Canadian Cinema Since the 1980s: At the Heart of the World: 06/13/13

Before I was librarian or a book blogger, I was a film student (on the theory / history side). In my six years of study, Canada (except for Canadian actors) never really came up. Canadian Cinema Since the 1980s: At the Heart of the World by David L. Pike addresses the invisibility of Canadian cinema.

Let's back up. If you think of Canada, depending on your cultural background, you probably come up with one of two possibilities — overly polite, wacky folks living above the United States, or a richly vibrant Francophone culture.

Pike's argument (and it holds up well under all the cited examples) is that Canada, like its two languages, has two cinematic traditions — one that is thriving (Quebec) and one that is basically the handmaiden to Hollywood's television industry.

If you watch American television, you're probably watching Canada (most usually Vancouver, British Columbia and surrounds) dressed up (more or less) like some place in in the United States.

But Canada does produce English language films. Wikipedia has entries on 1442 of them. Google search highlights a dozen of them. I think as part of my Canada reads participation, I may need to add a Canadian films component.

Four stars

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