think about the notion of a “Sooo Canadian” cinematic experience; I think of a Canadian obsession with always searching, and being trapped between dual experiences/realities.
I recently watched "Last Night", Canadian film directed by Don McKellar; a rendition of the end-of-the-world movie. Patrick Wheeler, the protagonist in the film, is a great example of the "underdog" character that you are describing. Especially if one compares the ultimate hero of the American apocalypse films, such as "Armageddon", which was also shot in 1998. Wheeler is a lost soul but he is charming in his ultimately sincerity. He is not a savior, not a god, which to me makes him easier to identify with. The film is meditative and far from Hollywood escapism.
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